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Installation and Configuration

Booting HyperLink

The very first time you start HL, you must configure it for your hardware.
  1. Insert the HL disk into any disk drive and type LOAD"CWI",D,1 where D is your disk drive's device number. 128s must be in 64 mode.
  2. HyperLink will automatically start the Configure program. Follow the prompts on the screen. If you make a mistake, you can back up a section by pressing F7. Most options are chosen with F1 or F3.
  3. Configure will ask you if you want to use a mouse or joystick. If you have a joystick or a 1350 mouse, select joystick and make sure it is plugged into port 2. If you have a 1351 or true 1351 compatible proportional mouse, select mouse and make sure it is plugged into port 1.
  4. Tell HyperLink what type of cache you would like to use. If you are using version 2.5a, you may choose from geoRAM, REU or VDC; if you are using the original version 2.5, you may choose from geoRAM or VDC only.

    If you have version 2.5a and have an REU (1700, 1750, 1764, CMD XL, or 100% compatible REU clone) plugged into your cartridge port, select REU. If you have a geoRAM expansion in your cartridge port, select geoRAM. REUs and geoRAMs must have minimum 128K available, and HyperLink assumes their control registers map to $DFxx (the default configuration).

    If you decide to use VDC memory, you must also choose either a 16K VDC or 64K VDC configuration. If you have a 128DCR (most American 128D models) or an expanded flat 128 with 4464 RAM chips for 64K of VDC memory, choose 64K VDC. All other 128s, including European 128Ds, should choose 16K VDC. (If you're not sure, choose 16K.) HyperLink's VDC memory access library will not work properly with a SuperCPU v1 without modification. If you have a factory-original SCPU v1 without modification, you cannot use VDC as cache.

    If you have a regular C64 or 64C with no cartridge RAM expansion of any kind, indicate you will be not using cache.

    You may not use multiple types of cache simultaneously, so select the cache device that gives you the largest amount of space.

  5. Configure will then ask what modem device you intend to use for HyperLink. If you have a modem or null-modem connected to a CMD SwiftLink, Turbo232 or compatible ACIA cartridge installed in the computer's expansion port, select SwiftLink or compatible. If you do not intend to use a modem, or do not have a SwiftLink, you must select Offline (or No SwiftLink).

    Version 2.5 could use 1200bps user port modems to access the Net. This was undocumented and unsupported, but did work on many NTSC systems. Version 2.5a completely removes this code. If you wish to continue using your 1200bps modem, you must use the original 2.5 and not 2.5a. No technical support is furnished for users of 1200bps mode through the user port.

  6. Select the speed you want to drive the ACIA cartridge at. HyperLink supports speeds from 1200bps to 57.6kbps regardless of whether or not you have a CMD SuperCPU accelerator installed. You can select speeds that are faster than your modem; your modem will connect to your server at the fastest rate available. 57.6kbps is only supported with true Turbo232 devices; SwiftLinks are limited to 38.4kbps or slower.
  7. Select the I/O address of your ACIA cartridge. HyperLink assumes you are using a 6551 ACIA, which is the chip in the SwiftLink and Turbo232 and 100% compatible clones. Most cartridges are set to $DE00. If your cartridge has been modified to use $DF00, or you are using a port expander that has remapped your cartridge to $DF00, select that option instead.
  8. HyperLink will then confirm and complete your settings, and then allow you to boot the main program. If you receive an error, or the boot process fails, reset your computer and type LOAD"CONFIGURE",D,1 where D is your disk drive's device number to try to reconfigure your settings.
From then on, type LOAD"CWI",D,1 where D is your disk drive's device number to boot HL. Plug your 1350 mouse or joystick into port 2, or your 1351-compatible mouse into port 1. The device number you boot HyperLink from becomes the primary disk drive and will be the device which HyperLink will read and write from.

You must run Configure again if you change your modem setup or cache setup, or HyperLink may crash or behave irregularly. To re-run Configure, type LOAD"CONFIGURE",D,1 where D is your disk drive's device number.

Setting up HLPP

This section only applies to people using HL2.5 for accessing the Internet. If you will not be using HL for Internet access, you may skip this section.

HyperLink uses a special program called HLPP (the HyperLink Parsing Proxy) to connect to the Internet. It does not use regular SLIP or PPP, but requires a dial-up shell account and Perl 5.0 or higher. In most cases, you can install HLPP without assistance from your system administrator. Certain additional utilities may be needed to view images.

VideoCam users! If you use VideoCam as your Commodore shell provider, HLPP is already installed on your system! You can skip this section.

There are two ways to set up HLPP. If you are unfamiliar with Unix commands, and have a terminal program that supports uploads to your shell account, you may use this method. Your server must have Lynx for this to operate.

  1. Upload the program installhlpp (on your HyperLink disk) to your shell account or Unix null-modem server according to the procedures required for your terminal program and your Unix server. Refer to your documentation or the technical support desk of your provider if you need help. The transfer must be binary, not ASCII (Xmodem, Ymodem and Zmodem will do this correctly; if you use Kermit, make sure the file type is binary). Alternatively, you may also download installhlpp from ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/spectre/UNIX/installhlpp.
  2. At your shell prompt, type csh installhlpp
  3. The installhlpp utility will check to see if your ISP supports the features required by HLPP, and then will attempt to contact the Computer Workshops server and download and install HLPP for you. Follow the prompts it displays. If it fails, or if you get error messages, try the steps below or contact Computer Workshops technical support.
If you are experienced with Unix, you may wish to download hlpp manually from ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/spectre/HL25/hlpp . Make sure you make it executable with chmod u+x hlpp and run its built-in self-test with ./hlpp -test to see if it properly detects any installed helpers and is able to find all its modules. If this test fails, try using installhlpp or contact Computer Workshops for technical support.

You must do these steps once for any server you use HLPP on. Once installed, you are ready to use HyperLink in web browser mode.

HLPP also requires helper applications to assist it in converting JPEG, TIFF (HLPP version 1.1 and later only), and GIF images into equivalents your Commodore can view. These are not necessary to browse the web, but you will be unable to display images without them. The HLPP installation process will tell you if you are missing a helper application. For JPEG images, the djpeg utility is required. For GIF and TIFF images, the Netpbm toolkit is required. To get these applications, ask your system administrator or your ISP's technical support desk.

It is recommended that you periodically re-run the installhlpp script to check that you have the most current version of HLPP installed on your system.