Fletch Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 BUMP Quoting myself again... Can someone please provide an image of a sector copy (even if it includes bad sectors)? I really want to crack this (again). Thanks. I'd be happy to do this for you, but sadly my disk appears to have failed. I had lent the disk to Wade from Inverse Atascii for a review and he was unable to get it to load. He sent it back and I also cannot get it to load. It gets only a couple of sectors in and then BOOT ERRORS. Not sure what happened, but I'm thinking a combination of age and shipping must have done it in. Maybe you can try to contact Bob Puff and see if he has any of these left. He sent me a copy of the manual several years back so maybe he still has a disk or two. Sorry. -Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks for the reply Pete. Sorry to hear that your disk got damaged. You can try to sector copy it using a tool that ignores bad sectors, and see if the main program file is still readable. It may only be the DOS.SYS file that is bad. If I remember correctly (and that's a BIG if), the protection is very simple, only a binary segment near the beginning of the file. In the meantime, I'll try to find Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ripdubski Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I got it to load exactly one time when I first received it. Then I spent months thinking it was my drive, replacing parts, and even bought a NEW drive, still no go. I feel horrible that it stopped working while I had it. Truly very sorry Peter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 I got it to load exactly one time when I first received it. Then I spent months thinking it was my drive, replacing parts, and even bought a NEW drive, still no go. I feel horrible that it stopped working while I had it. Truly very sorry Peter. Wade, do not fret. The disk is 30 years old and has some bizarre copy protection scheme to boot. Frankly I'm shocked it still worked when I last looked at it. Someone else must have a usable disk out there. Again, no worries at all. I'm happy we gave it a shot at a proper review. -Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I will dig through my old, big box 'o disks; if I find the copy that I know I have I'll post and seek a person to copy and preserve it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ripdubski Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I will dig through my old, big box 'o disks; if I find the copy that I know I have I'll post and seek a person to copy and preserve it. Anyone find a copy of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I have been looking for that one for a long time. If I remember correctly, it uses a very nasty copy protection system. If anyone has this, please make a sector copy with a program that ignores bad sectors and continues on to the next sector. A non working dump is better than NO dump. If I can get a dump, I *may* be able to fix it if I can remember how the protection was done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) Orpheuswaking has a photo of the manual and disk in his picture gallery. Edited October 22, 2015 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Thanks Jon. I PM'd him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Kyle, I responded to your PM... I don't have any of my kit set up right now and I am not sure I would trust this in any of my drives until they get a good cleaning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Now we may be getting somewhere... Are there any volunteers with good copy software and good equipment who are confident enough to take on this project? The most important part is to not damage what may be the last good copy of this program. We would all highly appreciate it! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I have a MegaSpeedy equipped 1050, and an AtariMax USB version of SIO2PC. You may want to find someone with a KryoFlux to dump this though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Yeah I'm willing to loan the disk out as long as it comes back working. Farb who is working on the preservation project might be able to help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Yeah I'm willing to loan the disk out as long as it comes back working. Farb who is working on the preservation project might be able to help... I just PM'd him (and sent you a copy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I can vouch for Farb. I just sent him a bunch of disks and got them back on good order. However I don't see how he could guarantee anything with 30 year old media. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I can vouch for Farb. I just sent him a bunch of disks and got them back on good order. However I don't see how he could guarantee anything with 30 year old media. Man, I'd NEVER guarantee anybody anything when it comes to dealing with 30 year old 5.25" floppy disks! Some of those things can self-destruct on the first read attempt after all those decades. They can flake off, some have mold, and you have to clean the drive after every disk, because if you don't, any thing left behind by one disk can make a nice deep grove in the next. Keep your scary movies and Halloween, those old disks are what nightmares are really made out of! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I am sure Farb cleans his drive. Yes, there is a small chance that the oxide will flake off, but it is the same chance you take if you try to load the disk in your own drive. This way, we have a very good chance of preserving this piece of history. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 True, I agree. Preserving the old stuff is important. Sometimes one pass is all you get, so yes, having a person with the experience... and a head cleaning kit is a must! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 A lot depends on the storage conditions. For instance, a damp basement is not the best. You can usually tell a lot by looking at the disk surface. Personally, I've had no problems with CSS disks in storage going all the way back to my first purchase -- "The Pill" which was probably 1982 or 1983. Then there is the pragmatic side -- if the disk is going to self-destruct when it is read, what good is the disk for anything? Frame it and hang it up as a decoration? Using a good drive with clean heads ( and caring hands) is the best you can do. -Larry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 I am sure Farb cleans his drive. More times than I can count! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) I just now recovered what I thought was lost forever to time: My old hack called Poor Man's 80 col. pm80.atr Edit: Requies OmniView-XLB installed as OS. Edited March 19, 2017 by Kyle22 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 I just now recovered what I thought was lost forever to time: My old hack called Poor Man's 80 col. pm80.atr I couldn't get it to load on my 800XL (with U1MB). Is there a trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) I couldn't get it to load on my 800XL (with U1MB). Is there a trick? I just booted it from RespeQt into a real 800 (in XL mode) Oops. Requires OmniView-XL. Edit: As little bits of this slowly come back to me, I never did get the 80 col. soft OS to work. The protection is gone, so there must be a soft-omniview type thing that can be made to work. Edited March 19, 2017 by Kyle22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) OK, I just got it to work with normal OS. 1. Boot with another DOS and rename POORMAN.AR1 to POORMAN.COM. 2. Boot the disk and run OMNIVIEW.COM. 3. Press START to reboot with soft-80 OS. 4. Run POORMAN.COM Edit: I guess I had that one set up for OmniView, and forgot how to use the soft-OS... Please ignore my earlier ramblings. I was thinking out loud again Edited March 19, 2017 by Kyle22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Sorry about all these posts, but attached is the bootable atr if you want to make a flippy like the original. In that case, keep the POORMAN file named .AR1. (use the original ATR from a few posts earlier), Boot the back side, flip and press start. Boot80.atr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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