bowdidge@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (09/22/87)
A recent posting talked about how the user's protected Scripsit disk died
on him. Since Tandy is probably not making lots of money off their model
I and III software, and since there are a lot of users who are going to
be really pissed when the disk finally wears out and stops reading correct,
here is a way of backing up those protected disks so you can make more copies
of Scripsit, Zork, or any of the other protected software.
Radio Shack protected a lot of its software by keeping track of the number of
copies you had made, and once you had exceeded that limit, would refuse to
copy that program. This is definitely true for TRSDOS 1.3; I won't try to
assume that TRSDOS 2.3 (the model I version) did the same thing, though it's
possible.
On TRSDOS 1.3, the counter is byte $22 (that's hex, folks!) in the boot
routine. If the value is $ff, then the disk is unprotected. Any other
number is the number of copies left. When the counter reaches zero, no
more copies. You can fix this by using a disk zapper to change byte $22
of track 0 sector 1 (on a Model III) to $ff. Please try this on a normal
disk (change the byte to zero, check to make sure that it can't be copied,
change it back) before zapping your scripsit master diskette.
This is not being posted as a way to steal Radio Shack software, only as a way
to save the software you have from being lost. After all, when was the last time
you saw a copy of Scripsit on you local R/S's shelves?
-- Robert Bowdidge
Robert Bowdidge
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