# Crouching TIger, Hidden LXMF

_Showcase · started by KenAKAFrosty on Sun, May 24, 2026 7:53 PM_

Tags: Showcase, Sideband, LXMF

---

## Original post

**KenAKAFrosty** · Sun, May 24, 2026 7:53 PM

I've always thought steganography was really cool & clever (even if not usually super practical).

And meanwhile, the LXMF paper/sneakernet-type system seemed like a *perfect* fit for it. 

In an effort to see "how would this even look in Sideband", I engaged in some hackery, and wanted to share it here. 

1) Clean message history to start
![PXL_20260524_192059390.MP.webp](/storage/forum/p7WyGF5N7apw6TYB75SbGq2wP2r5JYolTRJwp5bE.webp)

2) Send a paper message the normal way, new dropdown option, "Save in Image"
![PXL_20260524_192118479.webp](/storage/forum/CKwE46JfVcLf9CS5vzj9b0ji9JBwclU1XJTv2xhU.webp)

3) Two modes: one with higher capacity but won't survive compression, and a more robust but lower capacity one.
![PXL_20260524_192137520.MP.webp](/storage/forum/BXdvM6C12oob52BQNWqPsZ5Cyt1HOmlqLmLLGzKc.webp)

4) Pops open the share dialog. 
![PXL_20260524_192225005.webp](/storage/forum/anaHZH1ybYxSKqwSeSYeV0amXwtVzjBD8rMnSHWS.webp)

5) For my test I just sent to google photos for an easy and fast way to get the image down on my laptop, and here you can see the image
![PXL_20260524_192405164.webp](/storage/forum/b0ndLGfSGzQ4ioJCK2TvDiYq5tXpCGvOzNBCD3d6.webp)

6) You can see the downloaded file on my laptop, and my laptop's Sideband with no message history yet 
![PXL_20260524_192511144.MP.webp](/storage/forum/FpEUEt5RZLK1yiCHGBhNBdrjpSZ3WPpYmVV3xczR.webp)

7) Same flow as other paper messages on the ingest, but now a 'From Image' button option
![PXL_20260524_192532653.webp](/storage/forum/6KfSplnOGcIIJ5i2zb7TUsqFoh9tvKeG3TA5j6Rh.webp)

8) Pick file
![PXL_20260524_192545832.webp](/storage/forum/Ekn3nymEsfsnNI0CWyQchoZhl0PRctCFKIT9jTKL.webp)

9) Confirmation!
![PXL_20260524_192557050.webp](/storage/forum/sr8nbGlKamETcwdULyp0yuInjFnbQ4Srp1BSJrNL.webp)
![PXL_20260524_192608210.webp](/storage/forum/f9zSKJftvVqw820dZBb7GZl5IlITGyCPnxbMxeGQ.webp)



My Python is very rough and most of my past work with it was ML-type stuff, so this is also an invitation to refine on this technique! Note that i'm leaving out the Sideband-specific stuff since that just uses the existing paper message scaffolding, should be trivial for anyone to add that in). It's currently just a ~300 line single python file, and can be seen here: https://gist.github.com/KenAKAFrosty/d2b98ec07ac2b13f6a804d1571780d71

---