MAMEWorld Forums - News - Re: Star Rider emulation progress

*accidently veers off of the Star Rider topic*

>>Although, I started with IBM computers (home computer use) in early 1980s and the
>>CGA or ASCII games then, that's good Apple II diskette preservation work that you
>>blogged about from a few years ago.

>But I appreciate it!!

I didn't know about the laser disc project before so I started looking at the beginning page to see how Dexter started.

>Maybe when (yes when) I ship Dexter, I will revisit the Apple ][ diskette preservation stuff.

I haven't followed the Apple II progress in MESS other than reading RB's hardware card support over the past year. It does appear the software list (hash file) is up and running so your preserved floppy diskette images should be able to drop in. Whether images run in MESS is another thing....in case apple2.c file might need to be updated again to handle diskette images (copy protection etc.)

--
/src/mess/drivers/apple2.c

MCFG_SOFTWARE_LIST_ADD("flop525_list","apple2")

/hash/apple2.xml

Apple II 5.25 disks
--

>The copy protection used by Broderbund fascinates me and I'd love to preserve it before
>all original disks are lost forever. I am a little mystified why people are content to
>only have cracked images preserved when technology exists today to preserve the
>original copy protected images and make the emulators be able to boot them and play
>them. I guess what I am saying is I'd love to have some documentation that explains
>exactly how the copy protection worked instead of just "It's some nibble counter that
>you nop out here, etc..."

MESS preference would be support for original diskettes if they can be found and hopefully if the images are still readable. MESS does support cracked versions in case an original diskette can not be located or if the 'crack' is a unique variation.

There have been differences with some viewing only originals should be supported in MESS, but cracked images should be supported as a backup measure in case an original diskette can't be located.