Experiencing a surge in popularity over the last few years, our favorite vintage computers are finally starting to come online after logging off some decades ago. Building on the Zimodem-firmware for building a Wi-Fi modem based on the ESP8266, I never quite took to the idea of having to build two separate modems - one for Commodore 64, and the other for anything else that connected using standard RS-232. My only choice was to start building one that did both, and I chose to implement it in hardware instead of forking of yet another separate version of the firmware. So you now have a button to switch between the modes, a relay (because relays are always fun), and a load of glorious LEDs so that it'd look like an actual modem!

Anyway, back to the BulkyModem. The page you're looking at is for the main module, check out the related shared projects for a listing of all available modules that's related to this specific project. While you can build a functional unit using this PCB by itself, but if you want to build a device that's exactly as shown in the first picture - then you'd each of the following projects:

• 1x BulkyModem (this project)
• 1x BulkyModem (Panel)
• 1x BulkyModem (Faceplate FP1)
• 1x BulkyModem (Faceplate FA1)
• 1x Commodore 64/128 UserPort Adapter

As for the last picture, it's simply a different styling that is built using an extra faceplate on the bottom as well to hide the solder points. In order to build that one, you'd instead need the following set of projects:

• 1x BulkyModem (this project)
• 1x BulkyModem (Panel)
• 1x BulkyModem (Faceplate FP3)
• 2x BulkyModem (Faceplate FA1)
• 1x Commodore 64/128 UserPort Adapter

As for being determining how exactly one goes about to build one, all that've been covered on the GitHub-repository along with all relevant design files. As for getting it set up with the firmware, I've also created a guide on how to do all that. If you've forgotten all about using modems to connect to BBSes and similar services over the last few decades, I've also gotten a head start on a separate guide for getting started using it with various vintage systems.

If on the other hand you just want to build something simpler, I've also made a version of it that only supports RS-232 - BulkyModem-32 (Mini RS-232). Perfect for when you only want function, and not so much in terms of form.

NB! A later form of the BulkyModem with an ESP32 at its core has also been planned, but it's completion is entirely dependent on interest. In the project descriptions, this will be referred to as the BulkyModem-32.