Re: SST (Saltine's Super Transcopy)

[cturley2@aol.comWOMPWOMP (Saint Isidore of Laytonville)]

It is available for download in zip archive format from my old website now
maintained by Rubywand -- at:

http://apple2.org.za/gswv/a2zine/Utils/SaltinesSuperTranscopy.zip


Here's the text version of the MS Word DOC file for anybody
unable to load and/or read the MS Word file after unzipping
the archive of it all... 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                               How to use

                               S    S    T

                         Saltine's Super Transcopy

*** Introduction ***

      Back in the good old days when the Apple computer thrived, there
 existed various groups of individuals who's existance revolved
 around the removal of copy protection from Apple software.  These groups,
 while they had the same goal, were very competative.  They attempted to
 remove the protection from a piece of software as fast as possible, so
 they could "release" it to the Pirate world.  The groups were composed of
 various individuals that each possessed a certain talent; one might be
 skilled in creating title graphics while another in removal of protection,
 and still another in distributing the "cracked" software.  Once a "ware"
 was released, the first thing that needed to be done was to get it to the
 "cracker" to remove the protection.  Since the "ware" was protected from
 copying, it could not be sent via modem, so it had to be sent via
 snail-mail.  This program was the result of an attempt to allow the user
 to send protected software via modem.

*** What is it? ***

      SST is a modification of a popular copy program for the Apple line
 of computers.  The copy program allows the user to duplicate almost any
 Apple // disk.  It occurred to me that this program has to store the image
 of a track in memory before it can write it to the copy of the disk.  I
 obtained a copy of the source code from the manufacturer for $20.  Using
 that, I modified the program so that instead of copying a disk, it reads
 a track, and then dumps the track image to a normal DOS 3.3 formatted
 floppy.  This of course took more space than the original track, resulting
 in two DOS 3.3 disk sides for each protected disk side.  The advantage,
 of course, was that these DOS 3.3 foratted disks could be sent via the modem.
 Once somebody received these disks over the modem, SST could be used once
 again; this time to read the track image into memory and write the
 protected track back to a disk.

 Yeah, but I'm using an emulator!  Emulators can't use protected disks!

 WRONG!  If the DOS 3.3 disks described above are transferred to an emulator,
 and that emulator supports nibble images, SST can create a "protected"
 disk image!  Of course, it won't be very protected any more as you can
 copy the resulting disk image just like any other file.

Transfering Disks:

*TO* Apple // 

 To use SST, you first have to transfer SST to a REAL
 apple disk.  Here is a suggestion on how to do that.

 What you need:  Apple // with a terminal program (AE works fine)
                 Null Modem Cable
                 DOS 3.3 formatted 5 1/4 bootable disk
                 Amiga, Mac, PC, with a terminal program
                 This archive
                 Patience

 1)  Use a terminal program to transfer SST and CopyII 
     to the dos 3.3 formatted disk.

 2)  If you are using an Amiga also transfer DDD to the Apple disk
 
 3)  That's it!

 NOTE: You can skip the above steps if you have the ability to transfer
 diskimages directly to the Apple //.  Transfer the SST.dsk image included
 in this archive to an Apple // disk.

*FROM* Apple //

 There are three major ways of transfering Apple disks:

 1)  The Amiga computer with an A1020 5.25 drive and the disk conversion
     program provided with the Apple2000 emulator.

 2)  A serial link between a real Apple ][ and another computer.  This
     requires special software on both sides.

 3)  Compress the disk using Dalton's Disk Disintegrator (DDD), transfer
     it via a telecom program to an Amiga, load it into Apple 2000,
     save it with a .dsk extension.

 If you need more info on transfering disks, refer to the Apple FAQ.

*** Using SST ***
 
 O.K. Now that you have SST on an Apple Dos 3.3 foratted disk:

 0)   Make sure any "Quick disk" options are disabled on the emulator
 1)   Format an Apple floppy on both sides.  (INIT HELLO)
 2)   Put the Dos 3.3 disk with SST on it in drive 1
      BRUN SST
 3)   Select '1' for 'Pirate a Disk'
 4)   Select '2' for 'Pack Disk'
 5)   Use all of the Default settings
 6)   Place copy protected disk in drive 1
        (You can use one drive, but will have to swap disks when prompted)
 7)   Place Formatted floppy in drive 2
 8)   Select all defaults - when the message 'Insert BOTH disks and press
      RETURN' is presented, press RETURN.  At track 17 you will be prompted
      to flip the data disk (in drive 2) over - do it!

 9)   When the copying is done, transfer both sides of the data disk to
      disk images using one of methods described earlier in this text.
      Call the front of the disk FRONT.DSK and the back BACK.DSK

 10)  Load the disk image for SST into disk 1 of the emulator.
 11)  Copy the blank.nib image to an appropriate name (e.g. game.nib)
 12)  Load the game.nib image into disk 2 of the emulator.

 (Steps 13 - 18 are necessary due to a bug in SST which fails to move the
  disk arm back to track 0 on drive 2)

 13)  Reboot the emulator
 14)  Select 'E' for Copy II+ 5.0 from the boot menu (CAPS LOCK MUST BE ON!)
 15)  Go to Sector Editor
 16)  Select Disk B
 17)  Type the letter 'R' to read a sector
 18)  Type '0' for the Track and '0' for the sector pressing ENTER after each.
 19)  Reboot the emulator

 20)  Choose 'B' for EDD/SST from the boot menu (CAPS LOCK MUST BE ON!)
 21)  Choose 'Pirate a Disk'
 22)  Choose '3' to unpack a disk
 23)  Choose '1' for packed parms
      (You may choose '2' for your parms, but you need to know what you
       are doing!  If you want to nibble count the track, choose the
       manual nibble count option when it is presented.  This will not
       work right now because the emulators do not have any way of changing
       individual track lengths on the fly.  This means that any disks that
       need precise track lengths will not work until the new standard is
       implemented)

 24)  Use all default options
      (You can unpack only certain tracks if you desire)
 25)  When the message 'Insert BOTH disks, then press RETURN' appears,
      insert the FRONT.DSK image in drive 1 and press RETURN
 26)  When the message 'Turn DATA disk over and press RETURN' appears,
      insert the BACK.DSK image in drive 1 and press RETURN
 27)  When process is finished, I would either close the emulator down
      or put another image in drive 2 to make sure the .nib file gets
      closed properly.
 28)  Insert the new .nib file in drive 1 of the emulator and reboot it
      to see if it works.

That's it! Easy huh? :^)

                                Saltine