stardot.org.uk

Hi,

Continuing on my research into BBC disc protections (with an eye on converting @billcarr's FSDs into HFEs as accurately as possible), I'm after Tynesoft disc titles.

Which ones? Not all Tynesoft titles have the protection that is particularly of interest. But I believe these do:

- Boulderdash (ideal)
- Saigon
- Winter Olympiad
- Indoor Sports

There's an extra complication: at least some of these titles have multiple different disc versions. For example, I recently acquired an Indoor Sports. After trials and tribulations removing an initially unnoticed layer of brown mould from the disc, and cleaning my drive heads yet again, I got the disc loading only to find it is an unprotected version. (I do believe it to be original.)

The discs that have the relevant protection appear to start with a MODE 7 loader screen that suggests the game will "follow shortly" -- it's not the world's quickest loading protection

Anyone got any of these they want to sell to a good home?


Cheers
Chris

Ian bothams cricket appeared on disc in an official capacity too , although not an easy one to find

balladof32 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 10:35 am

Ian bothams cricket appeared on disc in an official capacity too , although not an easy one to find

Ian Botham's Test Match was supplied on a 40track disc with no protection

billcarr2005 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:24 pm

Ian Botham's Test Match was supplied on a 40track disc with no protection

I'm curious whether protected vs. unprotected Tynesoft discs can be distinguished by appearance alone. I have an unprotected Indoor Sports. From the FSD, it looks like your Indoor Sports is protected. What does your Indoor Sports disc look like? Mine looks like this, a cobbled-together label variety

Cheers
Chris

I don't have IS but I can tell you that the Botham label is pretty much identical as the one on that IS shown in the picture there . I'm sure I have some other Tynesoft disc titles so I'll have a look for you when I get a moment . I'm sure you're aware of Saigon and Phantom already .

The black disk with printed label was a "squeaker" when I attempted to load it, however i managed to catalogue it and it contained !BOOT & Welly and reported 0 tracks.
I'm not sure if the white disk was originally intended to be a flippy or whether it's 40/80 compatible anyway...

balladof32 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 16, 2020 9:53 pm

I'm sure you're aware of Saigon and Phantom already .

Saigon is mentioned in the first post!
Phantom isn't protected.

billcarr2005 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:11 am

The black disk with printed label was a "squeaker" when I attempted to load it, however i managed to catalogue it and it contained !BOOT & Welly and reported 0 tracks.

Ok, so it's not possible to tell if a Tynesoft disc is a protected or unprotected version based on its appearance. My black Indoor Sports disc with printed label is unprotected will a fully visible catalog:


Cheers
Chris

Some of the files do have the same names as the disc on bbcmicro.co.uk

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/explore.php?id=1055

but it's impossible to tell if they have the same attributes or indeed if they were ever sourced officially... could be a homemade disc?

If the files have the same load address & length as the following, which is the cracked version of the original, then it's likely the code is the same?
Filenames are obviously going to be different!