WiFi9600 - WiFi "Serial" Modem in a vintage 9600-Baud Modem

Growing up I was first introduced to online communities through Bulletin Board Services (BBS). Our family's first modem was a 2400-baud modem built into our 386SX-16 MHz PC-compatible.

After delivering many papers, I bought a second-hand Practical Modems 9600SA. I could not wait to use this modem to play Tradewars.

Fast forward to today, my brother found the 9600SA in storage. Being surrounded by vintage C64s, Apple IIs, and even PCs I wanted to resurrect my 9600SA.

I've removed all of the original analog (and digital) electronics. They've been replaced by an ESP8266 and modern control hardware.

The front panel, however, is exactly as it was 30+ years ago. I built a custom PCB to interface with it and then wrote some code to simulate modem connections.

Where possible, I modified some "WiFi modem" software to flash the LEDs like a real modem would have.

This project was originally entered into the "Retrofit & Recycle" contest on the element14 Community. Learn more details and see demo videos of the WiFi9600 Modem there.