joels@tektronix.UUCP (05/05/84)
Fixed resistors is not a good dongle scheme. All you have to do to break it is to use an ohmmeter to read the value and then make a fake dongle. You need some kind of logic so that the dongle responds properly only when the correct signal is sent from the computer. The more complicated this logic is the harder the dongle is to decipher. Joel Swank Tektronix, Beaverton OR
keithe@tektronix.UUCP (05/10/84)
I've seen these little goodies supplied with some software, too. My **assumption** was that they consist of a fixed resistor (possibly two resistors). With a single paddle-port this could be be extended to "two dimensions" because there are two paddle values that could be read. There could be several "models" of dongles, each with different value resistors inside. They would function as a pair of "fixed-position paddles." That is, the software would read the paddle ports and require that the values obtained lie within some (programmed) specific ranges. If the expected values are not read, it bombs out... This isn't as elegant as a logic-circuitry read/write scheme, but it sure would be a lot simpler. Ray mentioned that this method of protection could be circumvented by hacking the code to eliminate the paddle-port check, but dismissed it as too difficult. My guess is that the increased degree of difficulty would only increase the enjoyment obtained by Software SuperBreakers. keith ericson at teklabs