----------The Writing Workshop--------- A 4am crack 2015-04-23 --------------------------------------- Name: The Writing Workshop Genre: productivity Year: 1985 Authors: John A. Oberschelp Publisher: Milliken Publishing Company Media: 12 single-sided 5.25-inch discs OS: Diversi-DOS (T02,S02 has the string "C1982 DSR" in reverse) Other versions: none (preserved here for the first time) Similar cracks: Tangrams Puzzler, also by Milliken (4am crack no. 139) I have 12 disks. They are not numbered. Five explicitly state on the disk label that they are "copyable for classroom use." None of those five are bootable (beyond a message saying they are a data disk of some sort). On the bright side, I successfully copied each of them with COPYA. - File Cabinet Diskette 1 - File Cabinet Diskette 2 - Help Files - Mechanics Checker II (Word List) - Spelling Checker II (Word List) The other seven disks are bootable and, I'm assuming, copy-protected: - The Milliken Word Processor - Brainstorming - Branching - Nutshelling - Mechanics Checker I (Driver) - Spelling Checker I (Driver) - Proofreader Each disk appears to be independent of the others. To use a different part of the program, you are expected to reboot with the appropriate disk. I'll start with "The Milliken Word Processor." ~ Chapter 0 In Which Various Automated Tools Fail In Interesting Ways COPYA immediate read error Locksmith Fast Disk Backup can't read any track EDD 4 bit copy (no sync, no count) no read errors, but copy boots DOS then puts a "." in the top-left corner of the screen and reboots Copy ][+ nibble editor modified address and data epilogue bytes ("DF AA EB") on every track Disk Fixer ["O" -> "Input/Output Control"] set Address Epilogue to "DF AA EB" set Data Epilogue to "DF AA EB" Success! All tracks readable! ...except T02,S05 ...identical error on all disks, so probably intentional T00 -> looks like a DOS 3.3 RWTS T11 -> DOS 3.3 disk catalog T01,S09 -> startup program is "BOOT" Why didn't COPYA work? modified epilogue bytes (every track) Why didn't Locksmith FDB work? modified epilogue bytes (every track) Why didn't my EDD copy work? probably a nibble check during boot Next steps: 1. capture RWTS with AUTOTRACE 2. convert disk to standard format with Advanced Demuffin 3. find nibble check and bypass it ~ Chapter 1 In Which We Attempt To Use The Original Disk As A Weapon Against Itself [S6,D1=original disk] [S6,D2=blank disk] [S5,D1=my work disk] ]PR#5 CAPTURING BOOT0 ...reboots slot 6... ...reboots slot 5... SAVING BOOT0 CAPTURING BOOT1 ...reboots slot 6... ...reboots slot 5... SAVING BOOT1 SAVING RWTS ]BRUN ADVANCED DEMUFFIN 1.5 ["5" to switch to slot 5] ["R" to load a new RWTS module] --> At $B8, load "RWTS" from drive 1 ["6" to switch to slot 6] ["C" to convert disk] --v-- ADVANCED DEMUFFIN 1.5 (C) 1983, 2014 ORIGINAL BY THE STACK UPDATES BY 4AM =======PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE======= TRK:..R................................ +.5: 0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF012 SC0:................................... SC1:................................... SC2:................................... SC3:................................... SC4:................................... SC5:..R................................ SC6:................................... SC7:................................... SC8:................................... SC9:................................... SCA:................................... SCB:................................... SCC:................................... SCD:................................... SCE:................................... SCF:................................... ======================================= 16SC $00,$00-$22,$0F BY1.0 S6,D1->S6,D2 --^-- The disk's own RWTS gave one read error on track $02, but the rest of the disk copied without a hitch. The original disk gives no indication of a bad sector, so either this sector is unused (and I got lucky) or this is part of the copy protection. Let's see if I can launch the program from my work disk. ]PR#5 ... ]CATALOG,S6,D2 C1983 DSR^C#254 169 FREE ERROR #8 I/O ERR Wait, what? ~ Chapter 2 Hide Your Disk Catalog With This One Weird Trick! Crackers Hate It! The demuffin'd copy ought to have a catalog (I saw it on the original disk with Disk Fixer), but now it has suspiciously vanished. Turning again to my trusty Disk Fixer sector editor, I see the problem. Track $11 does have a catalog, but the pointer to the first directory sector has been intentionally corrupted. --v-- -------------- DISK EDIT -------------- TRACK $11/SECTOR $00/VOLUME $FE/BYTE$00 --------------------------------------- $00:>00