Blit-A-Copy Version 2.0
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Copyright (C) 1991 By Matrix
Distributed & Manufactured By SLIPSTREAM Productions Inc.
Welcome to the wonderfull world of HARDWARE copiers......BLIT-A-COPY 2.0
With this product you will be able to make backup copies of any 3.5"
floppy diskette.
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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Turn off your computer and remove your external drive cable from the rear
of your computer.
Replace it with your ready made BLIT-A-COPY hardware or if you have the
Super Card Ami (tm) hardware you may use that aswell as both of these forms of
hardware are compatible with this product.
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HOW DOES BLIT-A-COPY WORK?
BLIT-A-COPY works by "stealing" the signal that comes from your internal
drive (DF0:) and converting it into the signal necessary for writing the
IDENTICAL data READ from the SOURCE (internal) drive. This process called
"JUPITER" (Patent Pending), gives you an exact copy of the SOURCE disk.
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SO WHY DOES BLIT-A-COPY WORK WHEN OTHER HARDWARE COPIERS DONT?
Our competitor's products either change the clock rate (the rate at which you
can write data to a diskette) EXTERNALLY via plugging into the VIDEO PORT,
or they do similar to what BLIT-A-COPY does...except, they just "force
feed" the read signal into the write line with NO conversion factor at all.
By using this process, a lot of data can be shifted and lost. Losing data
can be particularly important when a check is made for a specific number of bytes
that are written to a commercial software disk. When data is shifted, the
track length will change causing erroneous results. The end result is that
it may take MANY attempts to make a backup of this kind of disk protection,
it is also possible that you would never be able to do it at all.
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DOES BLIT-A-COPY HAVE ANY LIMITATIONS?
Well, yes and no. The HARDWARE itself has none. The software is where ALL
of the limitations are. An explanation of copy protection schemes found
later in this documentation file will help you understand why we are "at
the mercy of the software".
USING THE SOFTWARE:
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Menu Choices: Default: Range:
F1 - Copy Diskette
F2 - Starting Track 00 0-83
F3 - Ending Track 79 0-83
F4 - Side to Copy BOTH HEAD 0, HEAD 1, BOTH
F5 - copy mode AUTO AUTO, INDEX, DOS, SPLICE
F6 - Destination Drive DF1 DF1 or DF2 (Amiga 2000 only!)
F7 - offset length 25 0000-FFFF
F8 - utilities menu
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Utilities Menu
F1 - Track Scanner 0-79 0-83 / select with starting \
F2 - View Buffer 0-79 0-83 \ and ending track /
F8 - Options Menu
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(F1) After selecting your STARTING TRACK, ENDING TRACK, and other
options. Pressing the F1 key will prompt you to insert your
SOURCE diskette (original to be copied) into DF0 and to insert
your DESTINATION diskette (to be copied on to) into DF1. You MUST
have the WRITE PROTECT tab in the OPEN position on your original.
The program will NOT continue unless the SOURCE diskette IS WRITE
PROTECTED. This is a safety feature, even though NO data
is EVER written to the SOURCE drive. Press the ESCape key to abort
the F1 option. Pressing the LEFT MOUSE button will abort the copying
procedure once it has started.
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(F2) After pressing the F2 key, the STARTING TRACK number can be
increased by pressing the RIGHT CURSOR key. The number can be
decreased by pressing the LEFT CUSOR key. Once the desired number
has been achieved, press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. If you
selected this option by mistake, simply press RETURN (or ENTER) to
exit.
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(F3) After pressing the F3 key, the ENDING TRACK number can be increased
by pressing the RIGHT CURSOR key. The number can be decreased by
pressing the LEFT CURSOR key. Once the desired number has been
achieved, press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. If you selected this
option by mistake, simply press RETURN (or ENTER) to exit.
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(F4) Each time you press the F4 key, the SIDE value will change. The
three possible choices are: HEAD 0 (bottom head), HEAD 1 (top
head), or BOTH (both heads 0 & 1). You probably will never need
to change this option. However, it has been provided in case you
are aware of a software program that uses only one side of the
diskette. By selecting only one side, the backup time is one half
of the normal time.
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(F5) Each time you press the F5 key, the MODE value will change. The
four possible choices are: AUTO, INDEX, DOS, or SPLICE. These are
the different copying modes available. The INDEX MODE will backup ALL
software that was created with a commercial disk duplication
machine that uses the INDEX mark to START and END the track data.
The DOS MODE will copy unprotected and light protected DOS disks
only. It was designed to be a high speed copier that needs certain
circumstances found only on AMIGA DOS formats that won't normally be
found on copy protected software. *(see end of docs for new info on
dos copy)*. The SPLICE MODE attempts to locate the START and END
of the track through intelligent scanning routines. The AUTO MODE
is the MOST powerful of all and should be tried before other options.
This mode looks at a track and figures out how it should be copied.
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(F6) The DESTINATION DRIVE can ONLY be DF1 for the 500/1000's and DF2 for
the 2000/2500's using the blit-a-copy. This is designed for EXTERNAL
drives only. The version coming shortly for the AMIGA 2000 & 2500
with two internal drives WILL be able to select DF1, DF2 or BOTH.
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(F7) This option is for setting up the BLIT-A-COPY hardware to work
with disk drives that have speed differences or variations between
them. The default is 25. If you copy a disk in the AUTO MODE and
disk does NOT boot (because of an error on the boot block), try
changing the OFFSET LENGTH. Generally, a SMALLER value will be
necessary, however, a little trial and error may be required.
Once you find a value that does work for your drives, remember it!
This is the value that you should always use for YOUR system!
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(F8) This key toggles between the OPTION and UTILITY menu.
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(DEL) This function, though not listed in the menu, is very handy for
those of use that are a bit on the lazy side. By pressing the
DEL key, ALL of the Menu Option settings are returned to their
DEFAULT settings. This is an easy way to save some time.
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(F10) TO EXIT BLIT-A-COPY however normal drive operations will
not work. Just reset your Amiga.
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COPY PROTECTION..HOW DOES IT WORK?
The way in which the Amiga hardware was designed has left the copy protection
industry open to virtually do anything. Unlike the 1581 disk drive for the
Commodore 64/128 computers, the Amiga does not have a drive controller chip
limited to a specific disk format. For this reason, the Amiga will read and
write other disk formats such as IBM, Apple GS, and Atari ST. The disk
controller chip PAULA, can also read GCR formatting by adjusting the
timimg "window" to allow a slower data rate to be written.
With all of the nasty things that protection companies are doing, blit-a-copy
does very well. When copying a disk in the INDEX MODE, a perfect copy
can be obtained. You might wonder why this wont work for a disk that was
produced with NON-INDEXING. Let's explain how a disk is layed out:
There are 80 tracks per side, two sides, a total of 160 tracks...for normal
Amiga Dos format. It is possible to access all the way up to track 83.
However, not ALL disk drives will reliably read the outer tracks because of
the physical limitation of the drive mechanical section. Put simply, the head
hits the INNER STOP before it can actually reach the track(s).
When a disk is said to be "INDEXED", all of the tracks are aligned, or lined
up in a row. An example of a INDEXED disk would be:
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Track #: 1 2 3 4 5 6
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
* * * * * *
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
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The "*" represents the START and END of the track, known as the TRACK GAP
area. This is a section of the track that is not used by normal Amiga Dos.
Some protection schemes actually place their protection in this area.
As you can see, all of the "*" are aligned together, and start at the exact
same place on the disk. This is very easy to duplicate. The Amiga disk
drives have an INDEX HOLE SENSOR built into them. A simple check at the sensor
port tells the blit-a-copy's INDEX MODE to turn on the WRITING for the
DESTINATION drive (DF1) and to start reading the data. Once the sensor
detects the hole again, the write is turn'd off and the the process is
repeated for all tracks until the backup is finished.
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Now, if the data was NOT INDEXED, it might look like this:
Track #: 1 2 3 4 5 6
* ! ! ! ! *
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! * * ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! * !
! ! ! ! ! !
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Notice that Track #2 isn't even visible. That is because it is 180 degrees
off of the INDEX mark. Notice also that Tracks 3 & 4 are INDEXED, but
not intentionally. Occasionally you might end up with a few tracks that
appear to be INDEXED. A VERY simple way to tell if a diskette is
TRUELY INDEXED, is to use option F8 (Track Scanner) of the software.
Pay attention to the WFS display. If you see wild, inconsistent changes
in that value, then the diskette is probably NOT INDEXED. If you see a
consistent display with only a few bytes changing occasionally, then the
diskette was DEFINATELY INDEXED.
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To get around the problem of NON-INDEXED diskettes, intelligent scanning
routines are used to try to determine where the TRACK GAP area is. Due to
the complexity of the routines and various methods, they will not be
discussed. Copying a disk in INDEX MODE merely makes the copying process
EXTREMELY fast, and is NOT necessary. The AUTO MODE should also copy a
disk that IS INDEXED.
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While copying thousands of disks, I noticed something of interest. Nearly
all of the older style protection schemes (weird or long track on only one
track) can be copied using the DOS MODE. When the DOS MODE encounters an
abnormal format, the software then selects the AUTO MODE to take care of
it. So, MANY titles can be backed-up very quickly using the DOS MODE.
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*** IMPORTANT NOTICE ***
The single most important thing that will assure good copies is to use GOOD
QUALITY double sided double density 1meg disks (3M, Fugi, Basf, Kalleens, Etc)!!
Or use good quality 2meg HIGH-DENISTY (made for IBM 1.44 DSHD) disks. These can
be purchased from your local computer dealer.
If you are having difficulties copying software with a late model version
1.2 Kickstart on an Amiga 500...or versions 4.3, 4.5, 6.0 (circuit boards)
on an Amiga 2000/2500, you will have to wait for new software that will
correct a processor timing problem with these units.
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CREDITS
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Design & Programming
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Matrix
Graphics
--------
Guru
Special Thanx To The Following People
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Kid Video . Damaxx . Skol
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