Femtofox is a Linux-based mesh development platform - a Raspberry Pi sized computer with onboard LoRa radio, capable of being run with only 0.3w, making it ideal for solar powered nodes.
The Luckfox Pico Mini is the postage stamp sized heart of the Femtofox - a compact and power efficient Linux board, running Foxbuntu, our own customized version of Ubuntu. Femtofox is an expansion of the Luckfox's capabilities, utilizing a custom PCB with a 30db LoRa radio (over 6x the transmit power of a RAK Wisblock or Heltec V3) to create a power efficient, tiny and highly capable Meshtastic Linux node.
Find out more in the sections below, or in the Wiki.
- Features and Specifications
- Supported hardware
- Installation guide
- How to order
- DIY instructions
- USB configuration tool
- Building your own Foxbuntu image
- Tiny size (63x54mm for Femtofox, 65x30mm for the Smol Edition). Equivalent to a standard Raspberry Pi hat and Pi Zero respectively.
- Power efficient (~0.27-0.4w average, depending on radio and mesh congestion)
- Full Linux CLI (Ubuntu) via our pre-built Foxbuntu image
- Meshtastic native client support via SPI
- USB host support - attach USB peripherals
- USB wifi support
- RTC support for timekeeping
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
| Processor | Rockchip RV1103, Cortex A7 @1.1GHz |
| Memory | 64MB DDR2 |
| OS | Foxbuntu (based on Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS Jammy) |
| Connectivity | USB 2.0 Host/Device |
| Network | RJ45 Ethernet with filtering |
| WiFi ready | |
| GPIO | 17x GPIO pins (of which 8 are required for Lora module) |
| IO | 2x I2C JST PH |
| 1x UART JST PH | |
| Debug | 1x CH340 USB to serial adapter (Pro only) |
| Mesh | 30dB LoRa Radio 868-915MHz |
| Storage | Micro-SD slot |
| Power | 3.3-5V.dc via JST PH or USB-C |
| Dimensions | 63 x 54 x 19mm |
Accomplished:
- Meshtastic native client controlling a LoRa radio (see supported hardware)
- WIFI over USB (see supported hardware)
- Ethernet over pins (see Networking below and wiring diagram at bottom of page)
- UART communications with Meshtastic nodes (2 pin pairs) such as RAK Wisblock
- USB serial communications with Meshtastic nodes (see supported hardware)
- USB mass storage
- Real time clock (RTC) support (see supported hardware)
- Activity LED disabled. User LED will blink for 5 seconds when boot is complete
- Short pressing the "BOOT" button toggles wifi, 2-5 second press triggers reboot, 5+ second press shuts system down
- Ability to reconfigure wifi via USB flash drive
- Meshtasticd to run LoRa radio over SPI (accomplished, updated image and instructions coming soon)
- Allow editing of config files by plugging in thumb drive
- Ability to activate or deactivate WIFI via Meshtastic admin
Note
The information on this page is given without warranty or guarantee. Links to vendors of products are for informational purposes only. Meshtastic® is a registered trademark of Meshtastic LLC. Meshtastic software components are released under various licenses, see GitHub for details. No warranty is provided - use at your own risk.