QL Today to close after next issue

[Dave]

Two independent false positives? Caution!

[vanpeebles]

I tried raw read but didn't have much luck with it

[RWAP]

I tried raw read but didn't have much luck with it

I have the DOS versions of RAWREAD but none of this disk imaging software will work if you have an external disk drive (as you cannot access the drive controller).

You need a PC with built in disk drives.

[vanpeebles]

I think it struggled possibly due to disc sector protection? Sadly at the moment, I don't have a PC with a proper old style floppy disc in

[RWAP]

QPC2 can handle disk images I believe...

Rich,
nope, it cannot, I'm afraid.

SMSQmulator can, but only read-only.

uqlx can , as well as QEmulator , I believe.

But installing a QL emulator just for the purpose of creating a disk image is probably overkill.

Hmm just checked - yes, the registered version of q-emulator can handle disk images - does it really matter that it is read only for now? We just need a means of getting the software preserved!

I should send a snail mail to Robin Barker - wonder if he still lives in Walsall - and see if we can get the rights to re-release his programs. Can someone PM me his address and I'll get my mum to check if he's still there in the phone book!

[vanpeebles]

We really could with tracking him down (and many others) so much great software out there unpreserved and unre-released!

We should do a pack of QL playing cards with our most wanted on

[RWAP]

By the way, QPC2 v4 (as provided with the last issue of QL Today) does allow you to mount disk img files as floppy disks....

[dilwyn]

I think I sent you one but it had that weird copy protection on so that any copy doesn't work I rarely play on the original discs as I'm worried they will break so I mainly play on the demo from Dilwyn's site.

Could you perhaps make a disk image with rawread?

QPC2 can handle disk images I believe...

Haven't tried this, as I haven't got a Fleet Tactical Command to try it with, I wonder if a direct sector copy would work if you have a system where direct sector access is possible, usually a QL with disk drives although PCs with built in floppy drives (as opposed to USB ones) might work. I'm thinking of programs like Flpclone http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/files/flpclone.zip which copy the disk at low level, or http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/files/sectcopy.zip by Norman Dunbar (works only with DD disks).

[vanpeebles]

That sounds promising

[RWAP]

Certainly I would think a direct sector copier would do it - most forms of disk copy protection rely on having a bad sector or a deleted file in a certain sector.