Imagesource: https://www.wic64.de/

There are quite a few platforms that have become obsolete over the last 40 years. Commodore's machines are definitely not among them. And if you didn't already know that, you probably wouldn't be reading these lines here.

But what exactly distinguishes an active hardware platform from a dead one?

A strong community, regular and fresh software releases and last but not least new hardware, right?

And this is exactly what we are talking about now. Bringing a Commodore online is - depending your approach - not as difficult as it sounds. In the 80s there were quite a few BBS based on C64 and other machines. But the question is, how comfortable you want it to be, and what online functionalities your would like to have at your disposal afterwards.

Robin Kearey - who writes for hackaday regularly - has brought a new solution to our attention. His article is about a small but beautiful piece of PCB plus components, that can be used to connect a C64, C128, SX64 or even the VIC-20 to a local Wifi.

The device named WIC64 comes with quite some software that adds new online capabilities to the beloved machines. Just one of them: Google Maps on the breadbin. 😯

The hardware is Made in Germany and if you are looking for a solution to a common Commodore connectivity problem, you might find it here.