Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaUtilCD2.iso/Misc/GXY-INF.LHA/infos/super-card.doc

Text File | 1996-03-09 | 7.9 KB | 153 lines

                   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.