Mail Archives: djgpp/2005/07/25/21:01:48
> I am trying to create a copy-protected floppy for distributing my
> application. I searched online and decided on bit-counting as perhaps
> the best way for me to implement copy protection. A description of bit
> counting is given below:
Hey, arizvi, perhaps you could learn from the Spanish guy who created 2M.
He's probably the world's expert on floppies.
His (DOS) software is cardware (send him a postcard). He created high capacity
formats (open standards) using 82 sectors per track, extra tracks, etc. On a
360k floppy, he can fit >900k; on a 1440k floppy, he can fit almost 2MB! He
also developed techniques to increase access/transfer speeds by about 50-100%!
He, too, determined that there were limits to what he could do--even talking
directly to the floppy drive controller, so he found some way to trick the
controller into letting him talk directly to the drive. He has some way of
measuring the capabilities and tolerances of a given combination of drive and
media so that he doesn't exceed those. He's also on top of compatibility
issues. (He can make the LED blink too.)
His information as I found it in his software (v3.0):
Name: Ciriaco Garcia de Celis
Preferred Language: English or Spanish
emailto:ciri AT gui DOT uva DOT es
2M software:
ftp://oak.oakland.edu
Simtel/msdos/diskutil
2m*.zip
You can get his snail-mail address from his software--I'm not going to post it.
I'm afraid my information is at least 6 years old, but maybe it'll be useful to
you, arizvi.
Good luck,
--House Cat
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