64NIC+

(23 reviews) Write a Review
$69.86 - $75.44
SKU:
64NIC
Weight:
1.70 Ounces
Shipping:
Calculated at Checkout
Bulk Pricing:
Buy in bulk and save
Adding to cart… The item has been added

Product Overview

Your Commodore 64/128 machine can join the growing ranks of Internet capable systems by installing the 64NIC+ Ethernet interface. 64NIC+ offers inexpensive Ethernet connectivity and more. Based on the Crystal CS8900 10 megabit Ethernet interface engine, the interface emulates the popular RR-NET solution as well as the NET64 and TFE systems.

Designed by RETRO Innovations and previously sold as a fundraiser for the the Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club (CCCC), 64NIC+ allows the Commodore user to experience online connectivity in true 8-bit glory.  Play online Ethernet games, telnet to your favorite BBSes, Twitter from your Commodore!

In addition to Ethernet capabilities, the system also includes an optional on board ROM socket that can be loaded with up to 16 cartridge images.   With the appropriate ROM, the 64NIC+ can autoboot and load your favorite games and utilities via TCP/IP, no disk drive required.

Main features include:

  • Self contained functionality. No pieces to disconnect
  • 10 Mbit Ethernet connectivity
  • RR-NET compatibility
  • C64 and C128 compatibility

Technical Features include:

  • The ubiquitous RESET switch!
  • Onboard optional ROM socket for autoboot functionality
  • ROM socket can accommodate up to 256kB ROMs
  • Optional rotary switch can select 1 of 16 ROM images
  • Cartridge can be configured to reside in either IO1 or IO2 address spaces
  • Cartridge can be configured to reside in any 16 byte address bank within the IO address space.

Upgrade options include:

  • 16 position rotary switch:  This can be used (with an appropriately programmed EPROM) to select 1 of 16 ROM images.
  • 2Mb (256kB) Blank EPROM: Program your favorite ROM images into the EPROM and use the optional rotary switch to select each image

Units come with a 30 days return policy and 1 year warranty. More information on configuration and software downloads is available at www.go4retro.com/products/64nic/.

Note: Unit ships without an enclosure.  Feel free to select an enclosure from our various color selections.

Reviews

(23 reviews) Write a Review

23 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews

  • 5
    Does the job well!

    Posted by Joseph Hutter on 6th Sep 2018

    These guys continue to put out amazing tech for the commodore 8 bit line. Very grateful to Jim and Retro for their hard work. 64NIC+ works as expected with additional extras you wouldnt quite expect. Worth the purchase, hands down.

  • 5
    Works like a charm

    Posted by Curt Rowlett on 22nd Jan 2018

    Easy to install and setup and works perfectly. I would recommend this product to anyone who wants to get their C64 online.

  • 5
    The future is cool

    Posted by ISTILLUSEDIALUPIN2017 on 6th Oct 2017

    Been using a 1200 baud modem for all my C64 BBS browsing before this, and wow! Very glad i spend a little extra cash and bought the 64nic! No longer does everyone in the house complain about the phone not working because i'm using dial up, and the 10mb/s is a very nice improvement over modem speeds.(Also an interesting note, it seems runs in half duplex according to my cisco switch i have it hooked up to) Only thing i need to do now is get a cart shell and hack it up for my 64nic. Amazing product!!!

  • 5
    Forward... Into the Past!

    Posted by Robert M. on 6th Jul 2017

    This is a great product at a great price. Shipping was fast and well packaged. I was curious if the ROM socket would support JiffyDOS, so I wrote in, and received a prompt response (it cannot). As other reviewers have mentioned, there is a bit of a trial-and-error period or learning curve to get going with this, but I didn't find it too onerous. The product description page is plenty to get started: http://www.go4retro.com/products/64nic/ Reading the product page carefully, you can find a disk image link of starter tools including Contiki v1, setmac, and GuruTerm: http://www.go4retro.com/downloads/64nic+/c64nic.d64 There is not much programming information easily found, but there is an excellent getting started article on MacGUI which includes 6502 assembly for the CS8900A - just fix up the I/O port addresses from page $C0 to page $DE or $DF (whichever you use): http://macgui.com/kb/article/763 Per "Mager Valp" Olofsson wrote udpslave and released it as open-source which is also a great example of a minimal IP/UDP application stack, as well as a useful utility: http://paradroid.automac.se/udpslave/ Note: Use the 20080618 version which includes some bugfixes over the 0.91 release version. Oliver Schmidt's IP65 github project has pretty much anything else you can stand to know, including a nice telnet client which works great for MUDs: https://oliverschmidt.github.io/ip65/ After a few days experimentation, I was able to round up all(?) of the available RR-net/64NIC compatible code out there (sometimes through archive.org) and get it working on this card from my C64c - persistence will pay off. Getting geoLink to get onto IRC was probably the toughest due to GEOS annoying copy protection code and deskTop-on-every-disk requirement. I managed to use droid to pull the GEOS app off the sample disk and put it into a working GEOS boot disk image to get that online. Finally, just a note that everyone seems to use a different MAC address OUI for their program, which makes it sort of hard to setup your home router to DHCP a *fixed* IP address to the card. I hacked my own copy of setmac to use a single MAC address with the correct Cirrus OUI 00:0e:3a and use that. Just hexedit the last few bytes of setmac with the MAC you want. It's pretty easy to find the default MAC to edit. Anyway, as you can guess - the hardware is great - the software can take some fussing but the payoff is a pretty nifty C64 internet terminal/client for a variety of apps and games. I've definitely had more than enough fun with this card to justify the reasonable price.

  • 5
    Wow!!

    Posted by Roland Bogdan on 12th May 2017

    This is really awesome! Soon I'll be able to connect my 128 to the Internet - having trouble, but not from the device - moreso software related issues - I can set the IP, DNS, and all that, but I have some .d64 files that won't work on my SD2EIC - Contiki works, but is unusable and I can't get mt Tom2 mouse to work, but I can check in my router and see that it is in fact connected, so I know as soon as I figure out my other issues it will work just fine!

  • 5
    Get your C64/128 online with ethernet

    Posted by Jay Theriot on 19th Apr 2017

    This device is just plain cool. I can't say that this is a must-buy, but, this definitely has the cool factor in it. The device works flawlessly, but my problem is finding software that utilizes this device. Contiki is nice, but clunky. I have found that I get a more stable experience if I download the code and compile it myself on my *nix box. The empty ROM socket has got me looking into programming an EPROM for it. Something, I have wanted to do for 30 years. I've got the eprommer in and I have a wiper that should arrive tomorrow. I'm about to do some cool programming stuff, and I can't wait. I would not hesitate to purchase this product again, YMMV.

  • 5
    64NIC is a 5 star product. Love it.

    Posted by Unknown on 10th Feb 2017

    I recently puchased a 64NIC for my breadbin and I can honestly say it's a quality product. The construction is superb and ease of use is great. I plugged it in after cutting the holes in the cart case. Downloaded Kipperterm and was BBSing in 2 minutes.Great job Retro Innovations. The fast shipping, great communication and product quality will keep me coming back. You've just gained a New longtime customer.

  • 5
    A easy solution

    Posted by Unknown on 9th Jan 2017

    I always had the desire to copy files from Windows based computers to the C64. The 64NIC along with the Warpcopy program makes it very easy to copy files from any computer on the network.

  • 5
    best thing since the 64 it's self.

    Posted by Unknown on 27th Nov 2016

    Love it works like a charm. Only thing is that there needs to be more terminal software that can be used with it.