So I am reading correctly that these FDI files only work with emulators? What if you don't use an emulator? I don't because when I play my games I must have my MT-32!!
-josh -----Original Message----- From: Jim Leonard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 4:34 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Preserving original games Edward Franks wrote: > >> Wow! Interesting, I didn't know that! >> >> Great... :( > > > Copy protection bites in many ways. :sigh: > This is why Central Point Option Boards used to auction for $130-$200 (and why I have six). You can use them to image and back up protected software to blank disks, protection intact. Unfortunately, the Option Board is very finicky (won't work on anything faster than 386/40), and it is not 100% perfect (there are still a handful of games, about 20, that can't be copied with it). But it was my pride and joy from 1987-1990. Vincent's FDI project is fundamentally different from the OB in the following ways: - You can NOT use it to make duplicates (it has full reading but it is currently impossible to write back) - It reads nearly ANY diskette with nearly ANY format and ANY protection (Option Board is limited to protected PC disks and unprotected Apple/Mac/C64/Atari ST disks), and saves every single relevant bit into a file for perfect archival - The file it creates is called an .FDI file, which is a documented file format, so that current and future emulator programmers can easily add support for the files. Currently WinUAE supports the .FDI format, which Vincent's utility creates. So you can take original copy-protected Amiga games, dump them to .FDI (on a PC, no less!), and use those files with the WinUAE emulator. Hopefully as the years roll on more emulators will support FDI files. You can learn more about Disk2FDI at www.oldskool.org (there is a "Disk2FDI" link on the main page). -- Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) World's largest electronic gaming project: http://www.MobyGames.com/ A delicious slice of the demoscene: http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/ Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
