3 ms·

Saving 500 Apple II Programs from Oblivion

48 points by pathompong 11y ago

jrcii 11y ago
>remove the copy protection that prevents them from being digitized In other words, cutting that little square of plastic off of the top right corner of the 5.25" disks? I distinctly remember learning that skill myself.
- bitwize 11y ago
  That's WRITE protect. Copy protection is something quite different, and will not be thwarted by punching out a little notch. Back in the days when people reasonably expected to be paid for software, nearly as much ingenuity went into the copy protection as went into the software, and everything from obfuscated or self-modifying code to invalidly formatted disks to exotic disk speeds to writing bits of the software in tracks flagged as "bad" was done.
  - contingencies 11y ago
    Yep. In those days you could re-enable write protect with little stickers over the notch. It's hard to imagine people putting little paper-world stickers on their SD cards before shoving them in their shiny devices these days!
    - apricot 11y ago
      I still have sheets of those stickers. They are perfect for putting on laptop webcams.
- kryptiskt 11y ago
  Copy protection got sophisticated very early, see http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-3-case-studies-in-copy-protection/ http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-3-c... (Previous: http://www.filfre.net/2015/12/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-1-dont-copy-that-floppy/ http://www.filfre.net/2015/12/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-1-d... http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-2-the-scene/ http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-2-t...) For a in-depth look of one such protection system, you can read about a crack of an 1982 game for Apple II (Burger Time) here: https://ia600209.us.archive.org/8/items/BurgerTime4amCrack/BurgerTime%20%284am%20crack%29.txt https://ia600209.us.archive.org/8/items/BurgerTime4amCrack/B...
pdw 11y ago
PoC||GTFO 0x10 had a great article on the copy protection mechanisms these programs use. https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/ https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/

48 points by pathompong 11y ago

jrcii 11y ago

>remove the copy protection that prevents them from being digitized In other words, cutting that little square of plastic off of the top right corner of the 5.25" disks? I distinctly remember learning that skill myself.

bitwize 11y ago
That's WRITE protect. Copy protection is something quite different, and will not be thwarted by punching out a little notch. Back in the days when people reasonably expected to be paid for software, nearly as much ingenuity went into the copy protection as went into the software, and everything from obfuscated or self-modifying code to invalidly formatted disks to exotic disk speeds to writing bits of the software in tracks flagged as "bad" was done.
- contingencies 11y ago
  Yep. In those days you could re-enable write protect with little stickers over the notch. It's hard to imagine people putting little paper-world stickers on their SD cards before shoving them in their shiny devices these days!
  - apricot 11y ago
    I still have sheets of those stickers. They are perfect for putting on laptop webcams.
kryptiskt 11y ago
Copy protection got sophisticated very early, see http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-3-case-studies-in-copy-protection/ http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-3-c... (Previous: http://www.filfre.net/2015/12/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-1-dont-copy-that-floppy/ http://www.filfre.net/2015/12/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-1-d... http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-2-the-scene/ http://www.filfre.net/2016/01/a-pirates-life-for-me-part-2-t...) For a in-depth look of one such protection system, you can read about a crack of an 1982 game for Apple II (Burger Time) here: https://ia600209.us.archive.org/8/items/BurgerTime4amCrack/BurgerTime%20%284am%20crack%29.txt https://ia600209.us.archive.org/8/items/BurgerTime4amCrack/B...

pdw 11y ago

PoC||GTFO 0x10 had a great article on the copy protection mechanisms these programs use. https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/ https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/