Boot program details
Installation - Boot Program Details
All boot programs are denoted with a plus-symbol (“+”) at the start of the filename. The first one you will be running is “+SETUP” to configure your BBS and you will be using it frequently as things change in your BBS.
When you load and run one of these files, several things occur:
- An initial reset occurs (the screen clears, and the colors go back to default). The reset is done to make sure the system is ready to load the necessary programs.
- Additional support files will be loaded into memory; which files are loaded will be dependent which boot file you are running.
These boot files are the entry point to your system and should be the only way to start operations as they contain essential parameters of your system (such as the device numbers of your Program Files and Boot Files).
Boot File Descriptions
The table below describes what each of the boot programs does and the additional files it will load:
| Filename | Functional Description | Load Sequence |
|---|---|---|
| +bbs | Boots the main BBS system to the point of the date and time setting prompts. |
|
| +reboot | Like +bbs above, except +reboot will cause the default settings to be accepted by the “date and time” and “regenerate message index” questions, as if you had hit RETURN at these prompts yourself. | |
| +setup | Boots the SETUP utility. |
|
| +editor | Boots the stand-alone message editor. |
|
| +shell | Loads the ML shell (see section 2.4 below) into memory and returns to the BASIC "ready." prompt. This is used for the included stand-alone utilities if the ML is not already in memory. It first loads the √sys.loadml program, which in turn loads √sys.mlinit, and finally the specific system ML program. |
|
| REU Boot Files (if REU option was set) | ||
| +ram. Start | Main BBS system boot program for REU users. This runs the BASIC script program necessary to copy your overlays to the REU and then will boot the system just like the +bbs program. |
|
| +ram. Restart | Like +reboot program, but for REU users as it copies the overlays before rebooting the system. It will also load +ram. Reboot instead of +ram.bbs | Refer to +reboot |
| +ram.reinit | In case of a system reset, this program can be used to reinstall the RAMDOS program necessary to access the files stored on the REU |
|
| +ram.bbs | RAMDOS must be active, and Overlays must be resident in the REU. This behaves like the standard +bbs program but loads all files from the REU instead of the Boot and Program disks. | Refer to +bbs |
| +ram. Reboot | Just like +ram.bbs above, but this will behave like the +reboot program for REU. | Refer to +reboot |
| Network Setup Boot File (if Network option was set) | ||
| +net setup | Boots the Network Setup Utility |
|
The ML Shell
From the above table, you will see many of the boot programs load the “√sys.loadml" file as the first step in the boot process. This file then loads and installs the necessary ML code into memory, at which point the Color 64 title screen is displayed. Once this ML "shell" is installed in memory, it will stay there until you either shut the computer off or run another non-Color 64 program that alters essential memory (the bootmaker programs do this).
The BBS package comes with several stand-alone utilities that require the ML shell to be resident, but do not automatically load them. To use these, you should run the “+shell” boot program that will load the appropriate ML first if the ML is not already resident in your memory from BBS operations. These include “pswd tools”, “dir tools”, “menu maker”, and “bbs convert.”
SETUP Parameters
One of the most important things you will need to do when setting up your BBS is to define a few SYSOP selectable parameters. To do this you must run the SETUP program included with Color 64. Now is a good time to make sure the drive that you assigned to the password file is online and has enough space on it. It is necessary to make sure that the disk in the drive or the partition on the hard drive is formatted and blank. The SETUP program will create a relative file on this drive large enough to hold the number of callers you designated.
If you have a Boot disk, then insert the disk into your disk drive now. Otherwise, just make sure you are accessing your Boot Files. Next, LOAD and RUN the program called "+setup". You may want to run SETUP the first time with Fastload disabled (You can leave JiffyDos enabled). On some systems, you will get a "NO CHANNEL" error when creating REL files (like the password file) while Fastload is enabled. If later you rerun SETUP to just change a parameter, it is ok to leave Fastload enabled. It seems to be safe to read and write REL records with Fastload enabled, just not when creating a new file. When you boot SETUP, you may be asked to insert your Program disk into the drive.
The "√bbs.parms" File
Your BBS parameters are stored in a sequential file called "√bbs.parms" and will ALWAYS be stored on your Program Files drive. This is necessary because the parms must always be accessible to the program overlays, not just during the boot process, but also in case the system crashes. For REU users, your “√bbs.parms" file is NOT copied to RAM--it is always read in from the Program drive. It is possible, however, to keep your parms on a disk that is not the Program disk. You just need to make sure that the proper disk is in the drive when the BBS program gets to the point where it needs to be read in the parms. If the BBS program cannot find the parms file when it is first loaded, it will ask you to insert a Parms disk. Thus, if you want to use this method, then you must answer "Y" to the "swap disks" question in the "bm ram" program, then when SETUP asks for the Program disk, insert the disk which you want to store your "√bbs.parms" file on.
Insert your Program/Parms disk now and press RETURN if necessary. After some disk access, the program should go right to the Main Parameters screen:
For most questions presented to you in setup, you will see the current or default value displayed in square brackets ("[" and "]"). If you wish to use the current value, just press RETURN to accept it. Also, at most of the prompts you can type " - " (minus sign) and press RETURN to go back to the previous question. This can be helpful if you accidentally "miss" the question you wanted to change.
See SETUP Parameters for assistance with answering the questions.
Next Section: SETUP Parameters