Build your own box
Build a Netstalgia box yourself from a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a small screen, eight lamps and a speaker. You flash our firmware image to a memory card, and from firmware 0.8.9 the box sets itself up the first time it starts: its own setup hotspot and its own first passwords.
The guide
- Parts list: everything you need, with quantities.
- Wiring: every connection, pin by pin.
- The case: what your enclosure needs.
- Putting it together: the build, step by step, with checks.
- Flashing the firmware: the image, its checksum, the memory card.
- First-time setup: Wi-Fi, passwords and the USB modem driver.
- Troubleshooting: when something doesn't light up or doesn't connect.
Read this first
This is a hobby project, not a finished product. The reference wiring has no fuse and no protection against a reversed or wrong supply. Use a good regulated 5 V supply, check your wiring before you power up, and never leave a new build running unattended. You build and use it at your own risk.
How it connects
The box has one PC connector on its back: a 15-pin DA15 socket (two rows, the size of an old joystick port, not a VGA plug) that carries both connections. Its cable splits into a USB plug and a 9-pin serial plug. USB is the supported connection: the box appears as the Netstalgia 56K USB Modem on Windows 98 Second Edition, Me and XP. The serial (RS-232) side, for older PCs, is being tested. The complete wiring plan (a seven-page PDF on the Downloads page) has every connection.