133K views · Jan 18, 2018 · 5:01 · 2 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2018–2024
An episode of Coding Secrets by Jon Burton on retro copy protection, in particular physically damaging a disk with a laser so copies fail. It explains how this defeated hackers and pirates.
Why Hacker News points people here: Cited in anti-piracy discussions as a clear explanation of clever retro copy-protection tricks, though one commenter disputes a claim about Leander.
“I thought the two methods described in this video were both good”HN comment, 2018
“I thought the two methods described in this video were both good”
Two good anti-piracy methods explained.
I thought the two methods described in this video were both good: this video Also, the method described here, even though it didn't result in a financially successful game, was pretty clever (pirating the game meant your game company would be defeated by pirates): link
“Another one of my favorite ones describes copy protection via intentionally destroyed floppy sectors”
Favorite among Burton's videos, on copy protection via destroyed floppy sectors.
For those who don't know, Burton explains this in depth here: link Another one of my favorite ones describes copy protection via intentionally destroyed floppy sectors: this video
“According to Jon Burton, something like this was actually done for the Amiga game Leander”
Jon Burton's account of Leander's disk-damaging protection.
According to Jon Burton, something like this was actually done for the Amiga game Leander, although not with the intent to damage hardware: this video
“I have the original release of Leander. There are no holes in the disks.”
I can give you an example of someone claiming there were holes in the disk, Jon Burton, but they're a goddamn liar : this video I have the original release of Leander. There are no holes in the disks. The code on the disk doesn't write anything besides hiscores. There is a protection routine exactly where he says there is, however what it does is check for a long track . It waits for the index pin, reads lots of data from the track, then looks to find two sync marks in the data it read, and they're at least a certain distance away from each other. No lasers, no holes, no writing. Standard long track protection. Here's the whole routine: link Here's a page that more accurately describes floppy disk protection methods (and also explains what a long track is): link
