Color 64 Network

Before you dive into Network, you should read this entire chapter first.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO NEW COLOR 64 BBS OWNERS! If you just recently started running Color 64 BBS (or haven't even started yet), do not use Network! You should wait until you've become thoroughly familiar with Color 64 BBS before you get into Network. If you are new to Color 64 BBS and you start using Network, you'll be well over your head in hot water regardless of how well you think you can handle it.

Also, don't use Network unless you already know who you want to network with. This is because you must have at least one node entered in through the NET SETUP program before you can even start the system up if Network is enabled.

There are several 8.1a updates & facelifts that have occurred for networking since version 8.1. Highlights include:

A more user-friendly node editor for the NET SETUP
Telnet-friendly
Removal of Billing setup & display (files and records are still present, but user balances are not checked when sending a message; charge rates and user balances are not displayed to the user).

* If, for some reason, you desire to have billing enacted, you can reach out to me on the itchybutt.org website and I can send a file with the code active.

Hardware Requirements

It is required that you have a fast means of loading overlays within the BBS environment. There are only four I know which can accomplish this speed:

The Commodore REU series
The Xetec Lt. Kernel hard drive system, and
The CMD hard drive system with either JiffyDos or RAMLink
Vice emulation of one of the above

A potential yet to be tested is the Commodore Ultimate Elite II. With a Jiffy-Dos implementation and faster clock speeds, it might be up to the job as well.

The load-speed requirement is not only for your own benefit, but also for those of your nodes. There is also the real possibility that if you are not using one of these methods, the network will not work properly since there are precise timing routines within the system that expect certain things to happen at certain times.

Aside from the above requirements, Network 64 is fully compatible with all hardware which is supported by Color 64 BBS.

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