Like many people who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I have great memories of hearing a modem dial and connect for the first time. Back then, while living in Quetta, Pakistan, we didn't even have full internet access. We only had a dial-up email service. You would connect your modem, download any new emails, send the ones waiting in your Outbox, and disconnect again. The local server only forwarded mail every few hours, so there was always a bit of a wait before your message actually left Quetta. Looking back now it seems funny, but at the time it felt amazing.

A few years later, the internet finally arrived in Quetta through PTCL. I'll never forget hearing that modem handshake and connecting to the internet for the very first time. Suddenly there was a whole new world to explore, and it felt like the future had arrived.

Those memories are what inspired the RetroModem project.

The idea is to build a modern replacement for a traditional dial-up modem using a Raspberry Pi. Instead of connecting over a telephone line, it connects through the internet, but to an old computer it still behaves like a real modem. The goal is to recreate the original experience as closely as possible, right down to the modem sounds, terminal screens and the excitement of making a connection.

So far the project has come a long way. The Raspberry Pi is running Asterisk to handle the virtual telephone side of things, I've been experimenting with SIP connections and connecting vintage computers, and I'm adding features like an OLED display to show connection information. There's still plenty to do, but that's part of the fun.

This website is where I'll be sharing the journey, the successes, the failures and everything I learn along the way. Hopefully it will encourage a few more people to dust off an old computer and enjoy the sound of a modem connecting once again.

Another part of the project has been getting old computers to communicate with the Pi. Seeing a vintage machine attempt to dial, negotiate a connection and exchange data is incredibly satisfying, even when things don't quite work first time. There have been plenty of evenings spent chasing odd serial settings, modem commands and networking issues, but that's all part of the fun.

I've also been experimenting with adding an OLED display to the modem. The plan is for it to show useful information such as the number being dialled, connection speed, online time and data being transferred. It's not essential, but it adds to the feeling that this is a real piece of retro hardware.

One thing I've learned is that these old technologies are surprisingly complicated. Every small success usually comes after several failed attempts, plenty of reading and lots of trial and error. That's one of the reasons I wanted to document the project. If it helps someone else build their own RetroModem one day, then it will have been worth it.

The project is still very much a work in progress. There are plenty of ideas still on the list, including easier configuration, better support for different vintage computers, cloud access through Cloudflare Tunnel, a simple web interface and hopefully making it easy enough that anyone with a Raspberry Pi can build one.

This website is where I'll be sharing the journey, the mistakes, the successes and everything I learn along the way. If you enjoy retro computing as much as I do, I hope you'll find something here that inspires you to dust off an old machine and hear that modem handshake one more time.