You will be forgiven for thinking that I am teaching you how to make illegal pirated copies of your software after reading the above title. Well rest assured that I will not walk the board as this article is for informational purposes only. As a programmer, I understand how software piracy can harm businesses, so I don’t recommend it. There is a lot of good software that you can download for free, especially if you don’t need all the fancy features of expensive software. This article explains how people used to pirate retro computer software like Spectrum and Atari ST.

SPECTRUM AND COMMODORE 64

Spectrum and C64 software came on cassette tapes that were inserted into data recorders (or tape recorders) and could be loaded into memory by typing a command such as load “”. These computers relied on a series of sound signals that were never pleasant to hear, as they were horrible screeches. Very often, you would have to wait up to ten minutes (especially for a Spectrum 128k game) to load when it might crash, which means you have to readjust the volume and start over. In the case of a low recording, the game cassette would normally have a separate copy on the other side.

Most people could copy these games using a hi-fi system with two cassette decks. If you insert the original game tape on the first deck and press “play”, and insert a blank cassette on the second deck and press “play and record”, you can get a perfect copy. You can buy cassette tapes for storing data, such as a C15 that lets you record for up to fifteen minutes. Some people would use a C90 which would allow them to store many games at once.

If you don’t have access to two cassette decks, you can use the software. On the Spectrum, you could use something like “007Spy” which would allow you to load the entire game into memory and then back it up to a blank cassette. Some games had different ways of loading, such as pulsating (or clicking) loaders, a method used by many Ocean Software games. This led to the release of other software capable of addressing these chargers. The average Spectrum game would consist of a small code snippet (the header), a loading screen, and the main code. This is the standard charger, easy to copy.

When the Spectrum 128k +3 was released, it came with a built-in floppy drive. Since only so many games were released on +3 discs, methods were used to transfer them from one tape to another. The standard charger was easy. All you had to do was type merge “” to enter the editor code and save it to disk +3 (save “a: program-name”). I would then load the loading screen higher into memory (load the “screen name” code 30000) and save it to a +3 disk. Finally, I would do the same with the main code and add the load commands to the main header code.

For the more complicated loaders, a set of programs called “007 Trans-Master” was used to convert the files to the standard format so that they could be saved on +3 disks.

ATARI ST AND FRIEND

The great thing about the Atari ST and Amiga computers was that you could get your hands on hundreds of pieces of free software, without the need to pirate commercial software. There were many PDLs (public domain libraries) that distributed free software for the price of a disk and shipping, and for their distribution work. The actual software is free and covers anything from demos to games to pictures and music files. There was also the shareware method in which a small subscription fee is paid to receive extras for full versions of the software and licensed software, in which the PDL would offer a small commission to the original contributor.

The Atari ST software was normally copied using dedicated disk copiers such as “Fast Copy” while the Amiga used the popular “X-Copy”. However, some discs were protected and therefore more powerful copying software had to be used.

PROTECTION METHODS

Software publishers have used many forms of production to discourage copying, such as the more complicated Spectrum loaders. Other methods would require the user to enter a word or letter from the manual before they can enter the game, or to choose a series of colors or symbols from their book to match those on the screen. Some games let you think you’ve copied them until you’ve played them for so long and you notice an unpleasant surprise. The game “Shadow of the Beast” turns the screen upside down at certain levels, for example.

This led to the rise of Cracking Groups such as the famous “Pompey Pirates” on the Atari ST who would hack the game and remove copy protection. They would then release a series of games (hacked and packaged) on a single floppy disk that was passed on to multiple users.

CONCLUSION

The battle between software publishers and pirates is constant and people will always want free software if they can get it. Old retro software is freely available for download on various websites for people who want to relive the old days, so there is little need to copy them from the originals. I’m not going to tell you how to copy the latest PC software. I just wrote this article to explain how people used to back up their software for older systems. I said that there is a lot of free and expensive software available for the PC and I urge you to use it instead of resorting to piracy.