Re: Archiving Copy-Protected 8-bit Software

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

mkelsey@spam.eecs.wsu.edu writes ...
> 
> In article <3517AEDD.928EB6DF@swbell.net>,
>         Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> writes:
> > mkelsey@spam.eecs.wsu.edu writes ...
>
> .... 
> I'm sure that's how the programs treat the data in memory, but I want to
> "retain" that data onto an unprotected disk, e.g. do what SST does, but
> with Copy II+ 6.5 instead .... Thus there isn't any "cracked by.."
> biz and the I know the original will work on all 8-bit machines unlike
> the "popular" distributions of cracked Karateka and Drol.
>
> .... 
> How do I convince Copy II+ 9.1 to store the disk data as a single image
> on my hard drive? I know it uses auxiliary memory for copying disks
> where as Copy II+ 6.5 would allow the user to create "disk images."
> While that concept is nice for unprotected software, it doesn't seem
> to get very far with non-standard disks.
>

     Copy II+, etc. will not create disk image files of copy-protected
diskettes. Bit copies are produced a piece at a time on a mechanical
device. There is no image to save to a file.

     Could a disk copier produce an image file of a protected disk? In
many cases, it could. For example, if the protection consists of
changing address headers or some similar scheme which does not alter the
basic format and placement of tracks, the image could be placed in a
file.

     For archival purposes, an assumption would be that the image file
data can be written to a diskette by some program which doesn't choke on
unusual data and preserves relative positions of sectors from track to
track.

     Some of the images would be usable on emulators. Images of
diskettes protected by synchronization and other mechanical drive timing
dependencies probably would not be usable.

     A diskette using half and/or quarter tracks presents special
problems. You are no longer dealing with just an image which can be laid
out on a diskette track by track. Since half-tracks, etc. violate
standard assumptions about mechanical layout, you have to encode special
instructions for the image recovery program.




> ....  I don't have my Copy II+ manual at my current
> location, but I thought I read somewhere that after incrementing the disk
> arm you wait 32uS before moving it again, does this sound right?
>

     For quarter track stepping, you would turn ON a step phase and turn
it OFF. I do not know how long you are supposed to wait before the OFF.
You could experiment by trying to read a quarter track from a diskette
known to use this kind of protection. 



Rubywand