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retro-wifi

This is an attempt to create a WiFi modem that will work with any home computer equipped with an RS-232C serial port or adapter.

Example target platforms:

  • Commodore 64 with VIC-1011A terminal adapter

  • Tandy Color Computer with Deluxe RS-232 Program Pak cartridge

  • TRS-80 Model 100 laptop with built-in serial port and Telecom software

  • Vintage PC running MS-DOS and Windows 3.1

Requirements:

  • ESP8266 / NodeMCU development board

  • SD card breakout board

  • MAX3232 or similar RS-232 to TTL breakout board with DE-9 or DB-25 connector

  • Null modem cable (or normal serial cable and null modem adapter)

  • Arduino IDE with ESP8266 add-on and core libraries (see https://arduino-esp8266.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html for setup)

Depending on your exact setup, you may also need a DB-25 to DE-9 adapter, and possibly a gender changer.

Commodore 64 users will need a terminal program such as CCGS or Novaterm. The other example systems already include terminal software.

Note that all of the RS-232C adapters in the example systems except for the MS-DOS PC have a female DB-25 serial connector. If I were going to build a custom PCB, rather than using modules, I'd put a male DB-25 connector on the board and cross-wire the RX and TX pins to the MAX3232 for null modem operation. That would eliminate the need for cables and adapters.

Proposed capabilities:

  • Telnet and IRC connectivity over WiFi

  • HTTP and FTP file download to SD card over WiFi

  • File transfer from SD card to host computer using XMODEM protocol

This sketch uses the Arduino String class extensively. As the String class uses dynamic memory allocation -- a practice generally discouraged in production embedded systems -- I'll probably be refactoring it to use character arrays once the workflow has been refined.