Device Nicknames Now Supported
Add a Nickname to Any Device
Released today, you can now nickname any node or communicator on your own device.
Within your cluster, anyone can have different nicknames for different nodes/communicators, or you don’t have to use nicknames if you don’t want to.
Random Node Names
The main purpose of allowing nicknames is to remove confusion around randomly-generated node names.
Since I try to make nodes as easy to use and set up as possible, once you install the firmware and power them on, they boot up with a fresh random identity, ready to onboard.
For security reasons, this identity cannot be changed without wiping / factory resetting the device.
As you might imagine, once you get a lot of nodes running, it can be confusing to know which one you’re actually seeing on the neighbors screen. Or, if you’re using GPS to navigate to a node, it would be nice to know which node you’re going to end up at.
Device Type on Neighbors
Part of the solution to this confusion was adding an icon indicating device type on the neighbors screen, added in v2.0.
However, in a large cluster, that’s still not enough. So now, you can actually assign (on your own communicator) a nickname of whatever you want to any device, like I did for a node here…naming it “proximity1”.
Anywhere in the UI this device shows up now, including on maps, commands, etc, will show up with the nickname I gave it.
Nicknames are Private
Only the communicator / T-Deck on which the nickname was created can see the device. The nicknames are encrypted and never leave the device. Other people may have different nicknames for the same device, and you’d never know (or care).
For technical reasons, there is currently a limit of 30 nicknames per communicator. Remember, I’m keeping this platform portable for devices that have even less memory / storage than a T-Deck, so that’s part of the reason for some of these silly limitations.
If you use more than 30 nicknames, you’ll just be wiping the oldest nickname, and that “wiped” nickname will revert to the original device alias. You can always set it back.
