anyway im thinking about cheap raspi meshnets for protesters to carry in bags to enable rapid communication, using like, 20$ of hardware including battery and raspi zero

@nire for a bit more you could get a low-end touchscreen and have an entire self-contained communication apperatus, hmm.

DigiKey is a good supplier for cheap-ish stuff "at scale" (usually minimuum qty is 20-50), though I'm sure you already have leads

@awilfox you dont want anything more than mesh networking

@awilfox the most costly thing is batteries

@nire @awilfox For batteries look at 1S LiPo batteries for things like remote control cars/planes/boats/quadcopters

The Pi Zero W will draw a max of somewhere under 300mA so depending on how long you want them active (I'd go for at least 10 hours personally) you should be able to find some cheapish ones

@troubleMoney @awilfox lipo is incredibly suboptimal because of two things, it xrays as the same density and look of molded c4, and it has a tendency to light on fire when kept in enclosed spaces while being used