Re: Mastery Development Software Copy

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

AMart79196@gmail.com wrote:
> On Feb 21, 10:59 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > AMart79...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > I have a few programs from Mastery Development company that I want to
> > > make a copy of and backup.  Can anyone provide assistance in doing
> > > this?  I have tried copyIIplus9.1 and it didn't work.   It wasn't not
> > > listed in the backup menu and I also tried bit copying but to no
> > > avail.  If anyone know if there is a version of copyIIplus that may
> > > have the parameters, please let me know. It's most likely that there
> > > is a copy protection scheme on this disk.  If anyone can help in
> > > assisting me, it would be much appreciated. Thank you.
> >
> > IIRC, Mastery Development had some fairly strong copy protection.
> >
> > You may need to deprotect it to make copies.
> >
> > -michael
> >
> > NadaNet networking for Apple II computers!
> > Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
> >
> > "The wastebasket is our most important design
> > tool--and it's seriously underused."
>
>
> Great! :-)
> How do I deprotect it?

Unfortunately, if you haven't done it a few times, it can be
a real "learning experience".  ;-)  If that's the case, I'd
recommend that you see if someone else has already done it
(you've already taken care of that by posting here) or is
willing to do it for you.  (I'm willing, but life is impinging
on my Apple play time, so it might take a couple of weeks, plus
transit time.)

If you've done it before, then it's a chance to play a real
adventure game against the designer of the protection.  ;-)

Before doing anything else, boot the disk and listen carefully.
Compare the sound of the disk head seeks with the sound of a
normal disk booting to its HELLO program.  Also note where in
the process the Applesoft prompt shows up on the screen (Reset
can be a real ally.)

I usually start by using Copy II Plus to CATALOG the disk (sometimes)
then I do a hi-res scan of the disk tracks.  Most truly weird things
will show up there.  I then take a look at some tracks in the nibble
editor, to see if the marks are standard or modified, and I look at
any "weird" tracks to see what's on them (like nibble signatures).

Then I try to break into the boot, see if I can CATALOG the disk
using its own DOS, and begin a "high level" trace of the boot
process to see what programs run first, and what they do.

Often, the protection code is only invoked once at the beginning,
but some programs invoke it repeatedly.  Your job is to find the
protection code and disable it.

Anywhere along the path, you may see what deprotection strategy
is likely to work, and proceed directly to an experiment.

For example, if the disk won't CATALOG in Copy II Plus, but will
with its own DOS, I capture a copy of the protected disk's RWTS
and try to copy it with Super IOB's "swap" controller.

If I try a lot of things that don't work, then I fall back on
boot code tracing, since that will eventually reveal everything,
with the emphasis on "eventually".  A program I was working on
recently had been so amazingly "obfuscated" with indirect JMPs
every instruction or two, that I wound up writing a tool to make
a "linearized" listing of the protection code so I could study it!

Sometimes its a long and twisty path to deprotection, and sometimes
you get lucky and an early try loosens the knot--but you always wind
up learning a new trick or two and having a great time.

It's "Spy vs. spy" at its best!  ;-)

-michael

NadaNet networking for Apple II computers!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."