Commodore Color Graphics Manipulation System Terminal
by Craig Smith (1985-1988), alwyz (2017-2020)


Quick Start Guide

Step 1: select "RunMeFirst.cfg" and select Load Settings, then select Ok.

Step 2: select "CCGMS.d64" and select Run Disk.


1. Connect using Bookmarks

Press F7 from the main terminal screen
Press L to load phonebook (filename must match what is on the disk)
Press A to enter the auto-dialler. Select BBS and press A to dial

Or:

2. Manual Connection from main terminal screen
Use ATDT command with hostname:port

Example:
ATDT dzbbs.hopto.org:64128


Connection Troubleshooting:
Test your modem connection by typing "AT" at the terminal screen - you should receive an "OK" response. If not, check your configuration settings in the Ultimate menu.

- Remove all cartridges before connecting
- Disconnect GeoRAM (standard REU modules are compatible)
- Modem Interface should be ACIA / SwiftLink
- ACIA (6551) Mapping should be $DE00/NMI

- In CCGMS, press F7 from the main terminal screen for the Dialler/Params menu and ensure that the modem type is Swift / Turbo DE and that the baud rate is 38400. Note: the options Duplex (Full) and Firmware (Standard) should never need to be changed. The others can be changed to suit your needs.  

Upload/Download Troubleshooting: Xmodem and Xmodem-CRC are the most popular protocols and modern BBS systems are extremely reliable when using Xmodem. Punter can be unreliable depending on the board and connection speed.



Some quick instructions:

Terminal Mode

F1: Upload file
F2: Send/Read file
F3: Download file
F4: Buffer commands
F5: Disk command
F6: Directory
F7: Settings/Dialler
F8: Cycle terminal mode (ASCii/ANSi or C/G PETSCII)

C= F1: Multi-Upload
C= F3: Multi-Download
C= F5: Send directory
C= F7: Screen to buffer

CTRL F1/F3: Send Macro Text
CTRL F5/F7: Send User ID/Password

C= CTRL [1-4]: Take screen snapshot
SHFT CTRL [1-4]: Recall screen snapshot

C= STOP: Disconnect


Upload File

F1 will upload a single file from current drive to the BBS. It will ask for the source filename.

Send/Read File

F2 will ask whether you want to send (S) or read (R) a file. This menu refers to SEQ files only.

* "Send" reads a SEQ file from the current drive and sends it to the BBS, byte by byte, as if it has been typed in. This is meant for text-only data, and does not do any error detection/correction.
* "Read" reads a SEQ file from the current drive and prints it to the screen. No data is sent to the BBS.


Download File

F3 will download a single file from the BBS to the current drive. First, it will ask for the destination filename.  If the [protocol](#protocol) is XMODEM, it will also ask what file type the new file should be: PRG, SEQ or USR.

Buffer Commands

F4 will show the buffer menu with following options:

Open  Close  Erase  Transfer
Load  Save   Print  View

* Open: Open the buffer. If the buffer is open, all text received from the BBS in terminal mode will be appended to the buffer.
* Close: Close the buffer. This stops appending text to the buffer.
* Erase: Erase the buffer. This clears the buffer.
* Load: This loads an SEQ file from the current drive into the buffer.
* Save: This saves the buffer into an SEQ file on the current drive.
* Print: This sends the buffer to the printer. It will ask for the device number and the secondary address. By convention, secondary address 0 will pick the upper/graphics character set, and 7 will pick the upper/lower character set.
* View: This prints the buffer contents to the screen. During printing, STOP cancels, and any other key pauses/unpauses.

In addition, < and > will move the buffer pointer.

The RETURN key will exit the buffer menu.

Note: If you have a 17xx type Ram Expansion Unit enabled, the first 64k of RAM will automatically be enabled for a 64k buffer.

Disk Command

F5 allows sending a command to the current drive, like S:FOO,S or CD/FOO/CD:â† (sd2iec).

* #8, #9 etc. changes the current drive globally.
* An empty command will print the drive status.


Directory

F6 will show the directory of the current drive. STOP cancels, and any other key pauses/unpauses.



Settings/Dialler

F7 will show the following menu:

Auto-Dialler/Phonebook
Baud Rate   - 38400
Duplex      - Full
Modem Type  - Swift / Turbo DE
Firmware    - Standard
Protocol    - Punter
Theme       - Classic CCGMS v5.5
Edit Macros
Load/Save Phone Book and Config.
View Instructions

The first character of each option will invoke it.



Auto-Dialler/Phonebook

CCGMS can auto-dial phonebook entries. It will send the ATDT command and parse the status returned by the modem (e.g. CONNECT or NO ANSWER). After connecting to the BBS, the key combinations Ctrl+F5 and Ctrl+F7 will send the username and password of the current phonebook entry.

The phonebook has 30 entries, consisting of

* name: name in the phone book
* ip: DNS name or IP address
* port: IP port
* id: username
* pw: password

Use the cursor keys to navigate the entries. SPACE or RETURN selects/deselects an entry, which allows any subset of the entries to be selected.

Dial Unlisted # (D)
This allows connecting to a BBS that is not listed in the phonebook. CCGMS will ask for the DNS name or IP and the port.

Edit Current # (E)
This allows editing the currently highlighted entry.

Call Current # (C)
This dials the currently highlighted entry.

Dial Selected (A)
This dials the currently selected entries, one by one, until one answers.

Reverse Call (R)
Invert the current selection of entries.

Return To Menu (X)
This will return to the settings menu.





Further information on Michael Steil's repo:
https://github.com/mist64/ccgmsterm

How to navigate a C*Base BBS and more: https://atlantis-prophecy.org/recollection/?load=bbs_scene

Full list of boards: https://sites.google.com/view/microtownc64bbslist/home



Distributed with the Commodore 64 Ultimate with permission from alwyz.