CMD Hard Drive
Specific System Requirements - CMD HD
The HD series of hard drives from Creative Micro Designs is another excellent choice for running a BBS system. You can allocate your disk space in almost any configuration you can think of, dividing the storage up into partitions. The CMD HD's Native Mode partitions also support subdirectories, which allow you to dynamically allocate space to individual file directories.
The only "requirement" for using the CMD HD might be this: If you plan to have your Program Files on the CMD, then I strongly suggest you invest in the JiffyDos fast disk system. Or, since the CMD HD is fully compatible with any of the Commodore 17XX series REU's, you could also configure your BBS system to use RAMDOS for faster loading. Also, you could also invest in CMD's RamLink device, which would give you the benefit of fast parallel operation.
The CMD HD should NEVER be used along with any type of fastloader cartridge, unless the designers of the fastloader specifically say it is compatible with the CMD HD. It has been found that the use of some fastloader cartridges can corrupt the data stored on your CMD HD.
See the section "Drive Initialization Commands" for information on how to select partitions and subdirectories on your CMD.
The Real Time Clock
SYSOPs using a CMD HD (or a CMD RamLink with Real Time Clock) should merge "cmd.init" ** into "√bbs.init" to take advantage of the built-in clock on the CMD device. MAKE SURE the clock is set to the correct time before starting the system up with this merge in place. The √bbs.init program will now read the time off the CMD device upon booting up. After making this merge you may delete the following lines from √bbs.init: 24030, 24190, 24210, 24220, 24230, 24250.
Also, there is a GOSUB481 located in line 24007. This is meant to select the CMD device to input the time. Since GOSUB481 selects the system files drive, this may need to be changed if your system files are not stored on your CMD device.
Note: line 24020 of CMD.INIT has “19” set for Year, which in our current year of 2024, would equate to “1924” to the BBS. Change this line to “20” unless you are reading this in the 2100s.