Fast loader: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:26, 8 March 2023

Revision as of 17:27, 27 July 2023

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Such programs existed for several computers, such as the [[Ohio Scientific#Challenger|Ohio Scientific Challenger]].<ref name="carlson19800304">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1980-03-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_003_1980_Mar_Apr#page/n113/mode/2up | title=Fast Tape Read/Write Programs For Your OSI | work=Compute! | date=March–April 1980 | accessdate=25 October 2013 | author=Carlson, Edward H. | pages=115–117}}</ref> The PET Rabbit was one such program for the PET,<ref name="strasma19800304">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1980-03-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_003_1980_Mar_Apr#page/n93/mode/2up | title=The PET Rabbit | work=Compute! | date=March–April 1980 | accessdate=25 October 2013 | author=Strasma, James | pages=94}}</ref> while TurboTape was one for the Commodore [[Datassette]].<ref name="deceukelaire198501">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1985-01-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_056_1985_Jan#page/n125/mode/2up | title=TurboTape / High-Speed Tape Utility For Commodore 64 And VIC-20 | work=Compute! | date=January 1985 | accessdate=30 October 2013 | author=De Ceukelaire, Harrie | pages=124}}</ref><ref name="deceukelaire198502">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1985-02-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_057_1985_Feb#page/n113/mode/2up | title=How TurboTape Works | work=Compute! | date=February 1985 | accessdate=30 October 2013 | author=De Ceukelaire, Harrie | pages=112}}</ref><ref name="capute198503">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1985-03-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_058_1985_Mar#page/n147/mode/2up | title=Capute! | work=Compute! | date=March 1985 | accessdate=30 October 2013 | pages=146}}</ref> Turbo 2000 was a similar system for the Atari.<ref>{{cite web |title=Turbo 2000 |website=AtariMax |url=https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/aturbo.html}}</ref>

Speedlock was a software protection system used on the [[ZX Spectrum]] and the [[Amstrad CPC]], written by David Aubrey-Jones and David Looker in 1983. The two programmers had become frustrated at the slow loading times of the computer's tape loading system, and realised it would be possible to write a better one. The prototype sat unused for about a year, but was finally picked up by [[Ocean Software]] on ''[[Daley Thompson's Decathlon]]'', released in late 1984.<ref name="crash">{{cite journal|url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/44/david_aj.htm|last=Eddy|first=Richard|year=1987|publisher=Crash|issue=44|title=The One David|accessdate=9 January 2013}}</ref> It was subsequently used by [[U.S. Gold]] and for several titles by [[Ultimate Play the Game]], amongst others.<ref name="lerm"/> Speedlock was also ported to the [[Amstrad CPC]] in 1985. The system used several advanced features of the Spectrum's architecture, such as the memory refresh register and parity branch instructions of the [[Z80]] processor, which made it harder to create [[copyright infringement|illegitimate copies]] without the protection.<ref>{{cite journal|url=httphttps://www.worldofspectrumarchive.org/showwrap.cgi?details/your-sinclair-61/page=hth61.html/n65/mode/1up|last=North|first=Jon|year=1990|publisher=Your Sinclair|title=How To Hack : Speedlock|issue=6161pages=66–67|accessdate=9 January 20132023-07-28}}</ref> Early versions used a set of audible "clicking" lead tones when loading a program. Later versions did not include this, but instead had a counter showing the time left to finish loading the program, similar to those of ''[[Technician Ted]]'' and ''[[Fairlight (video game)|Fairlight]]''.<ref name="crash"/><ref name="lerm">{{cite book|url=ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-info/l/LermTapeUtilityD.pdf|title=Lerm Tape Utility D (instruction manual)|publisher=Lerm|year=1990|accessdate=9 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldofspectrum.org/tapsamp.html#schemes|title=Tape Decoding : Encoding schemes|author=Martin van der Heide, Martin Kopanske and Tomaz Kac|publisher=World of Spectrum|date=1997–1999|accessdate=9 January 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602185425/https://www.worldofspectrum.org/tapsamp.html|archivedate=2 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.crashonline.org.uk/13/techted.htm | title = CRASH review from 1985 | accessdate = 29 January 2007}}</ref>

Some companies created software to bypass protection schemes, including Speedlock, for the purpose of [[backup|backing up]] or transferring to [[ZX Microdrive]], the [[ZX Spectrum +3]], or other proprietary disk systems.<ref name="lerm"/>