add a faq

README.md

@@ -94,3 +94,7 @@ We'd love to have you join us on this merry little project.  Please see our [dev
 This project is run by volunteers.  Past contributors include:
 * @claesg: Various documentation fixes and 3D print enclosures
 * @girtsf: So far our CI system, but soon lots of device improvements
+
+# IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS AND FAQ
+
+For a listing of currently missing features and a FAQ click [here](docs/faq.md).

docs/README.md

@@ -68,18 +68,6 @@ For a nice printable cases:
 2. TTGO T_Beam V1 see this [design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3830711) by [rwanrooy](https://www.thingiverse.com/rwanrooy) or this [remix](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3949330) by [8ung](https://www.thingiverse.com/8ung)
 3. Heltec Lora32 see this [design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3125854) by [ornotermes](https://www.thingiverse.com/ornotermes).
 
-# Disclaimers
+# IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS AND FAQ
 
-This project is still pretty young but moving at a pretty good pace.  Not all features are fully implemented in the current alpha builds.
-Most of these problems should be solved by the beta release:
-
-* We don't make these devices and they haven't been tested by UL or the FCC.  If you use them you are experimenting and we can't promise they won't burn your house down ;-)
-* Encryption is turned off for now
-* A number of (straightforward) software work items have to be completed before battery life matches our measurements, currently battery life is about three days.  Join us on chat if you want the spreadsheet of power measurements/calculations.
-* The current Android GUI is pretty ugly still
-* The Android API needs to be documented better
-* The Bluetooth API needs to be documented better 
-* The mesh protocol is turned off for now, currently we only send packets one hop distant
-* No one has written an iOS app yet ;-)
-
-For more details see the [device software TODO](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/blob/master/TODO.md) or the [Android app TODO](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/blob/master/TODO.md).
+For a listing of currently missing features and a FAQ click [here](faq.md).

docs/faq.md

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Disclaimers
+
+This project is still pretty young but moving at a pretty good pace.  Not all features are fully implemented in the current alpha builds.
+Most of these problems should be solved by the beta release (within three months):
+
+* We don't make these devices and they haven't been tested by UL or the FCC.  If you use them you are experimenting and we can't promise they won't burn your house down ;-)
+* Encryption is turned off for now
+* A number of (straightforward) software work items have to be completed before battery life matches our measurements, currently battery life is about three days.  Join us on chat if you want the spreadsheet of power measurements/calculations.
+* The current Android GUI is slightly ugly still
+* The Android API needs to be documented better
+* The mesh protocol is turned off for now, currently we only send packets one hop distant.  The mesh feature will be turned on again [soonish](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/issues/3).
+* No one has written an iOS app yet.  But some good souls [are talking about it](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/issues/14) ;-)
+
+For more details see the [device software TODO](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/blob/master/docs/software/TODO.md) or the [Android app TODO](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/blob/master/TODO.md).
+
+# FAQ
+
+If you have a question missing from this faq, please ask on our gitter chat.  And if you are feeling extra generous send in a pull-request for this faq.md with whatever we answered ;-).
+
+Q: Which of the various supported radios should I buy?
+A: basically you just need the radio + (optional but recommended) battery. the TBEAM is usually better because it has gps and huge battery socket. The Heltec is basically the same hardware but without the gps (the phone provides position data to the radio in that case, so the behavior is similar - but it does burn some battery in the phone).. Also the battery for the Heltec can be smaller.  In addition to aliexpress, banggood.com usually has stock and faster shipping, or Amazon.  If buying a TTGO, make sure to buy a version that includes the oled screen - this project doesn't require the screen, but we use it if is installed.
+
+Q: Does this project use patented algorithms? (Kindly borrowed from the geeks at [ffmpeg](http://ffmpeg.org/legal.html))
+A: We do not know, we are not lawyers so we are not qualified to answer this. Also we have never read patents to implement any part of this, so even if we were qualified we could not answer it as we do not know what is patented. Furthermore the sheer number of software patents makes it impossible to read them all so no one (lawyer or not) could answer such a question with a definite no.  We are merely geeks experimenting on a fun and free project.