Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!qucdn!leek Organization: Queen's University at Kingston Date: Thursday, 30 May 1991 14:16:00 EDT From: Message-ID: <91150.141600LEEK@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Subject: Re: Way to get unique machine specific ID? References: <1991May29.200541.28813@vicorp.com> In article <1991May29.200541.28813@vicorp.com>, ron@vicorp.com (Ron Peterson) says: > >Is there any way to get a machine specific ID from an Amiga system? >The application I am thinking of is as a form of copy protection >where the software will only run on the machine it is installed on. >(The computer is supplied as part of the package.) Ideally there >would be something like a ROM address that would contain a unique code >but I suppose it is much less expensive to duplicate identical ROM's. >I suppose one way to do it would be to hide a code on the hard disk as >part of installation. Using some form of file id wouldn't work >because of the existance of copy programs that copy exact images of disks. No. No. No. No. No. Don't mess with my hard drive. I treat programs like that as a virus program. What if my old drive got trash or I decided to upgrade it 3 years down the road and your company went belly up ? Assuming there is an unique ID on each machine... What happened if my machine have to go to the shop for 4 weeks and I can't get it to run on a loaner ? Hardware ID can be defeated. Anyone with some minimal hardware knowledge can replace his/her hardware ID on the machine with EEPROM and allow he/she to change ID at will. See what happens to illegal EPROMs for pay TV boxes... If you do want a ID code, make it a key disk on a floppy. It is a pain, but if you program is really that useful I might use it. If you put a ID code on the hard drive, I can walk to a friend's place with my hard drive to install his ID on my hard drive (thanks to RDB) Is that what you wanted to prevent ? Doesn't work as you intended. > >ron@vicorp.com or uunet!vicorp!ron K. C. Lee