Re: Copy Copy-Protected Nibble Image

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Bryan Parkoff writes ...
> 
>     My question is -- Will Nibble Editor read all the copy-protected image
> (Only Track $00) from the disk into memory buffer using Copy II Plus v9.1?
> My concern is that if I use 'space' key to re-read the image that will not
> be the same as the original.  If I press 'A' for analyze, will the image in
> analyze mode be always the same?

     The image you get when you do a raw track (nibble-ized) display may vary depending upon where the copier happens to find the first readable sector using the current parm settings. The stuff is still there; you're just starting to look at it from a different place.

     Nibble Editor in Copy II Plus v9.x has a "Synchonized Tracks" option. If you use it, the display should, according to the manual, start within a few bytes of the same point each time you press SPACE to view the track. (This doesn't seem to apply to Track $00. Worked pretty good for Track $01, though.)

     Pressing "A" to analyze the track data does not read in anything from the disk-- i.e. it works with whatever is in the buffer. It should give the same result for "Start" and "Length" each time you press it unless you change the parms or do a fresh read. If you do a fresh read (via SPACE), the location in the buffer of "Start" may change when you press "A"; but, "Length" should not change much if at all.



> What about half track and quarter track?
>

     The .nib format has no way to represent half-tracks, etc.. If the .nib copy has good data for every track, then, depending upon how the protection uses weird tracking (and, perhaps, the particular emulator), the .nib may work fine.



>     I am doing this because I want to copy the image from the memory buffer
> into image file as NIB extension however SST won't work!
> 
 ....

     That's a neat idea. Be sure to add seperator bytes to fill in unused space in the $1A00-long block in the .nib for the track.



Rubywand