sinner@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Ken E Sinner) (01/17/90)
I am seeking information from users of a product called SWITCHBACK, made by a company called Alpha Systems. Specifically, what programs work with it, and which don't? Which games work with the game save feature and which don't? Which protected programs will it unprotect and which won't it? Which programs will it allow to run from a hard disk, and which won't it? Also, where did you buy it, and how much did it cost you? Please email replies to sinner@csd4.csd.uwm.edu Thanks in advance, KS
sinner@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Ken E Sinner) (06/04/90)
I am interested in hearing of others' experiences with a product from Alpha Systems, of Macedonia Ohio, called Switch Back. In particular, how does it perform with game programs? Programs that look for everything on drive A? Programs that poke a lot of strange memory locations? Copy protected programs? Also, what particular games does it work with, and which ones doesn't it work with? ks -
gibson@trwrb.dsd.trw.com (Greg Gibson) (06/05/90)
<I am interested in hearing of others' experiences with a product from <Alpha Systems, of Macedonia Ohio, called Switch Back. In particular, <how does it perform with game programs? Programs that look for everything <on drive A? Programs that poke a lot of strange memory locations? <Copy protected programs? < Also, what particular games does it work with, and which ones doesn't <it work with? < <ks - When I asked the net this question, no one replied. I hope you have better luck. I also asked "Switch Back" this question. They said they did not have a list but in general it works with programs that do not continuously read drive A. For me, this reponse was to vague. I did not buy "Switch Back". GG
hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) (06/05/90)
In article <4282@uwm.edu> sinner@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Ken E Sinner) writes: >I am interested in hearing of others' experiences with a product from >Alpha Systems, of Macedonia Ohio, called Switch Back. In particular, >how does it perform with game programs? Programs that look for everything >on drive A? Programs that poke a lot of strange memory locations? >Copy protected programs? > Also, what particular games does it work with, and which ones doesn't >it work with? I've already posted a couple articles describing my experieces with it. I like it, though I haven't needed to use it much. It's gotten less reliable since I got my Turbo-16 installed, as well. (Takes several button-presses to get a response, usually only takes one press.) I've used it with Dungeon Master, but it was kind of tricky getting the procedure started. After a certain point during game loading the SwitchBack button is disabled. Once you get past that problem, you can save and restore games easily enough, but the sound will be disabled. I haven't figured out why just yet. -- -- Howard Chu @ University of Michigan ... the glass is always greener on the side ...
rmacgreg@cs.strath.ac.uk (Sorcerer) (06/15/90)
Ummmm, what is this 'Switch Back' thing? If its just a way of getting the
ST to think that the internal drive is B and the external one is A (which is
what it sounds like) then there is an easy and cheap way... wire a 2 positon
switch between pins 19 and 20 in the sound chip so that in one position pin 19
goes to hole 19 and 20 to 20 and in the other pin 19 goes to hole 20 and 20 to
19. The only problem is that any warranty goes bye bye ;-)
The Sorcerer
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is 'Only visiting this planet.'hcj@lzsc.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) (06/15/90)
In article <382@trwrb.dsd.trw.com>, gibson@trwrb.dsd.trw.com (Greg Gibson) writes: > <I am interested in hearing of others' experiences with a product from > I also asked "Switch Back" this question. They said they > did not have a list but in general it works with programs that do not > continuously read drive A. > > For me, this reponse was to vague. I did not buy "Switch Back". > > GG This is not a vague answer. Its hard fact. Switch back grabs an interrupt from the printer and uses it to activate a TSR program that will save the memory image of the whole configured RAM (.5, 1,2 megs). The image is loadable on any machine and the program can be restarted. Most TOS applications work well this way. It is useful in the following ways: 1. snapshot a game, so that you can restart it at that point. 2. capture a Copy protected program so that it can be run later without the D..n protect disk. Many CP programs only read the floppy once and then are happy. Switch-Back warns that games that boot pose problems. Also, programs that set out to defeat S-B can do so. Finally, If a program were to continuously keep checking the CP floppy then indead there is no real advantage to S-B. I have it, use it occasionally, and like it. Howard C. Johnson ATT Bell Labs att!lzsc!hcj hcj@lzsc.att.com
sinner@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Ken E Sinner) (06/16/90)
In article <4044@baird.cs.strath.ac.uk> rmacgreg@cs.strath.ac.uk writes: >Ummmm, what is this 'Switch Back' thing? If its just a way of getting the >ST to think that the internal drive is B and the external one is A (which is >what it sounds like) then there is an easy and cheap way... wire a 2 positon >switch between pins 19 and 20 in the sound chip so that in one position pin 19 >goes to hole 19 and 20 to 20 and in the other pin 19 goes to hole 20 and 20 to >19. The only problem is that any warranty goes bye bye Switchback is a combination hardware and software product. The hardware is a thing that plugs into the ST's printer port. When you press a button on it, it saves the currently running program to a file. This is supposed to allow you to save games in the middle, backup protected software, and in general allow you to do stuff that you could do with something like Revolver. (I've never used the product, so the preceding description is based on other's reports and some educated guess work.) The problem is that, to my knowledge, Alpha Systems doesn't have a list of programs with which it is guaranteed to work, and from my experience with Revolver, things like games tend to do things that make Revolver and similar products useless, such as poking wierd memory locations, locking out the keyboard, punting the AES, and the dreaded "If it ain't on drive A:, I don't see it." So I basically am trying to compile a list of programs, especially games, that are known to work with Switchback. -ks