Loading
BBS Operation - Loading the BBS
At this point, you should have already created your parameters file, password file, most of your core system messages and help files. Each drive assigned in your parameters file should have a disk or disk image in it with the proper files already on it. If you want to start your system with some files in the download directory, make sure you put them in the proper drive now.
There are two specific discussions pertaining to loading the BBS: 1) Loading system without a RAM Expansion Unit (REU), and 2) Loading system with a REU, because each comes with their own set of startup file commands as well as observations during the loading process.
Loading System without a REU
If you are not using a Ram Expander, you are ready to load Color 64 BBS for the first time (the big moment). Insert the disk that has your BOOT files on it and load the program called "+bbs" as if it were a BASIC program, then type RUN and hit RETURN.
- JiffyDos users can auto-RUN the program by typing “£+bbs" and pressing RETURN.
- Lt. Kernal HD users can just type "+bbs" and hit RETURN to boot the program.
If you opted to “swap disks” in your SETUP, then you will see a message indicating that you should insert your Program disk once the initial boot operation has completed. The system’s next step is loading your configuration and overlays from the PROGRAM disk where your "√bbs.parms" file is contained. If everything loads normally, the computer will print "Working..." at the top of the screen. This means that the BBS is loading its parameters in from disk. Now skip to "Entering the Date and Time" below.
If the BBS fails to boot normally, then it probably means that an essential file is missing in the Program Files or the System Files. Check the installation instructions to make sure that the correct files have been copied to the BBS system disks.
Loading System with a REU
If you are going to have your overlays load from a 17XX series Ram Expander, you may want to double check that you did answer "Y" to the REU question in the "bootmaker" program. If you did not, then the essential boot programs will not be in your Boot Files. Also, make sure that if you have separate Program and Boot disks that you answer "Y" to the "swap disks" question.
Insert your Boot disk now if necessary. Next, load the program called “+ram.start" as if it were a BASIC program, then type RUN and hit RETURN. JiffyDos users can auto-RUN the program by typing "↑+ram.start" and pressing RETURN. Once you run the program, the BASIC script program that copies your programs to the REU will be loaded. You will see a lot of strange commands scrolling by on the screen, but this is just showing you what the script program is doing now. If at any time you see a "file not found error" you should reset your computer immediately and then double check that all the necessary files are in place; the files copied off the Boot Files into the REU are √sys.loadml, √sys.mlinit, +ram.bbs, +ram.reboot, and the ML file.
If there are no errors, then at some point in the process (depending on your setup) you may see a message asking you to insert your Program Disk and press RETURN. Just follow the instructions and you will be fine. The whole process can take from under a minute to several minutes, depending on how fast your disk device is and how many files are being copied onto the REU. Once the copying is done it will look like the computer is resetting, but this is just a normal part of the boot process. You should briefly see the Color 64 title screen and then the program will display "Working..." at the top of the screen.
Entering the Date & Time
Next, you will be asked to enter the correct date. You must enter it in the format of MM/DD/YYYY. Normally, you will never need to enter this date again. When the system is shut down (using F8) and many times during the day, a file is written to disk ("√variables") that contains the current date. You will see this last recorded date just above the question asking for the new date; if it is correct, you can just hit RETURN. If the date is changed (for whatever reason), then the BBS will query if you desire to reset the time limits (resetting any user accounts to reflect a new day’s worth of time). If this is your first time bringing up the system, then just type an "N", since there really aren't any members' time limits to be reset.
The next question you will be asked is about the current time. Color 64 uses one of the clocks built into the CIA chips, so the clock keeps very accurate time. Once this clock is set and if the computer has not been turned off, the clock WILL be correct (even if you don’t set it again for months). If the time is already correct, just press the RETURN key; but if the clock needs to be changed, you need to enter the correct time in two steps:
- Enter the current hour using 24-hour military format. 12 midnight would be 0, 10 am would be 10, 12 noon would be 12, 2 pm would 14, 8 pm would 20, etc.
- Enter the current minute. No surprises here! Just enter 0 to 59, as required.
The system automatically calculates the correct day of week from the date you enter.
Regenerating the Message Index
After a brief pause, you will see a question asking if you want to regenerate the message index. When the system shuts down, a file is saved on the message disk that contains this message index. Having this file on disk can greatly speed up reloading the BBS. In the event of an improper shutdown (such as a power failure or computer reset while the system is operating), the message index will not be present on the message disk and the BBS will automatically regenerate it. This is rather painless on a freshly built system, but as your message base grows, so will the time to regenerate the index. Other reasons to rebuild the index would be if you scratched a few messages while offline, you had a disk error and lost several messages, or you went into SETUP and changed the number of messages on the system). Answer "Y" to this question and it will scratch the index file, forcing the BBS to recreate a new index a little later.
Note: The BBS will override your decision if you say “N” to regenerating the index if the BBS has indication that the BBS was improperly shutdown. If this condition is present, you will observe the regeneration of the index occur anyway.
After you answer this last question, the disk drive(s) will go to work for a minute or two and then the system will be ready to use.
Rebooting the BBS
If you didn't notice, all the questions we just answered had defaults. Pressing RETURN would have used the default instead of having to type in the answer. Most of the time, if you take the BBS down to run another program, when you do reload the system, all you need to do is press RETURN 4 times and the program will bring itself back up. One exception is the time: this will heavily depend on what is done with the computer while your BBS is shutdown.
If you know you are going to accept all defaults, you can load the "+reboot" program instead of "+bbs". This will bypass the prompt queries and just accept the defaults. This reboot file is also handy if you are running on a C128 and want to use one of the autoboot-64 utilities available in the public domain. If you are using a REU, then you would load the "+ram. Restart" instead.
The Wait-For-Call Screen
Once the BBS has completed its loading process and is initialized, you will the “Wait-For-Call” screen that displays the current time, date, and the name of the last caller along with other information, using the “√wfc" file. You will observe a modem initialization occur in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, and if the last snippet of information there is the modem saying “OK” before it is cleared. The BBS is ready for its callers.
When a modem or TELNET connection occurs, the BBS will instruct the modem to answer, then wait for a carrier signal and if received, begins the login sequence. If something happens with the carrier signal during this sequence (such as a hangup/disconnected carrier), then the modem will disconnect and repeat initialization for the next call. If you want to force the BBS to answer the line, just hold down the Commodore key for a couple seconds and the modem will pick up the line just as if it had detected a ring. Likewise, if you press the Commodore key just after the modem answers the line, it will hang up without waiting the full 30 seconds for a carrier detect. Also, after the fifth invalid sign-on within 24 hours, the BBS will go into a wait loop and not answer the line for about 3 minutes. This should be sufficient to discourage callers from attempting to guess another caller's password. If you are nearby and want to abort this delay, you can press the Commodore key to allow the BBS to return to the Waiting for Caller status to bypass the timer for an invalid sign-on.
Next Section: The Sysop Menu