C64: RS232 Experiments

Since getting the Uno2IEC working, I’ve wanted to get something like a Kung Fu Flash or similar to make life easier… and when I almost pulled the trigger on it I was going to get a Wifi modem for it as well so I could dick around with BBSes on it. The total price cost put me off (nearly $200 IIRC), but the other day I had an idea that I might be able to use the user port and the MAX232 I have laying around to make my own?

It turns out someone else has already done the hard yards for me, so it was mostly a case of figuring out how to physically attach it. I used the edge connector for a credit board that came with my arcade machine (since the credit board is of no use to me due to my NRI coin acceptor not working), and got it all connected up.

… and it sort-of worked. I am quite sure the terminal software I’m using (which is the only one that works on the Uno2IEC due to the others using speedloader tricks on the 1541) is at fault, because I have quadruple checked the connections, and if I do the “loopback” trick I don’t even get my own keystrokes back to me. I know the MAX232 works correctly as I’ve used it on other devices successfully.

So I’ll wait until I can get a better method to load software onto the C64 and try again!

Update: 2023-08-01: I finally got a Kung Fu Flash, so I have updates on this!!