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From: pdermody@maths.tcd.ie (Paul Dermody)
Newsgroups: rec.humor,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Looking for Computer Folklore
Message-ID: <676@maths.tcd.ie>
Date: 13 Mar 89 15:38:49 GMT
References: <864@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> <2047@tank.uchicago.edu> <36549@vax1.tcd.ie> <669@maths.tcd.ie> <21525@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: pdermody@maths.tcd.ie (Paul Dermody)
Organization: Maths Dept., Trinity College, Dublin
Lines: 24

In article <21525@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> c60c-3ds@web-1b.berkeley.edu (John Kawakami) writes:
>In a similar vein, the Atari ST has software control over the floppy disk
>mechanism.  It is possible to push the head past the prescribed 80 tracks.
>of data on each floppy.  Then some even brighter folks figured that you
>could push the head out even more and squeeze in another track.
>Of course, some floppy drives couldn't go out to track 82...
>Here a crunch, there a crunch, and the drive refuses to read again.

	A similar situation exists on the Amiga. Software companies, in the
fight against piracy, have protection systems which check for certain
information on tracks beyond the 80th. So much so, copiers are available that
will copy a whole disk, track 0 to track 79, and then do tracks 80,81,82,83.
One copier that will ( or at least claims to ) do this is AHA-Copier.

	I also hear of a virus on the Amiga which will tell the drive to read
past where it should, so much so that it causes structural damage to it.

	And who says you cannot make a computer do anything?

-- 
Paul Dermody: Mathsc.   | "An Irishman who doesn't drink. There's a turn up  
Trinity College, Dublin | for the books!": Light a penny candle, Maeve Binchy.
Ireland.                | "An Irishman who doesn't drink. Isn't that a
  Theorem: 26 + 6 = 1   |  Contradiction in terms?": Staten Island bouncer.