C 6 4 B B S 4 V I C E
by METAL MAGE

Courtesy of Anthony Tolle (ATOLLE) from Sonic Temple BBS :)

When I first attempted to run C64BBS under VICE using tcpser, I started out with the bare essentials, one D81 disk image containing all of the BBS files, and no REU or HDD options. This worked. It was as simple as running Novaterm 9.6c under VICE using tcpser!

However, the BBS was running at serial drive speeds using the D81 images, and that was just too slow. So, I figured out how to configure the RAM expansion unit (REU) with some help from EXCALIBUR, and I loaded all of the program overlays used to run the BBS into the 2MB RAM drive. This improved the loading times dramatically and I was quite pleased at the result. Using the 2MB REU and four D81 images, the BBS was running like a champ. But in the process, somehow... the x-modem overlay developed a bug and crashes the BBS when someone tries to either upload or download a file. I am working on solving this issue. I think it has to do with the REU, since the upload and download features worked fine without the REU in the past. I tested this using CGTerm 1.7b myself and have screenshots of the file transfers in progress.

I also learned how to configure the IDE64 HDD cartridge add-on for VICE thanks to EXCALIBUR too. However, the ACIA hack is not compatible with the IDE64 HDD and the BBS will not run yet on the IDE64 HDD image. I asked ATOLLE if he would try and resolve this issue so that it is possible to run C64BBS using the IDE64 HDD add-on feature for VICE. That would speed up the BBS and provide lots of disk storage.

Download pre-configured
BBS installation

The SysOp Account:

handle is sysop,
user #2,
password is sysop

Instructions:

Download the file and unzip it. Unzip the tcpser-1.0rc11.zip file (creates tcpser dir) and then unzip WinVICE-1.19.zip (creates WinVICE 1.19 dir) on your Windows PC in a folder called c:/bbs (or whatever).

Next, run the run.bat file in the tcpser dir to start tcpser. Now run the x64.exe file in the WinVICE 1.19 dir and then select File-->Attach disk image-->drive # and select drive#.d81 from the c64bbs dir to attach all four images to the 1581 drives.

To load the BBS type:

LOAD"+bbs",8 and hit ENTER then type RUN and hit ENTER. You can select Warp mode under Options to speed up the loading process. But you need to unselect it once the date/time prompts are displayed. Answer "y" to rebuild message index.

If you did everything correctly, you should be looking at a waiting for call screen. Congradulations! Your BBS is ready to accept calls.

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