Welcome to the 2022 year round-up; I'll make a post yearly to give an overview of the project from my perspective; this year, I'm only going to be talking about the code, where it is at, what needs work and improvements I'd like to see happen during the next year of development.

To quickly gloss over non-code-related work, I've been working on organisational changes. Other than the publicly noticeable changes, like becoming a Community Interest Company, I cannot report on other shifts or efforts.

Blockchain Legacy

The last update to the chain was last Feb, and we are aiming for another update in Feb 2023, which will include the swap code to move your tokens over to the new chain stack; the code for this is in the dev branch, so other than some minor changes there is little work required on this project.

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/blockchain-iz

Blockchain New

The new ledger technology is coming from Zano, who is the natural successor to the cryptonote foundation, having two of the original Cryptonote developers; their design choices enable auditable wallets and usernames along with marketplace functionality; It'll be exciting once the shift has happened and we can donate developer time to Zano and develop our Layer two service that can be used for our ventures but also adopted by the parent chain at their behest.

Most of the work to create our fork is done here, with some minor tasks left to do, non of which should hinder a Feb 2023 release.

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/blockchain-iTw3

Application Server Backend

The code for this and the project itself is very experimental. The code IMO needs a refactor, with some of the core functionality moved out to a different framework not to have a messy and not easy-to-understand server project; tasks like file, socket and networking should be removed so just the core functionality left; this should make it easier for other projects to create plugins or to use the application server for their client-side only projects.

GitHub: https://github.com/dAppServer/server

Application Server GUI (Example)

This has been upgraded to Angular 15; with the newest update to angular, we can refactor the GUI to be a lot more dynamic with a little bit of hacking around the code, this should be able to become a more generic wrapper project without any Lethean branding at all; with our GUI being an installable app that for our downloads would be included meaning end users wouldn't know but other projects will be able to use the exact same stack as we do with zero code adjustments required.

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/lthn-app-desktop

Package Manager

Created this year, it is very much in alpha state, with lots of adjustments needed; this project lets external teams create applications that can be installed via the GUI without changes to the application server or GUI projects; once listed in the principal repository, even version updates don't require any changes to the central DB (being git based, it can be cloned.)

GitHub: https://github.com/dAppServer/app-marketplace

GUI

This project is the native application for the GUI and is a wails.io application using GoLang and the operating systems WebView2 APIs; Lethean Server also can load a native desktop window, but the packages for this are in early development; Wails provides the best features.

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/desktop

dVPN Exit Node/VPN Client

The exit node and VPN client are working, @Darbs has a test setup running but looking at the code myself and the input of other developers, we feel it's not as secure as we would like to feel Ok letting people run it on their machines without some serious time spent; being that it is not doing anything that can't be done in Lethean Server the plan is to move over to our server stack vs the original VPN

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/lthn-app-vpn

SDP Server (Service Discovery Protocol)

This project is pointless to run without the Exit node and again will be moved over to the Server; with this one being in Typescript, the conversation will take less time than the Python > Typescript change.

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/lthn-app-sdp

Docker Builder

This project is a lot larger than it might appear due to most of it being hidden in the commit history; it is a C++ Cmake/Make builder that is a zero dependency host agnostic builder that uses an internal sandboxing technique to cut the tie from compiler to host machine; with the resulting build copied over a non-symlink; with cross-compiling libraries pre compile cached and stored on Docker Hub who sponsor Lethean meaning users can use the build assets without an impact on their usage allowances; this project will be rolled out next year in line with the fork and allow people to securely build on any docker supported device and to cross compile without having to compile every lib needed for the build target arch.

GitHub: https://github.com/dAppServer/devops/tree/main/compiler

Lethean Domain Names

Lethean names are HNS https://handshake.org domain names using our top-level project names; tied into our software stack; these gTLDs are community-owned public assets that allow networking but also a payment address; once developed it'll be pretty nifty and unlike .eth names, the only way to lose your name will be by not using it vs not paying which I hope will somewhat combat domain name collectors.

Reserve a free name (last chance) by opening a PR on GitHub or asking on discord in #username-reservations GitHub Reservation List

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/lthn-hns-2nd-level-sunrise

Directory Earth

This project is my moonshot idea; the majority of its use will likely be an API vs GUI application, but I'd love to get some e-commerce + game devs involved; it is an idea id like to push forwards next year as we hopefully get funding to help SMEs sell their products online using the systems they already use while not costing "high ticket" costs more a pre-paid pay as you go modal at near cost rates powered by our network; being a social enterprise our mission and duty is to push value towards the members of our community and aiding B2B or B2C commerce is very much on my radar.

GitHub: https://github.com/letheanVPN/directory.earth

That is the majority of the projects worth talking about; we have a couple of R&D ventures, non of which have a git repo that relates to networking, but as you can see, we already have enough projects to be getting on with for the next year, so unless we get some significant traction in the coming months it's best to leave this post here.

I sincerely wish you & your families a happy Christmas and new year;

Thank you to everyone who has supported the project and me, it's been noticed, appreciated, and all I can say is I love our lovley little community a great deal, and its a pleasure to be the Project Lead 🙂 

Much Love

Snider