Wi-Fi
Use an existing network: a hotspot, a tether, or your ordinary Wi-Fi. The Mac app can apply traffic rules to a chosen interface and gateway.
Wi-Fi · Modem · Radio
A small link.
A real connection.
Bring your computer along, even when the connection is slow. Goblin Modem gives you controls for your links, a goTenna mesh for nearby computers, and a shell that travels with you.
Development preview / macOS + Linux
Apple Silicon / macOS TahoeDebian + Ubuntu / amd64goTenna MeshSOCKS5 for selected apps
01 / Your connection, your choice
Know the connection.
Choose what uses it.
Wi-Fi is Wi-Fi. A modem is a modem. Your connection controls should not depend on which satellite service happens to be behind them.
Modem
Bring up a serial PPP connection on the Mac, with the port, dial string and initialization commands your modem needs. Manage it alongside your radio.
Radio
Plug a goTenna Mesh radio into each computer. Mac and Linux share the radio driver, compressed IP transport, peer discovery and local SOCKS5 proxy.
The Mac has a native menu bar app with Wi-Fi/network, modem and radio controls. Linux has a browser GUI and desktop launcher for radio networking; configure its Wi-Fi or modem uplink with the operating system’s usual tools.
02 / A network without a central router
Many radios.
A few ways out.
Give the radios one shared network key and distinct identities. Computers discover names and addresses locally. There is no DHCP server to find first.
Have N radios and M Internet connections? Turn on Share Internet on those M computers. Other radios can use an advertised gateway through SOCKS5, for the applications you choose.
Sharing starts off. Gateway priority, then discovered hop count, determines the automatic choice; you can also prefer a particular gateway.
Choose your Internet gateways ↗One mesh. Your choice of uplink.
MacLocal SOCKS5 · wopr.mesh
goTennagoTenna
LinuxLocal SOCKS5 · naamah.mesh
↑Optional Internet gatewayWi-Fi, modem, or Ethernet
03 / A small terminal, doing real work
A shell.
A little mathematics.
An 80 × 25 terminal. An SSH session to naamah. Goblin Purrfect turns editable equation source into a live mathematical preview.
What happens in the recording
Open a document, type a heading, enter the equation editor, and build the quadratic formula. The fraction and square root update as the source is typed. Finish the equation and save the document.
Next, put the shell on the radio.
Our walkthrough uses normal SSH to start Mosh, then sends terminal traffic through goTenna. Begin with a small text command; graphics and file transfers need more patience on a narrow radio link.
Run Mosh between the radios ↗04 / Ready to try it?
Two computers.
Two radios.
Packages include the GUI, radio driver, helper tools and radio Mosh launcher. Homebrew and APT bring in the runtime dependencies.
A working preview
Package installs are checked on Apple Silicon / macOS 26 and five Debian/Ubuntu releases. The radio path has been exercised between a Mac and Linux workstation.
goTenna is a narrow link. Discovery and startup can take time, and radio-only SSH setup remains experimental. Keep the initial test on an existing SSH connection.
Mac build records ↗Linux build records ↗