Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!mintaka!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!jarthur!sburke From: sburke@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Scott Burke) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: Re: download library from EQ LIB card Message-ID: <10566@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> Date: 30 Jan 91 08:18:12 GMT References: <27a114e2:1810comp.sys.handhelds@hpcvbbs.UUCP> <19440003@hpfcdj.HP.COM> Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711 Lines: 66 I have a few thoughts on this beginning thread on ROM copying. In fact, being a commercial developer with Sparcom, I have thought about it a _lot_. 1. You don't need to back up ROM cards. Ever. Therefore code that is designed to extract a library object from a ROM card is not excusable as a backup device. 2. Earlier, someone posted and asked for that code because they only wanted _part_ of the EQLIB card, but not all of it. That, I believe, would be piracy. Unless of course they own the card, in which case they should just plug the darn thing in. They complained about the startup-time; well, checksums are checksums, and if they put it in a RAM card the time delay will be identical (for a 128K RAM card, that is). 3. For serious users, the 48SX really is a one-slot machine, because they must always have a merged 128K or 32K RAM card in one of the ports. This means that only one commercial ROM card can be used at a time, and that access to only one set of libraries is provided. 4. If libraries are distributed (i.e., sold) as code objects like Donnelly's Toolkit, which comes on a disk, then they can be downloaded to the 48. But this eats memory--does anybody out there actually use all his code in a 32K machine? No, of course not. If you have a 32K machine, you down- load what you need when you need it. But Donnelly's libraries can be pirated because of this. 5. I have yet to think of a case where the user will need to access library objects from more than one ROM card at the same time. In the future, it may be possible that the code in commercial ROMs becomes so integrated that multiple ROM cards must be present at the same time. But get real; this hasn't happened yet and currently isn't on the horizon. 6. If Joe owns two ROM cards, he can pull one out and plug the other one in. This is simple. There is no need to complain about the 3 seconds taken to do this if Joe wants to access two different ROM cards, he doesn't need to extract one of the libraries and put it in RAM. 7. HP's EQLIB card is misleading because it contains 8 libraries. Sparcom's cards contain, typically, one large 128K library. (More or less.) There is no way any user is going to want to copy that into RAM, because they'd pay way more than the $99 list price for the ROM card (again, more or less on the price) for a large enough RAM card. I really can't come up with a reason other than piracy for the ROM-extraction code. I respect the author's desire to break an encryption scheme, and I believe it is perfectly ok to post the fact that it has been broken. BUT I must point out (as HP pointed out the author) that posting such code is not responsible, as there is no need for it. As a commercial developer whose income depends on the sale of ROMs, I can say that the last thing I want is to start a copy-protection war with the user, as has happened so many times in the past and continues to occur on nearly all computers today. Sure, Sparcom could include software copy protection. We could include hardware copy protection. But spending time on such financial protection merely cuts into the time spent developing intriguing new products for the 48sx. Just my $.02. Scott. sburke@jarthur.claremont.edu The opinions I express in no way speak for Sparcom, and anything I say is not meant to be Sparcom's final word on the matter. I speak merely from personal opinion, and the fact that I am a commercial developer influences that opinion but does not legally bind the company for which I work.