Commodore 64, modem wifi, bbs, internet, nodemcu

Commodore 64 WiFi Modem, Review

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Ho recentemente acquistato, su eBay, un modem WiFi per Commodore 64, in kit. Il prezzo era interessante. Il kit è composto da pochi componenti: utilizzando l'attrezzatura opportuna, l'assemblaggio ha richiesto davvero pochi minuti.

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Unfortunately, the modem I bought is not well designed: to ensure long-term operation and, even if it is unlikely, in order not to damage the Commodore 64, some precautions are necessary: ​​I talked about it in this article. Of course not all modems are badly designed, some work very well. Plus, tweaking to fix a poorly designed modem is really simple.

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Commodore 64 WiFi Modem Assembly

I decided not to solder the WiFi module directly to the printed circuit board: I instead used two pin strips for assembly. In this way, I will be able to reuse the module for other experiments that I intend to carry out.

Commodore 64, wifi modem, nodemcu, internet bbs, mounted

Non appena collegato alla user port, il modem WiFi per Commodore 64 si è subito acceso. Per poterlo utilizzare, però, bisogna seguire ancora qualche passaggio! Insieme al modem, ho collegato al mio Commodore 64 qualche altra periferica: l'emulatore SD2IEC per il floppy e il fastload. Infatti, per poter utilizzare il modem WiFi, occorre un software che deve essere scaricato da internet.

Commodore 64 wifi modem, fastload, sd2iec, floppy emulator, internet

Download the CCGMS software

In order to use the WiFi modem for Commodore 64, it is necessary download the CCGMS software. Si tratta di un terminale telnet che serve sia per configurare il modem, che per collegarsi alle BBS. Sebbene il paragone sia improprio, CCGMS è un po' come fosse l'Internet Explorer o il Firefox che si utilizza per navigare tra i siti internet.

Per scaricare CCGMS è possibile effettuare una semplice ricerca su Google. Il programma viene tutt'oggi aggiornato, tanto che io ho utilizzato la versione del 2019! Una volta scaricato il programma CCGMS (è in formato .PRG), è possibile copiarlo su una SD card e caricarlo sul Commodore 64 utilizzando l'emulatore SD2IEC.

Commodore 64 WiFi Modem Limitations

The Commodore 64 WiFi modem I used is based on the NodeMCU platform. The Commodore 64 character table (PETSCII) is different from the standard ASCII character table, adopted by both the NodeMCU and all Computers. Due to this difference, the modem accepts WiFi networks with SSIDs and passwords consisting only of numbers and CAPITAL letters.

My WiFi network obviously uses more complex passwords. Not having the intention of changing the password and the name of the network, I decided to use a WiFi repeater, in which I set up a new network with the required characteristics.

Commodore 64, ripetitore wifi, modem internet ssid password

Configure the WiFi modem via CCGMS

At this point it is possible to start CCGMS and perform the first configurations. The WiFi modem, at the start, is set at 300 baud. The speed of the serial port must then be adapted by pressing F7 and appropriately setting the initial speed.

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Let's first press RETURN to initiate communication with the modem. Now let's set the SSID of the WiFi network, the password and a higher speed of the modem. I remember to write both the SSID and the password in lowercase, even if on the WiFi repeater they must have been set in UPPER CASE. This is due to the correspondence between PETSCII and ASCII.

at$ssid=ssid_della_rete_wifi_in_minuscolo
at$pass=password_della_rete_wifi_in_minuscolo
at&p0
at&k1
at$sb=2400
at&w

L'ultimo comando at&w it is used to tell the modem to save the settings.

It is therefore necessary to reset CCGMS to operate at 2400 baud, by pressing again F7 and updating the settings.

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To start the WiFi connection, use the command:

atc1

To view the current WiFi connection status, type:

ati

Un altro comando utile è l'help, che mostra l'elenco dei comandi a disposizione:

at?

Start the first connection

Finalmente, dopo tutto questo duro lavoro, ci siamo! Possiamo connetterci ad una BBS. Le possibilità sono due: utilizzare le BBS predefinite nel modem, oppure indicare l'indirizzo e la porta di una BBS conosciuta.

In the first case, that is, if you want to try the ten predefined BBSs, the command is the following:

atds0
...
atds9
Commodore 64 wifi modem, connection to bbs, old school internet

Invece, conoscendo l'indirizzo internet e la porta, ci si può collegare alla BBS con il comando etc:

atdthost:port

remembering to replace host con l'indirizzo internet o IP e port con il numero di porta, separati dai due punti. Ad esempio, per collegarsi alla BBS ANTIDOTE (all'indirizzo antidote.hopto.org:64128), to type:

atdtantidote.hopto.org:64128

Alternative al modem WiFi per Commodore 64

Connecting to the BBS took me back in time when, before the spread of the internet, we connected with a modem to a telephone number to exchange messages and files with other users of the same BBS.

The real usefulness of these services today is quite limited. For this I recommend trying to connect to the BBS without buying the WiFi modem for Commodore 64. You can do it easily using a simple program for Windows PC: CGTerm. This is also free software, freely downloadable from the internet.

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Commodore 64, Windows petscii terminal emulator, CGTerm, alternative to the wifi modem for Commodore 64

Once you have downloaded and started CGTerm on your PC, you can connect to a BBS simply by pressing ESC and then D.

Digitare quindi l'indirizzo internet e la porta della BBS, separati dallo spazio e non dai due punti, ad esempio: antidote.hopto.org 64128.

Commodore 64, emulator, Windows petscii terminal, CGTerm, Antidote, wifi modem alternative for Commodore 64

And here we are finally connected to a BBS, without the need to buy a WiFi modem for Commodore 64!

Other developments

In realtà ho acquistato il modem WiFi per Commodore 64 con l'obiettivo di connettermi all'impianto domotico di casa...

L'esperimento è riuscito e ne ho parlato in this article.

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