24 ms·

As someone who wasn't introduced to computers until the early 2000s, there's so much jargon in the story that I don't understand that it's a bit difficult for m

As someone who wasn't introduced to computers until the early 2000s, there's so much jargon in the story that I don't understand that it's a bit difficult for me to follow it. ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯

benjaminpv 4y ago
I'm not terribly familiar with Apple ][s either but given the surrounding context it sounds like there was a computer and fixed disk that was sent to a junk sorting center. It was initially thought that the disk they were sent was bad (with the owner having written as much on it), but evidently there was a component or two that had gone bad. With the author's knowledge and some nearby spare parts he was able to revive the disk and computer and then started looking through its contents by dumping it to the screen (sorta like if you look at a raw hex dump from dd or a tool like Spinrite). From that he realized that the source code for that copying software was on the disk, the source code everyone theorized had been lost.
- Someone 4y ago
  > but evidently there was a component or two that had gone bad The disk head got stuck because the head was ‘glued’ to the platter by stiction (https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1051141 https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1051141, https://hardrecoveryman.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/release-of-sticky-hard-disk-heads/ https://hardrecoveryman.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/release-of-...; a fairly common issue in the day for certain brands of hard disk, and he did a quick and dirty ‘repair’, first by trying to get it unstuck through inertia, then by opening the enclosure and forcing the head to get unstuck. He likely did not use a clean room, so that repair probably was temporary. > and then started looking through its contents by dumping it to the screen (sorta like if you look at a raw hex dump from dd or a tool like Spinrite) They ‘just’ booted the disk and used the ProDOS CATALOG command (or its shorthand CAT) to list the files on the disk.
  - aasasd 4y ago
    I nearly fainted reading about how the dude whacked the disk to make the head unstick and then jiggled the head over the platter. One thing I learned in my tech initiation years is that head on the platter = death and woe. Also, judging from how pallets with containers of old stuff were dropped right beside the guys, and how they were going through the hardware by throwing it up in the air, it sounds like the environment was the opposite of clean.
- notRobot 4y ago
  Thank you!
reaperducer 4y ago
Think if it as an opportunity to increase your knowledge, rather than to whine in public and be dismissive.
- notRobot 4y ago
  I really wasn't whining. Just stating. It's interesting.
- PhasmaFelis 4y ago
  They weren't rude or whiny, just stating their experience. This is a really weird thing to get angry about.
- macintux 4y ago
  > Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
chiph 4y ago
The important part is to know that Copy II Plus v8 source code was lost, and this guy Tony found it on an external hard drive that was in a scrap bin. He got the drive spinning working through some percussive maintenance (a common repair technique of the time - I've done it myself) and found it had the source code. His theory is that the drive had been held by the courts in probate as part of the author's estate when he died, and they threw it out afterwards (it wasn't claimed by an heir or creditor, maybe). The part about Print Shop not working off a hard drive is likely because a lot of software of the time was heavily copy protected. So he had disassembled it and changed the parts that restricted it to only running off a floppy. He had the skills to do this because he was the author of Copy II Plus, which could copy such protected software (ahem, make local backups).
- notRobot 4y ago
  Thank you!
blakespot 4y ago
I have added some potentially helpful links in the text, and a bit of explanation for what IRC is, in an effort to help the uninitiated. I should have done so earlier.
- notRobot 4y ago
  I know about IRC but the links are super helpful, thanks!

As someone who wasn't introduced to computers until the early 2000s, there's so much jargon in the story that I don't understand that it's a bit difficult for me to follow it. ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯

benjaminpv 4y ago

I'm not terribly familiar with Apple ][s either but given the surrounding context it sounds like there was a computer and fixed disk that was sent to a junk sorting center. It was initially thought that the disk they were sent was bad (with the owner having written as much on it), but evidently there was a component or two that had gone bad. With the author's knowledge and some nearby spare parts he was able to revive the disk and computer and then started looking through its contents by dumping it to the screen (sorta like if you look at a raw hex dump from dd or a tool like Spinrite). From that he realized that the source code for that copying software was on the disk, the source code everyone theorized had been lost.

Someone 4y ago
> but evidently there was a component or two that had gone bad The disk head got stuck because the head was ‘glued’ to the platter by stiction (https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1051141 https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1051141, https://hardrecoveryman.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/release-of-sticky-hard-disk-heads/ https://hardrecoveryman.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/release-of-...; a fairly common issue in the day for certain brands of hard disk, and he did a quick and dirty ‘repair’, first by trying to get it unstuck through inertia, then by opening the enclosure and forcing the head to get unstuck. He likely did not use a clean room, so that repair probably was temporary. > and then started looking through its contents by dumping it to the screen (sorta like if you look at a raw hex dump from dd or a tool like Spinrite) They ‘just’ booted the disk and used the ProDOS CATALOG command (or its shorthand CAT) to list the files on the disk.
- aasasd 4y ago
  I nearly fainted reading about how the dude whacked the disk to make the head unstick and then jiggled the head over the platter. One thing I learned in my tech initiation years is that head on the platter = death and woe. Also, judging from how pallets with containers of old stuff were dropped right beside the guys, and how they were going through the hardware by throwing it up in the air, it sounds like the environment was the opposite of clean.
notRobot 4y ago
Thank you!

reaperducer 4y ago

Think if it as an opportunity to increase your knowledge, rather than to whine in public and be dismissive.

notRobot 4y ago
I really wasn't whining. Just stating. It's interesting.
PhasmaFelis 4y ago
They weren't rude or whiny, just stating their experience. This is a really weird thing to get angry about.
macintux 4y ago
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

chiph 4y ago

The important part is to know that Copy II Plus v8 source code was lost, and this guy Tony found it on an external hard drive that was in a scrap bin. He got the drive spinning working through some percussive maintenance (a common repair technique of the time - I've done it myself) and found it had the source code. His theory is that the drive had been held by the courts in probate as part of the author's estate when he died, and they threw it out afterwards (it wasn't claimed by an heir or creditor, maybe). The part about Print Shop not working off a hard drive is likely because a lot of software of the time was heavily copy protected. So he had disassembled it and changed the parts that restricted it to only running off a floppy. He had the skills to do this because he was the author of Copy II Plus, which could copy such protected software (ahem, make local backups).

notRobot 4y ago
Thank you!

blakespot 4y ago

I have added some potentially helpful links in the text, and a bit of explanation for what IRC is, in an effort to help the uninitiated. I should have done so earlier.

notRobot 4y ago
I know about IRC but the links are super helpful, thanks!