Acornsoft Defender, Defender and Planetiod

[dhoggan]

I haven't been able to find much out on this other than Planetoid is the renamed version of Defender after Atarisoft got the hump. But, am I right in thinking there are two versions of Defender: one with a single game loader (length 0A 0A08) and one, like Planetoid, with two loaders (length 04 0500 and 05 0600)? in all three versions the main game seems to be length 22 2300.

The STH copy of Defender seems to be the version with two loaders. Is there a difference between the two versions of Defender?

Thanks,

Dave

[dhoggan]

Just to add another difference: on the version of Defender with a single loader, once the main game loads it seems to immediately start a game; on the two loader version, you have to press enter.

[scarybeasts]

Just to add another difference: on the version of Defender with a single loader, once the main game loads it seems to immediately start a game; on the two loader version, you have to press enter.

Do we have both variants of this interesting tape archived anywhere?


Cheers
Chris

[dhoggan]

Chris,

I wouldn't know specifically where to check, other than STH and bbcmirco.co.uk. I have the single-loader version so would be able to add it to a collection - once I figure out what is wrong with my ANF03 cassette deck.

It's (for me) getting more curious as there seems to be very little info on Defender, other than it being released in a slightly modifed form as Planetoid for legal reasons and that it having a 'clumping aliens' issue attributed to some random number generator. But there's nothing on there being two versions. I'm interested in why and which came first and what the differences are. I was almost tempted to say that they main game is the same, but the fact one launches as soon as it loads and one requires spacebar to be pressed (as you'd expect) is even more intriguing.

Dave

[Kecske Bak]

I haven't been able to find much out on this other than Planetoid is the renamed version of Defender after Atarisoft got the hump. But, am I right in thinking there are two versions of Defender: one with a single game loader (length 0A 0A08) and one, like Planetoid, with two loaders (length 04 0500 and 05 0600)?

My guess is that may be a result of Guy "Goma" Kewney publishing how to get around the dreaded "Locked" in Personal Computer World in 1983.
Acornsoft sued (ironic as most of their games ripped off other people's IP) said that it would increase its tape protection as a result. That may explain the second tape loader.

[dhoggan]

As in 'only allowing CHAIN/*RUN and preventing people from being able to load' locked?

Do you recall the month it was published - I'll see if I can give the article up on the web.

Thanks,

Dave

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

Looky here!

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5618

[dhoggan]

Ah thanks - had managed to find it on the Internet Archive in the meantime but reading people's thoughts around the subject in always interesting.

[Ricardo]

Why do I still remember CALL &F1C4...

[scarybeasts]

I wouldn't know specifically where to check, other than STH and bbcmirco.co.uk. I have the single-loader version so would be able to add it to a collection - once I figure out what is wrong with my ANF03 cassette deck.

Did you have any luck with your tape deck?

I also have a Defender tape. I checked it and it is the single loader version. Unfortunately it is not reading 100% cleanly -- it is a very old tape. Since it's a less common piece of history, and we don't have this variant archived, I'd be willing to put in time to try and recover it. I want to check if someone else's tape loads better first though


Cheers
Chris

[leenew]

The Defender UEF is here: https://www.stairwaytohell.com/filesear ... rch=Search

And Planetoid:
https://www.stairwaytohell.com/filesear ... rch=Search

Lee

[scarybeasts]

The Defender UEF is here: https://www.stairwaytohell.com/filesear ... rch=Search

The tape version archived there is the "two loader" version. There's also a "one loader" tape version that is not archived and we're discussed that particular one.


Cheers
Chris

[scarybeasts]

Got it working. Posted to the Archive Submissions: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=20311

38 year old tape! Still seems to load fine.


Cheers
Chris

[leenew]

Oops!
Sorry.
Watching telly, eating fajitas and reading Stardot.
It seems I can't multi-task

Lee.

[dhoggan]

Chris, what were the issues you were having in getting it loading initially? Just wondering if they were the same as mine - tape slow down etc.

Still haven't had time to look into sorting the tape deck out - a work project in a different time zone is messing my schedule up so I haven't had big blocks of time to test things.

Dave

[scarybeasts]

Chris, what were the issues you were having in getting it loading initially? Just wondering if they were the same as mine - tape slow down etc.

Surprisingly, the tape is just fine, despite being 38 years old. A bit of hiss and warble but nothing a real beeb cares about.

Ironically, the issue was with modern tech. I have a modern cassette player that writes mp3s of the cassette to a USB stick. For some reason, it was dropping fragments of sound. I recorded again and it was ok. Maybe the USB stick is too slow or too full or too fragmented or something

If I had to do this a lot, I'd probably get an audio jack cable and sample the sound on my laptop, which is sure to be able to keep up without dropping.


Cheers
Chris

[vanekp]

Surprisingly, the tape is just fine, despite being 38 years old. A bit of hiss and warble but nothing a real beeb cares about.

Ironically, the issue was with modern tech. I have a modern cassette player that writes mp3s of the cassette to a USB stick. For some reason, it was dropping fragments of sound. I recorded again and it was ok. Maybe the USB stick is too slow or too full or too fragmented or something

If I had to do this a lot, I'd probably get an audio jack cable and sample the sound on my laptop, which is sure to be able to keep up without dropping.


Cheers
Chris

MP3's generally don't work very well with data files, I stick to capturing them as pure wav files 8bit mono is fine and also the only format that will convert to a uef file.