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From: matthews@umd5.umd.edu (Mike Matthews)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Shareware Mac
Message-ID: <5694@umd5.umd.edu>
Date: 29 Nov 89 15:21:03 GMT
References: <641@nixpbe.UUCP> <111500070@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <5676@umd5.umd.edu> <3870@netmbx.UUCP>
Reply-To: matthews@umd5.umd.edu (Mike Matthews)
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 25

In article <3870@netmbx.UUCP> hase@netmbx.UUCP (Hartmut Semken) writes:
>>I kinda hope that this shareware Mac thing specifically checks for illegal ROMs.
>How?
>I suspect Pit to read in the ROMs from a standard ROM cartridge (this
>simple thing with 2 sockets and a 7400 that plugs to the cartridge port
>and offers 128 KBytes of ROM); it would be impossible to tell original
>chips from copies in EPROM.
>But it would leave responsibility to the user; the author of the
>software does not suggest the user to do anything illeagal...
>
>hase
>-- 
>Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 hase@netmbx.UUCP

'Impossible' is a word best left out of computer hacker's works.  Dave Small
checks for illegal ROMs/EPROMs in  his Spectre 128 and Spectre GCR cartridges.
ROMs and EPROMS aren't EXACTLY the same, in some manner.  Perhaps he tests the
speed of retrieval.  Perhaps he tests some sort of electrical property, such
as resistance or somesuch (I know nothing about this, but it's just an idea).

If the author of the software invites people to illegally copy ROMs or whatnot,
then 99 times out of 100, the user will copy the ROMs.  Especially if you HAVE
to.

Mike