alt Hacker NewsPC Floppy Copy Protection: Vault Prolok
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The scheme to damage hardware or data when Prolok Plus thinks someone's using a pirated copy seems ludicrous. Who wants to deal with the liability when this goes wrong due to a bug or unexpected circumstances?
For a old geek like me, its a good interesting read.
My first consulting gig was writing a copy protection mechanism (floppy-based) for a DOS application. So this brings back memories.
ha I had one of those "Copy II PC Option Board" and remember TRANSCOPY
it could pretty much copy anything
copying disks in 1980s was like radar vs radar-detector battle, always escalating
Maybe my reading comprehension can't grok it, but it appears defeat-able by MFM reading and recreation like almost every other form of "special disk" modification. Kyroflux, greaseweazle, Copy II PC Option Board, etc.
The accompanying interview with the founder of Quaid Software who defeated the Vault Prolok is also very interesting:
[0] https://martypc.blogspot.com/2024/09/pc-floppy-copy-protecti...