Jump to content
IGNORED

I think the Atari OS ROMs are PD, here's why.


Mr Robot

Recommended Posts

The ROMs are definitely still copyrighted. I don't know if the entity that owns the rights even knows they do (or perhaps there are multiple entities who think they have the rights, but only one does), but it's certainly owned by someone.

 

You might check the ROMs for Atari's "copyright bitmap". It's like 8 or 10 bytes of random gunk, not ASCII or ATASCII or 6502 code, that Atari wanted developers to put into games so that ownership could be proved. Basically they'd ask an offender "Hey, what are these bytes for?" and they'd be unable to answer, because they had no functionality at all and were just there as a signature. (No, I don't remember the bit pattern...)

I wonder if that's the reason Dave Staugas' message exists in the TOS image :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...