I like an RPi as a mini server for things like this, that’s about it really…oh, and a pihole on my network.
I’m still none the wiser with this, still think I’m doing something fundamentally wrong (other than not having a clue).
Are there any simple sketches out there for these kits? One that just sends “hello world” and one that monitors and receives? I’ve come across a few but can’t get any to work and the instructions on the wiki seem to be only for meshtastic 
Trying to bring it right back to basics and work from there but can’t even get started with that due to conflicting information and a lack of noise about them, unless I’m looking in the wrong place (entirely possible)
I’m assuming everyone else just managed to get this working because they knew what they were doing and that’s why I can’t find a definitive guide?