Super-Card Ami Utility Kit V2.0 (Updated August 20th, 1991) Many minor bug fixes. New graphics, a custom font, sound. Copier Files now are saved in a compressed format. CCS will read ALL older versions of Copier Files, and ALWAYS saves them in a COMPRESSED format. The newest version (2.6) of the Super-Card Ami software (included as a bonus to this package) is required to read the compressed file format. Copyright -1990, 1991 By Jim Drew Distributed By Utilities Unlimited of Oregon, Inc. Thank you for purchasing the Super-Card Ami Utility Kit (SCAUK)! This package will aide you in the fight against copy protection. The SCAUK consists of a few utilities the Copier Construction Set, and the MFM Editor/Disk Analyzer. Since the utilities are basic and have on-screen instructions, they will not be discussed in this documentation file. Just remember to UN-WRITE PROTECT ALL test disks. Please also remember that test disks will be erased... DON'T USE A DISK WITH IMPORTANT DATA ON IT FOR A TEST DISK!!! This doc file is devoted to the CCS, you will find a separate doc file for the MFM Editor/Disk Analyzer. The Copier Construction Set (CCS) consists of a 640x200 hires display with 31 gadgets on the main window. Let's go through each gadget and its function: EXIT - This is an invisible gadget that is in the UPPER LEFT corner of the screen. If you hold down the LEFT mouse button while the pointer is over this gadget, you will see an inverted image that will be light blue. This is to let you know that you are about to exit the CCS. If you release the LEFT mouse button while this gadget is highlighted, you will indeed exit the program. If you move the pointer away from the gadget, it will revert back to its normal image. Releasing the LEFT mouse button when the pointer is away from the gadget will have no effect on the program. COPIER FILE: - The purpose of this gadget is to be able to see what Copier File you are currently looking at (or working on). This is a "string" gadget. This means that you can enter an ASCII string (alpha- numeric characters) in this gadget. To start entering data, move the pointer to anywhere within the grey box that is after the words "Copier File:" and press the LEFT mouse button. Now, you should see a 'cursor' at the left most position in the box. At this time you may enter any data into the gadget. To stop entering data, just press the RETURN or ENTER key. Some nice features that Amiga's Intuition has can save you a lot of time: SHIFT & Cursor Right - Moves the cursor to the RIGHT most position in the box. SHIFT & Cursor Left - Moves the cursor to the LEFT most position in the box. RIGHT-AMIGA & 'X' - Erases ALL text in the gadget. RIGHT-AMIGA & 'Q' - Restores previously altered text. By using these short cuts, you can save yourself a lot of time. **NOTE** These shortcuts were not created for the CCS, they are an Amiga standard and nearly all commercial programs take advantage of them. ERASE (ALL) - The purpose of this gadget is to erase ALL data contained in the Copier File buffer. All tracks (0,0 thru 81,1) are marked as "Track not used", which means that there is no data entered yet for this track. The information (available via the INFO gadget) buffer is also erased. ERASE (ONE) - The purpose of this gadget is to erase ONE track contained in the Copier File buffer. The track erased is whatever track/head that is currently displayed. INFO - The purpose of this gadget is to allow you to save information about the Copier File. A little history about what kind of copy protection is used, what tracks are protected, etc is always nice to have later on. Once you selected this gadget, you will see 6 "string gadgets" for you to enter your description in. When you press return after reaching the end of the gadget box, the cursor will automatically appear on the next line down, allowing you to continue. When you have reached the end of the 6th line (or when you have finished your description), either press the "Accept" gadget if you are sure that you have enter the description correctly, or press the "Exit" gadget to abort ALL text entered. The "Secondary Filename:" isn't currently being used. Its purpose is to allow a secondary program to be loaded before copying a disk. This secondary file will be for removing copy protection. The protection to be removed will fall into two categories: 1) Documentation - This is where a program asks you to type in a certain word from a certain page in the instruction manual. Or...asks for a certain code to be typed in from looking at wheel or data table. 2) Hard drive installation - This is where a program is broken down into normal AmigaDOS files so that it can be saved onto your hard drive for quick access. INDEX READ - This gadget makes all DOS tracks start reading from the INDEX mark when copying. This can sometimes speed up DOS copies. INDEX WRITE - This gadget makes the all DOS tracks start writing from the INDEX mark when copying. This makes DOS disks copyable with the INDEX mode, which can speed up 2nd generation copies tremendously! WEAKBITS - This gadget has no effect as of yet. The weakbit protection scheme routines have not yet been implemented into Super-Card Ami. STRONGBITS - This gadget sets a flag so that a check is made for the strongbit protection scheme. You can not harm anything by having this turned on all of the time. The worst thing that can happen is a 8 seconds increase in copying time (entire disk). COPY METHOD - This gadget toggles through 4 different options: DETECT - Automatically determines when hardware or software copying should be done for each individual track. HARDWARE - Uses Super-Card Ami hardware to copy the track. SOFTWARE - Uses the normal Amiga hardware to copy the track. SYNCRO - *experimental* routine to SYNCHRONIZE (hardware copy) the INDEX mark of both drives before copying the track's data. COPY MODE - This gadget toggles through 4 different options: AUTO - Uses intelligent parsing routines to figure out where/how many sectors are on the track. Also determines how many micro-seconds from the INDEX mark the start of the track is. This information allows a copy to be exact, right down to WHERE the data starts on the disk's surface. INDEX - Uses the Amiga's index pulse detector to start and stop the reading and writing of the data. Very fast copies can be obtained with this mode, providing the disk is "indexed" from the manufacturer. DOS - For copying standard AmigaDOS disks. Many older copy-protected disks can be backed up with this mode. When a non-standard DOS track is encountered, the mode is changed to AUTO. SPLICE - Uses a simple algorithm to figure out where the track GAP area is. Many strangely formatted disks work fine with this mode. SYNC - This is a hex string gadget for what SYNC mark is to be tried first when copying a track. A sync of $4489 is standard for AmigaDOS. If this field is left $0000, then the control panel of the Super-Card Ami software will take precedence. If not, this gadget contains the value to be used. LENGTH - This is a hex string gadget for what TRACK LENGTH is to be used when copying a track. Normally, you would never change this. If the value *is* changed from $0000, then the Super-Card Ami software will not try to determine what the length is, and use the one provided in this gadget. OVERLAP - This is a string gadget for what the OVERLAP value should be. Normally, this is set in the control panel of the Super-Card Ami software. However, it is possible that a program could change track length cutoff points randomly throughout a disk. If you leave this value at 0000, then the Super-Card Ami control panel value will take precedence, if not, then the value you entered will. DELAY - This is a string gadget that allows you to slow down the head step rate, and all hardware timing delays. Older A1010 drives are not fast enough to keep up with the Super-Card Ami software, so a delay must be added. You can tell if your drive is one of these rare cases by listening to the copying process...if you can hear (or feel) your A1010 stepping, then you have no problems. If the drive is quiet, try increasing the delay. # REVS - This gadget works in conjunction with WEAKBITS, and as stated previously, this has not yet been implemented into the Super-Card Ami system. FLAG 1 - This flag holds the value of the OFFSET LENGTH that was determined by the AUTO mode of the Super-Card Ami software. If this value is $0000, then the AUTO mode is allowed to determine how many micro-seconds from the INDEX mark, the start of the track appears. By changing this to a new value, you can force the reading of data at any place you wish. FLAGS 2-8 - These flags are called thinking ahead! They are not currently being used for anything, however, I don't want to have to re- write ALL of the copier files a year from now just to be able to add a few more options to the Super-Card Ami software! These flags give me A LOT of room to grow. UNDO - This gadget allows those of us who make mistakes a chance to "take back" what you changed. If you have changed a few of the gadgets and you are not satisfied with what you changed, you can press the UNDO gadget. You will see the gadgets restored to their original values. ** NOTE ** You can NOT use the undo feature after you "STORED" the data. FILL - This gadget allows you to be lazy! Instead of entering the same data over and over again, this option lets you "fill" ALL tracks with the data from TRACK 0, HEAD 0. The data in track 0, head 0 must first be "STORED" before you can use this option. LOAD - Selecting this gadget causes a file requestor to be displayed. This is how to access pre-existing copier files. You MUST press the "LOAD" gadget after you have selected your file. You can NOT "double- click" a file and cause it to LOAD. This is a safety feature that was meant for people who get a little carried away with the mouse (like me). SAVE - Selecting this gadget causes a file requestor to be displayed. This is how save your newly created Copier Files. Like the LOAD file requestor, you must press the "SAVE" gadget to actually save the file. In both file requestors, all standard DOS error messages are displayed. A ERASE gadget allows you to remove unwanted files from a disk. UP-ARROW - This gadget changes (increases) the track being displayed to the next available one. The highest track that can be displayed is TRACK 81, HEAD 1. DOWN-ARROW - This gadget changes (decreases) the track being displayed to the next available one. The lowest track of course is TRACK 0, HEAD 0. STORE - Probably the most important gadget on the screen. In the CENTER of the box with track/head number being displayed, is a invisible gadget to STORE the contents of all gadget data. When you click on this gadget, a blue highlighting (inside the box) will be displayed. When you release the LEFT mouse button, the track/head will be incremented and the previous information will be stored into the Copier File buffer. ** NOTE ** YOU MUST "STORE" THE INFORMATION EVERY TIME YOU MAKE A CHANGE OR THE BUFFER DATA WILL *NOT* BE UPDATED!! This MUST be done for EVERY track/head, unless you used the FILL option. Included on this disk are a few example copier files. You will find them in the drawer labeled "examples". You will also find a 117K file labeled "Copier Files.zip". These are all of the Copier Files from the Super-Card Ami II (v1.2) disk, as well as some brand new Copier Files. You need to obtain an UNZIP program such as ZIPPY, UNZIPPER, or PKAZIP- the original zip program itself. These programs can be obtained from your local user group or via modem from BBS' throughout the country. The ZIP file will de-compress to 757K of data so make sure you have plenty of disk space! As with most everything, experimentation is the key to success. This package is meant for those of you who are willing to spend a little time experimenting with various ways to copy a disk until you get it....and I know there are a lot of you!!! I need to devote the following space for thanks to special people: John and Linda Droden, my business partners in Utilities Unlimited of Oregon, Inc. Mark Wignall, my good friend and game programming partner. Mark did most of the beta testing on this software package, so, if there is a bug....you can blame him!! Hah! Mark's Mom, she always bugs us while we're on the phone at 2am...but I still like her! William J. ColdWell and Lilliane M. Carter, my good friends and recommendation center. Many features in my software are due to them. My wife Chauna, the most beautiful, caring, and warm hearted female on this earth! This software (as all others have been in the past) is dedicated to her.