Re: Archiving Copy-Protected 8-bit Software

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

mkelsey@spam.eecs.wsu.edu writes ...
> 
> I have several original games that I'd like to get archived, however,
> some of them use eccentric schemes, e.g. synchronized tracks and
> quarter tracks.
> 
>         Airheart (quarter track at $1B.25)
>         Serpentine (loads of quarter tracks)
>         Karateka (quarter track at $02.25)
> 
> Is there a program that will successfully image a copy-protected
> disk maintaining all original data?

     That is what Copy II+, Locksmith, and Essential Data Duplicator are
supposed to do.



>  I prefer to keep my duplicates
> as original as possible,

     This is a novel view vis-a-vis copy protection!


> but I'm not against patching my programs
> for archival purposes when the original routine can be "fooled,"
> e.g. Dazzle Draw and Print Shop and Print Shop Companion.
>

     The original routine can usually be fooled or modified or
circumvented. (The trick is finding out how.)


 
> I know of SST (Saltinen's Super Transcopy) but I also I know it was
> a hack into EDD v2 or v3 and I only have my documentation from EDD
> v4.9.  Is there any resource that can tell me how to program the
> registers in EDD v2 and v3 such that SST would obey as nicely as
> Copy II+ 6.5?  If SST can do precisely what I need, I'd prefer to
> use it as opposed to writing my own archival program.
>
> On that note:
> Will SST preserve synchronized tracks, track length, programmable
> header (fixed), and quarter/half tracks?
> 
> If not, then I would need to begin writing my own bit of software
> for handling such schemes.
>

     SST is new to me. Based upon your description it sounds like its
capabilities are available in Copy II+ v9.1. For creating deprotected
copies, Ray Durrah's Super I.O.B is similarly flexible.


 
> This moves to another point, understanding how certain copy-protection
> schemes are "read."
> ....

> Determining track length ....

     By the way, my earlier comment about slowing down the source drive
to copy long tracks missed the mark a bit. It is more important to be
able to slow down the target drive. 


> What I find confusing is how to "move" the disk arm to a quarter-track
> position.  I know where the quarter tracks rest on my copy-protected
> software as I have programmed Copy II+ with PARM entries, but I wouldn't
> have a clue how to move the disk arm just a quarter track.  Central Point
> described the quarter track procedure as "slightly" off center ....

     The process is described somewhere in the Copy II+ manual. What you
do is turn ON a stepper motor phase and, then, turn it OFF before it has
a chance to complete the step. If your timing is right, the head ends up
about midway between two half-tracks.




Rubywand