Mclaneinc Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 @Farb, I wasn't sure if it was meant to be snarky or not but even so I didn't want it to become more than that, glad it wasn't. You may want to add Trilogy to the Silicon Dreams file as it is the 3 releases on one disk. Thank you for your hard work.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 It's time for an updated torrent. As always, thanks to everyone that contributed! Mega link updated https://mega.nz/#F!85lyQa5C!BJ1z3u7kI_yEHySHiE_wmg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 APX_Morsecode_Tutor.ATR The basic program named MORSE had a starting sector of 55, when it should have been 85. Now Fixed. The image on AtariMania has the same issue... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry1968 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Since I had no reply from Farb to this message, I write it here again: As to the Conan EU question, the box reads Datasoft presents: Famous Faces TM Conan The back side of the instructions however, said at the last side:Manufactured in the U.K. under license from Datasoft, Inc. by U.S. Gold Limited, Unit 10, Parkway Industrial Centre, Heneage Street, Birmingham B7 4LY A note to the dumps: I think that a few dumps miss the backside (eg. Four Great Games Volume 2 and Atari Smash Hits 5). For one sided games, I dumped the disk one time with a flippy-modified drive. Later I made a second dump session: This time, I dumped all disks with an unmodified drive as that gave better read results (but not imaging the first 8 tracks [of 80] of the back side), and then the disks with content at the back side again with another flippy-modified drive, in the hope that the back side can be assembled from both dumps in case the read result was different with both drives. So please check the backside of some games. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 A note to the dumps: I think that a few dumps miss the backside (eg. Four Great Games Volume 2 and Atari Smash Hits 5). ... So please check the backside of some games. We checked the back side of all your dumps. But there is a mistake and the torrent is missing the back side of these two disks. Btw, yours was a fabulous contribution. Rare stuff, and mostly in great shape, undamaged and unmodified (some pretty rare to find in unmodified condition!). Many thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 Sorry Harry1968, your PM was still sitting in my inbox waiting for me to review the dumps you mention. I’ve been out of town for the past couple of weeks so I still hadn’t gotten to it. I should have acknowledged to you that it was in queue. My bad! Ijor, thanks for chiming in! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I think that a few dumps miss the backside (eg. Four Great Games Volume 2 and Atari Smash Hits 5). I already wanted to ask for the back side of the Smash HIts. Do you have the second disk of the Smash Hits 5 as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry1968 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Do you have the second disk of the Smash Hits 5 as well? I submitted it, but it has probably been overlooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Re: Smash Hits 5 disk 2. I submitted it, but it has probably been overlooked. Again, it wasn't. We checked it and it was fine. It just didn't make it to the torrent by mistake. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 6, 2017 Author Share Posted October 6, 2017 I already wanted to ask for the back side of the Smash HIts. Do you have the second disk of the Smash Hits 5 as well? They will be in the next torrent but here they are in the meantime... Atx.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 The disk in Zorro (1985)(US Gold)(GB) and Zorro (1985)(Datasoft)(US) appear to be the same image. Shouldn't the US Gold version say US Gold somewhere during load? As it is when loading the game displays only Datasoft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 The disk in Zorro (1985)(US Gold)(GB) and Zorro (1985)(Datasoft)(US) appear to be the same image. Shouldn't the US Gold version say US Gold somewhere during load? As it is when loading the game displays only Datasoft. Please take a look at the entry for Zorro on our website: http://a8preservation.com/#/software/title/%2Fapi%2Ftitles%2F236 Both dumps are from Atarimania and are unverified. They are claiming they are the same. Once we can process actual physical copies ourselves, we can confirm or deny that claim :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Thanks... I'll be sure to check that list in the future if I notice anything odd like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 (edited) The disk in Zorro (1985)(US Gold)(GB) and Zorro (1985)(Datasoft)(US) appear to be the same image. Shouldn't the US Gold version say US Gold somewhere during load? As it is when loading the game displays only Datasoft. I can't say I am sure specifically about Zorro, but this is typical with US Gold releases from Datasoft titles of that period, the packaging is different but the disk is the same. Not just the disk content, but even the disk label is by Datasoft. Edited October 18, 2017 by ijor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 I can't say I am sure specifically about Zorro, but this is typical with US Gold releases from Datasoft titles of that period, the packaging is different but the disk is the same. Not just the disk content, but even the disk label is by Datasoft. That would jibe with a Zorro disk that was loaned to us for dumping and is still in our processing queue. Even though it came out of U.S. Gold packaging, the disk itself looks identical to the U.S. Datasoft release and doesn't mention U.S. Gold at all on the disk or when it boots. I had to actually ask the contributor to confirm what packaging it was pulled from because I was skeptical :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 On an alternative note.. mystery question of the day.. Desmond's Dungeon (1988) (Alternative Software) (GB) tape. Works great.. but why does it list Thorn Emi as the publisher? Strange.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 (edited) It looks like Thorn EMI changed to Creative Sparks at some point: http://www.page6.org/archive/issue_17/page_38a.htm So that scrolling banner might reflect the developer rather than the publisher. Edited October 19, 2017 by Farb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 That would jibe with a Zorro disk that was loaned to us for dumping and is still in our processing queue. Even though it came out of U.S. Gold packaging, the disk itself looks identical to the U.S. Datasoft release and doesn't mention U.S. Gold at all on the disk or when it boots. I had to actually ask the contributor to confirm what packaging it was pulled from because I was skeptical :-) "The contributor" That is me Yes, a lot of US Gold releases don't have a US Gold trademark in the games itself. That is similar to Dutch Aackosoft releases of for example English software games. Aackosoft created a Dutch packaging but 90% of the releases are exact copies of the English Software releases. As for Thorn EMI titles, this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_EMI_Computer_Software wikipedia article is very interesting. Thorn EMI released their games under the Thorn EMI label, Creative Sparks and Sparklers label. Later Alternative software bought the rights. But I have also some cassettes in my collection of Thorn EMI re-releases by Top Ten Software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 LOL, at least you broke the veil of anonymity rather than me Thanks for clarifying! Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 (edited) LOL I think it is typical Dutch, we don't care . It is not a secret. When I shared some stuff with Atariwiki they also asked if I wanted to be anonymus. They were afraid people would break into my house Well that is not going to happen I am glad I could help this great project! I hope the downloaders of your great torrent will be happy with so many extra disks Edited October 19, 2017 by Fred_M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybuck Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 :-) AtariWiki just wants to be sure, our users feel as comfortable as possible. Therefore we offer 5 options: 1) open and free name 2) just nickname 3) anonymous 4) AtariWiki witness protection program 5) so secret, I even can't talk about, due to national security. All programs here are deep black. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 "The contributor" That is me Yes, a lot of US Gold releases don't have a US Gold trademark in the games itself. Yes, but in this case is not just the disk content but the disk label as well. That's not as common and I think it happened only with Datasoft titles, and only for a certain period. I wonder why ... I first saw this with Alternate Reality. One possibility that I considered is PP's paranoia (no pun intended ) about his copy protections. May be he didn't want to release the source, or he didn't trust other publishers to implement a good protection. And because the protection was very advanced for the time, it is possible that US Gold couldn't master the disks. So they ended importing the physical, already mastered, floppies ? This doesn't explain though why with other titles, as Zorro, as well ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 (edited) I think we will probably never know, but your theory sounds logical. My first thought was to compare other disk labels of US gold disks, but almost my entire collection is in Frankfurt at the moment What I can say, but that is in later days and this is probably not relevant, that for example Micro Discount in the UK and Powersoft in Germany bought the Polish titles from ANG Software including the physical media. ANG produced the different labels too. I know this, because I spent many nights copying disks and put Powersoft labels on them. So I have another theory Maybe it was just cheaper to have the disks produced by for example Datasoft in stead of creating your own (atari disk) factory in the UK and maybe Datasoft also produced some labels for US Gold. When I look at US Gold cassettes, I cannot remember seeing an US Gold title without US Gold label on the cassette, but cassettes are much easier to produce in a (general) cassette factory. It is just a thought Edited October 19, 2017 by Fred_M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 (edited) Edit. Sorry, wrong thread. Edited October 19, 2017 by SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 A small addition. I remember that I read an article (probably in retrogamer magazine) that Datasoft had an agreement with US Gold, but after a few years Datasoft decided to create an European company (in the UK) themselves to publish their software. So at one moment, US Gold lost their distribution rights of Datasoft software. In my collection I have for example "Nibbler" by Datasoft (not US Gold). In The Netherlands a lot of Atari software was distributed by a company called Microcity. Microcity was a distributor only, so their products were imported from the UK. What Microcity did was putting a small silver sticker with their name on the packaging and nothing more. They distributed a lot of UK budget tapes (Masteronic, Firebird, Players and a lot of others) and some premium packages. My version of Nibbler is in the familiar carton box with the little Microcity sticker on it. If you look at Atarimania you can also see that there is no US Gold version of Nibbler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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