************************************************************************** - THE LEGENDARY >> SUBSOFTWARE << IN 90 !!! =========================================== - CONTACT US - BP: 36 - - 1380 REBECK - - BELGIUM - - DON'T SEND ANY DISKS - ************************************************************************** Super-Card Ami V2.1 (Patent Pending) Copyright (C) 1989 By Jim Drew Distributed & Manufactured By Utilities Unlimited of Oregon, Inc. Menu Choices: Default: Range: F1 - Copy Diskette F2 - Starting Track 00 0-83 F3 - Ending Track 79 0-83 F4 - Side to Copy BOTH HEAD 0, HEAD 1, BOTH F5 - Mode AUTO AUTO, INDEX, DOS, SPLICE F6 - Destination Drive DF1 DF1 or DF2 (Amiga 2000 only!) F7 - Syncronize Drives NO NO, YES F8 - Track Scanner (F1) After selecting your STARTING TRACK, ENDING TRACK, and other options. Pressing the F1 key will prompt you to insert your SOURCE diskette (original to be copied) into DF0 and to insert your DESTINATION diskette (to be copied on to) into DF1. You MUST have the WRITE PROTECT tab in the OPEN position on your original. The program will NOT continue unless the SOURCE diskette IS WRITE PROTECTED. This is a safety feature for your sake, even though NO data is EVER written to the SOURCE drive. Press the ESCape key to abort the F1 option. Pressing the LEFT MOUSE button will abort the copying procedure once it has started. (F2) After pressing the F2 key, the STARTING TRACK number can be increased by pressing the RIGHT CURSOR key. The number can be decreased by pressing the LEFT CUSOR key. Once the desired number has been achieved, press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. (F3) After pressing the F3 key, the ENDING TRACK number can be increased by pressing the RIGHT CURSOR key. The number can be decreased by pressing the LEFT CURSOR key. Once the desired number has been achieved, press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. (F4) Each time you press the F4 key, the SIDE value will change. The three possible choices are: HEAD 0 (bottom head), HEAD 1 (top head), or BOTH (both heads 0 & 1). (F5) Each time you press the F5 key, the MODE value will change. The four possible choices are: AUTO, INDEX, DOS, or SPLICE. These are the different copying modes available. The INDEX MODE will backup ALL software that was created with a commercial disk duplication machine that uses the INDEX mark to START and END the track data. The DOS MODE will copy unprotected DOS disks only. It was designed to be a high speed copier that needs certain circumstances found only on AMIGA DOS formats that wont normally be found on copy protected software. The SPLICE MODE attempts to locate the START and END of the track through intelligent scanning routines. The AUTO MODE is the MOST powerful of all and should be tried before other options. This mode looks at a track and figures out how it should be copied. (F6) The DESTINATION DRIVE can ONLY be DF1: (F7) A few (literally) programs require that the START of the track be exactly where the INDEX mark is. So, this option will syncronize the two drives so that the INDEX mark of both drives is simotaneously achieved. Use this option ONLY while in INDDEX MODE! (F8) The TRACK SCANNER is a handy utility to let you know what MODE to try first when backing up software. Insert the diskette to be scanned into DF0: (internal drive) and press RETURN (or ENTER to start the scanning procedure. Pressing the LEFT MOUSE button will abort the scanning procedure once it has already started. The STARTING and ENDING tracks as well as the SIDE are also options used by the TRACK SCANNER. The TRACK NUMBER, HEAD NUMBER, TRACK LENGTH and WFS (Words before First Sync) are displayed as each track is scanned. When the scan is complete, a report will be displayed. The report will show you how many tracks were "LONG" tracks, and how many tracks were "INDEXED". This comes in very handy when determining which MODE to use whilce copying. If ALL (or the majority) of the tracks show as being INDEXED, then you will need to use the INDEX MODE. If ANY "LONG" tracks are shown, and NO tracks were INDEXED, use the SPLICE MODE. Most others titles only require the DOS MODE. (DEL) Press this key to Return to DEFAULT settings. (F10) Press this key to EXIT COPY PROTECTION..HOW DOES IT WORK? With all of the nasty things that protection companies are doing, Super-Card Ami does very well. When copying a disk in the INDEX MODE, a perfect copy can be obtained. You might wonder why this wont work for a disk that was produced with NON-INDEXING. Let's explain how a disk is layed out: When a disk is said to be "INDEXED", all of the tracks are aligned, or lined up in a row. An example of a INDEXED disk would be: Track #: 1 2 3 4 5 6 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! * * * * * * ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The "*" represents the START and END of the track, known as the TRACK GAP area. This is a section of the track that is not used by normal Amiga Dos. Some protection schemes actually place their protection in this area. As you can see, all of the "*" are aligned together, and start at the exact same place on the disk. This is very easy to duplicate. The Amiga disk drives have an INDEX HOLE SENSOR built into them. A simple check at the sensor port tells the Super-Card Ami's INDEX MODE to turn on the WRITING for the DESTINATION drive (DF1) and to start reading the data. Once the sensor detects the hole again, the write is turn off and the the process is repeated for all tracks until the backup is finished. Now, if the data was NOT INDEXED, it might look like this: Track #: 1 2 3 4 5 6 * ! ! ! ! * ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! * * ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! * ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Notice that Track #2 isnt even visable. That is because it is 180 degrees off of the INDEX mark. Notice also that Track #s 3 & 4 are INDEXED, but not intentionally. Occasionally you might end up with a few tracks that appear to be INDEXED. A VERY simple way to tell if a diskette is TRUELY INDEXED or not is to use option F8 (Track Scanner) of the software. Pay attention to the WFS display. If you see wild, inconsistent changes in that value, then the diskette is probably NOT INDEXED. If you see a consistent display with only a few bytes changing occasionally, then the diskette was DEFINATELY INDEXED. To get around the problem of NON-INDEXED diskettes, intelligent scanning routines are used to try to determine where the TRACK GAP area is. Due to the complexity of the routines and various methods, they will not be discussed. Copying a disk in INDEX MODE merely makes the copying process EXTREMELY fast, and is NOT necessary. The AUTO MODE should also copy a disk that IS INDEXED. While copying thousands of disks, I noticed something of interest. Nearly all of the older style protection schemes (weird or long track on only one track) can be copied using the DOS MODE. When the DOS MODE encounters an abnormal format, the software then selects the AUTO MODE to take care of it. So, MANY titles can be backed-up very quickly using the DOS MODE.