What is this even for?
This is a follow up to my How to get started with reticulum on an Ubuntu machine article, after getting everything going and chatting with myself and my guinea pig mom in my own home network… it was time to see if I could do the same through the world webs… but it was harder than it should have been as always.
Hence this blog….
Note the following – if this works, we will be connecting to a ‘test net’ server in amsterdam. This won’t be a long term communications solution, but should accomplish the simple goal of being able to chat to your other Sideband apps when they are in different networks (ie. not located in your local home router network…).
Note also that if your goal is super anonymous communications then probably you’ll want to disconnect all of these options afterwards, since I think TCP kind of communications have some deep packet info in them. In either case, this is a simple test/proof of concept fast start process.
Let’s see if it works.
Locating the Real Docs
Even though it’s hard if you are tired and have a lack of focus like me, you should probably bookmark the mother lode of Reticulum documentation. I’ll make it easy by giving it to you on a platter right here:
THE MOTHER LODE OF RETICULUM DOCUMENTATION
If you want to start fast (even though it won’t be fast) you can skip to the following lode which is what I’ll be basically dumbing down further for you:
THE MICRO-LODE OF RETICULUM DOCUMENTATION
Being Ok with a Scary Config File
As of now, until the apps (including Sideband) have a bunch more config fields and toggle switches in them, you’re going to have to be ok editing a scary config file in Ubuntu. You can’t run away from this and have to just come to acceptance. Go ahead and do that now…
… Ok, now that your grieving and acceptance process is complete, here are the three things you have to do:
- Know where your Reticulum configuration file is
- Be able to open and edit it with your Terminal app in Ubuntu
- Know what to stick in there and where
That’s it, really, but it always makes you sweat a bit if you don’t do this a lot. Let’s hold hands and do the first edit together…
Adding the Amsterdam Test Server to your Ubuntu Reticulum Config File
In my case, based on how I installed mine in my original post, my configuration file should be where yours is too, here:
/home/yourUserName/.reticulum/config
The ‘yourUserName’ is the name of your Ubuntu username.
The ‘.reticulum’ is the actual folder where the config file is. It will be invisible unless you make Nautilus show hidden files, which is fine. So technically you probably could edit it with Nautilus and a text editor, but it’s wise to just be ok with your terminal app. Here’s my workflow to get this open and editable with my terminal:
- control + alt + t on keyboard will open the Terminal app (you can also search for it in the usual way you search for apps if you want)
- type this command in to see if your reticulum folder is there, replacing yourUserName with your actual username:
cd /home/yourUserName
- type
ls -aland you should see .reticulum somewhere down there. If not, you’ll have to find out why and where it is to continue. Assuming it’s there, continue - Type the following command to start editing your config file for Reticulum:
nano /.reticulum/config
You should see a bunch of ‘stuff’ now.
- Scroll to the very bottom to the [interfaces] section.
- From this page we’re going to copy to our clipboard the following community-provided reticulum server thing:
# TCP/IP interface to the BetweenTheBorders Hub (community-provided)
[[RNS Testnet BetweenTheBorders]]
type = TCPClientInterface
enabled = yes
target_host = reticulum.betweentheborders.com
target_port = 4242- Now we will paste it into our terminal using a special pasting keyboard trick, not the standard one you use:
control + shift + v
you should now see, at the bottom of your file, the data above and looking good.
- Save it: Control + x
- Agree to saving the buffer: Y
- Enter key to complete
That’s it. You saved your amsterdam server thing in your reticulum interface list
- Shutdown your Sideband app in ubuntu using the shutdown in the menu
- Re-open the Sideband
Done. Now let’s test…
Testing a chat from your Ubuntu Sideband App to another App
To give some context on my setup and how this worked, here was my setup:
- Ubuntu laptop with a wired connection on my workplace network
- Android device running Sideband app connected to workplace wifi network
Before this, I could only get these two devices to chat if they were both on my separate wifi router. They would not deliver messages ‘through the internet’.
If you’re mimicking my test environment here with an android device, note that in the Android app, there is a simple toggle switch in the ‘Connectivity’ part of the app menu. It should be ‘on’ by default, but keep in mind you can turn it on or off with the ‘Connect via TCP’ switch. The app then connects to a server at sideband.connect.reticulum.network on port 7822. If this is not toggled on, your test chat should fail when you try to reach your android device from your ubuntu machine, even with the stuff added to your config file above – so make sure this is togged ‘on’ in your android Sideband app in the Connectivity section of menu.
Assuming this is now toggled on, and you have added the amsterdam server entry above to your config file on your Ubuntu machine, you should now be able to (like I did) send your chat message from your wired ubuntu machine, which will then hit the amsterdam server, then find the android connect server above and deliver the message.
Pretty cool. Worked for me.
I also wonder if this might would work if I add it in the config file in my ubuntu machine:
# TCP/IP interface to the Android Sideband Apps server
[[RNS Android Sideband App Server]]
type = TCPClientInterface
enabled = yes
target_host = sideband.connect.reticulum.network
target_port = 7822Yes, I just tested and adding the Android connect server like this also seems to work just fine…
Conclusion
Hope this helps you get setup using Sideband over the general webs
