Dilwyn Jones wrote:
>>This sounds very much like the protection on Paraoh (right name?) - >> > where > >>you had to navigate through a purple(ish) maze with egyptian style >> > music in > >>the background, avoiding naties like snakes. A bit of code was >> > loaded from > >>a hidden file (the directory had to be changed before it could be >> > loaded, > >>and changed again afterwards to rehide it) into the base of the >> > screen > >>memory ($20000) where upon it was called. >> > This sounds like the system used in the old Sinclair Production Kit, > protected fast load basic programs, with some code held in hidden > files. In older versions, the file was called no name (i.e. FLP1_) but > when subdirectories were 'invented' this got changed to a single space > "FLP1_ " which you often couldn't see as it was the last file on the > cartridge so you didn't notice the filename. The visible code file (well, for Pharoah anyway) contained the object code encrypted and the hidden file contained a simple bit of code to decrypt (look out DMCA...) the program/data. If I had the time... > Some software didn't have copy protection as such and was simple > written to run from specific addresses. OK on a 128KB QL then on > expanded memory systems the code wasn't where it expected to be and > BANG! when you tried to call or execute it. Hence the 'addr=RESPR(RESPR(0)-<sum amount>)' that some proggies used to try and ensure they got their correct address...I vaguely remember some program that actually absolute-a-dized itself at run time (I think it had a table of offsets that stored offsets that were added to the base address of the job and replaced) - the mark II of the absolute program. > If you can find copies of 4Matter and Locksmithe from Zitasoft, these > had facilities to remove protection on some of these types of > protection. Sadly, they also would only work on certain QL systems (I > used to have a copy in DJC days which would not run on a Gold Card > system). > > Several people have over the years managed to bypass this copy > protection method and create disk based copies and so on. Not wanting > to be a killjoy, remember that many old QL programs are still > copyrighted and shouldn't be copied without permission. As far as I > know, there's no harm though in producing programs which patch the > originals to run on modern systems though. > > -- > Dilwyn Jones > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.soft.net.uk/dj/index.html
