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Found an Unusual Disk

W

WMH

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2011
Messages
425
Location
Florida
Hello there!

Today, while sifting through my 5.25" disk collection, I saw a disk I'd never noticed.

On the disk it said:

TYPING TUTOR III
For Apple II, II+, IIe, IIc
DOS 3.3
MASTER DISKETTE

On the sleeve was stamped:

Kriya Systems, inc.
Simon and Schuster

This disk is strange because my other disk says WORKING COPY on the front instead of MASTER DISKETTE, and does not have the company names stamped on the sleeve.

Is this a master as in the music industry, where it's used to copy other disks? If so, is it worth anything?

Thanks,
WMH
 
No--since, floppies are essentially a medium that can wear and degrade, the recommendation most vendors had was that you male a copy of the distribution medium and use that for everyday work, only going back to the master to make a new working copy.

Just common sense is all.
 
Chuck(G) said:
No--since, floppies are essentially a medium that can wear and degrade, the recommendation most vendors had was that you male a copy of the distribution medium and use that for everyday work, only going back to the master to make a new working copy.

Just common sense is all.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I never knew that.

Thanks!
 
Some vendors even had their own copy-making procedures where one was limited as to the number of copies that one could make. (They didn't want you handing out copies to your friends and relatives). I hated those.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Some vendors even had their own copy-making procedures where one was limited as to the number of copies that one could make. (They didn't want you handing out copies to your friends and relatives). I hated those.
Click to expand...

Even worse than that were the ones who didn't let you make ANY copies :-/
 
I've still got several programs to copy protected disks from that era, but I recall that they had lists of parameters to set for the latest versions of given programs. (It was an ongoing game of cat and mouse between the publishers and copiers.) I don't think I have those parameter lists anymore, so perhaps my copy programs won't work on a lot of targets. I'd like to figure out how to copy some protected programs to .dsk files (or .do or .nib or whatever) so I could put 'em on the CF card in my CFFA. Otherwise, one of these days my disks of Who Killed Roger Rabbit will wear out, and then what will I do?
 
Gib said:
I've still got several programs to copy protected disks from that era, but I recall that they had lists of parameters to set for the latest versions of given programs. (It was an ongoing game of cat and mouse between the publishers and copiers.) I don't think I have those parameter lists anymore, so perhaps my copy programs won't work on a lot of targets. I'd like to figure out how to copy some protected programs to .dsk files (or .do or .nib or whatever) so I could put 'em on the CF card in my CFFA. Otherwise, one of these days my disks of Who Killed Roger Rabbit will wear out, and then what will I do?
Click to expand...

Oh no! You can't lose Who Killed Roger Rabbit!!! :)

I don't know how to do this, but I'm sure someone does. You could always try Google, or Bitsavers, and see if someone knows the parameters for your programs.

Also, you mentioned in your post on the group that you have Pong for Apple II. Is that in a disk image format?
 
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WMH said:
I don't know how to do this, but I'm sure someone does. You could always try Google, or Bitsavers, and see if someone knows the parameters for your programs.
Click to expand...

Has anyone made a database of copy protected programs and how they were protected?

It would be nice to know at some point in the future if some random piece of software that gets donated to the museum is copy protected or not.
 
A damn good idea, but I've never heard of any. I've seen some individual lists floating around various cracking groups, but that was two decades ago and was incredibly disjointed.

"A database of copy-protected programs and methods" sounds like an excellent web project for somebody to start. I won't be the one doing it, at least not this year -- no time.
 
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