jcs.org / WiFiPPP
ESP8266-based WiFi serial modem emulator ROM
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README.md

WiFiPPP#

Yet another ESP8266-based WiFi serial modem emulator ROM featuring a Hayes AT-style command interface that emulates a serial modem and allows old hardware to "dial" telnet addresses rather than phone numbers.

It also includes a built-in PPP server that routes through the WiFi interface, reachable with ATDT PPP. Inside the PPP connection is a SOCKS5 proxy that can strip TLS from common services like HTTPS and IMAPS, allowing old hardware to talk to modern, secure services without needing to do any TLS.

WiModem232#

WiFiPPP currently targets the WiModem232 hardware, which includes:

Installation#

For the WiModem232, installation will replace the factory ROM image, though no hardware modification is needed.

This manual installation will only be required once, since future updates can use the built-in AT$UPDATE command to do an over-the-air update over WiFi.

First, clone this Git repo and compile the WiFiPPP ROM.

$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/jcs/WiFiPPP
[...]
$ cd WiFiPPP
WiFiPPP$ gmake

On the back side of the WiModem232 (with the USB port facing down) are 5 vertical sockets. From top to bottom, these are:

  1. GPIO0 (to enter bootloader)
  2. TX
  3. RX
  4. 3.3v VCC
  5. GND

Connect a 4- or 5- pin USB TTL serial cable to the bottom 4 sockets. It is recommended to use a breadboard so the 3.3V VCC and GND pins can be connected to the breadboard's + and - rails, and then connect wires from those rails to the sockets on the WiModem232.

Connect a jumper wire between the top port (GPIO0) port and the GND rail.

Connect another jumper wire to the GND rail which will be used to reset the ESP8266.

Run gmake install to launch esptool and prepare to flash the WiFiPPP ROM through the USB TTL cable.

Touch the jumper wire from the GND rail to the RST pin on the ESP8266, which is the bottom-most pin along the right-hand side. The blue LED will flash briefly, and if the GPIO0 socket is correctly connected through your other jumper wire to GND, the ESP8266 will reboot to the bootloader.

esptool should see this and start uploading the ROM automatically.

After flashing, disconnect the GPIO0 jumper wire or else it will reboot into bootloader again. Touch the RST pin again and the device should boot and show WiFiPPP on the OLED screen (if your model has one).

In a serial terminal connected to your USB TTL device at any baud rate, you should see some junk from the bootloader after rebooting. Hit enter and type AT and it should echo back.

If all is working properly, you can disconnect all of your cables and connect through the DB25 port (but not at the same time). You'll need to re-establish your WiFi settings since the EEPROM layout from WiFiPPP is not compatible with the factory WiModem232 settings.