Seattle, Washington — July 5, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.), Bruce Jones, and Lane Roathe are proud to announce the immediate availability of the book Tome of Copy Protection.
Copy protection is designed to keep people from making copies of a disk. Because of the complexity and ‘hidden’ aspects of copy protection, most people have little or no idea how this protection works. This 380 page book is designed to help you understand what is going on with your protected Apple II disks, and possibly show you how to copy them, or create your own copy protection scheme.
Availability
Tome of Copy Protection is available through the A.P.P.L.E. bookstore with production and fulfillment by Lulu.com. A disk image for the programs is available on the Apps page. Now in its second printing, the Errata can be downloaded for the first printing.
Features
- Table of Contents.
- Detailed discussions of Disk II Mechanics, Disk Structure, Reading and Writing Data, Analyzing Bits, Bit Insertion, Invalid Bytes, Nibble Counting, Nibble Editor Configuration, Self Sync, and the Elusive Sync Bit.
- Source code, documentation and tips for over 25 unique programs such as NYBBLER – a multi-function nibble editor that uses many of the routines and additional programs found inside and available on a free disk image.
- Forwards from legendary game developer John Romero, plus disk guru and Applesauce creator John Morris.
- Although written for Apple II computers, the principles discussed can be applied to other computer systems.
Authors
Lane Roathe — Lane is credited in over 256 titles, in roles ranging from developer, designer, writer, and producer, on titles ranging from games and word processors to disk utilities. Some of his noteworthy titles include: Dark Castle, Galactic Patrol, V for Victory, Disk Utility Package, QASM, WriteAway, and Quicken Mac. He formed his first company, LightningWare as a junior in high school. After high school, he formed Blue Mountain MicroWare (later just Blue Mountain Micro). In 1989 he co-founded Ideas From the Deep with John Romero, and IFD continues to operate to this day. Visit ideasfromthedeep.com to learn more. Lane’s interest in copy protection began the way it did for most everyone else, trying to make a copy of a game he purchased. This soon led to boot tracing and disassembling every protected disk he could find, as well as most of the disk utilities like FID, Locksmith, etc. in an effort to learn everything he could about how the Disk II 5.25″ drive worked. Today, Lane works at Quicken, Inc. on the macOS version of the industry-leading personal finance software, Quicken.
Bruce Jones — Bruce became interested in the Apple II computer while attending high school in Pueblo, Colorado. Later, while attending the University of Southern Colorado, Bruce acquired an Apple II Plus with a floppy drive. At this time Bruce began learning about copy protection, primarily how to circumvent it in order to make copies of games and other programs. After graduating from the University of Souther Colorado, Bruce moved to the Dallas, Texas area to find paying work. He continued to contribute to the Apple II community for several more years, including the Tome of Copy Protection. Bruce also wrote a number of articles in Computist magazine and others.
Producers
Brian Wiser — Producer of books, films, games, and events, as well as an Apple consultant, historian and archivist. Designer, editor, and co-producer of dozens of books including: Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From The Computing Revolution, Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Graphically Speaking: Enhanced Edition, What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition, and The WOZPAK Special Edition – an important Apple II historical book with Steve Wozniak’s restored original, technical handwritten notes. Producer/Director of the documentary film “Done The Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity“, his Browncoat Cruise convention with Firefly cast, and an extra in the movie “Serenity.” Co-producer of Beagle Bros and Applied Engineering websites, the retro iOS game Structris, and co-producer/writer for CallAPPLE.org and Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine. Brian is also the author of The Etch-a-Sketch and Other Fun Programs.
Bill Martens — Apple historian and enthusiast, programmer, President of Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and co-producer of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine, and books like: Cyber Jack, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints, The WOZPAK Special Edition, and What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition. Bill also co-produced and co-programmed the retro iOS game Structris. Bill is the author of ApPilot/W1, Beyond Quest, The Anatomy of an EAMON, and multiple EAMon adventure games. He is a systems engineer specializing in office infrastructures and has been programming since 1976. And he is the production editor for the A.P.P.L.E. website CallAPPLE.org, writes science fiction novels in his spare time, and is a retired semi-pro football player.
Publisher
Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has been a global Apple user group since 1978, with membership peaking near 50,000 in 1985. Offering many services, A.P.P.L.E. is also a book publisher and game developer, and has produced dozens of new book titles since 2013 and over 100 Apple software titles.
A.P.P.L.E. published the The WOZPAK Special Edition – a detailed book containing Steve Wozniak’s restored handwritten notes and printouts about his Apple II computer, as well as forewords from Steve Wozniak and other Apple legends. They also publish books such as: Graphically Speaking: Enhanced Edition by Mark Pelczarski, Tome of Copy Protection, Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From the Computing Revolution by Mike Harvey, What’s Where in The Apple: Enhanced Edition, The Colossal Computer Cartoon Book: Enhanced Edition by David H. Ahl, A.P.P.L.E. 1978 and 1979 magazine Compendiums, and the retro iOS game Structris.
Press Information is available at: www.callapple.org/press
