+wood_jl Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Hey, thanks for showing what the Paperclip one looks like. Not only is it different, IT'S HUGE!! <that's what she said> Ok, now everybody can quit playing with their dongles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qix_maniac Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Hey, thanks for showing what the Paperclip one looks like. Not only is it different, IT'S HUGE!! <that's what she said> Ok, now everybody can quit playing with their dongles. yw. actually the second side of the disk has a green lable that says "ATARI XE" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 for some reason I only have atari 130XE disks in my Paperclip package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Heh heh. I'm not sure my dongle, like so many things, still works. But I did open it up many years ago. Here's some pics. Paperclip probably been cracked. But I don't think it would be easy to make a fake dongle, it is a printed circuit board and a chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Thanks, russg. Indeed, that's a pretty involved dongle. Cracked program likely the answer, then. Wow. Did any other software use dongles? This must have made Paperclip and Leaderboard some expensive programs, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 CD4031BCN is a 64-Stage Static Shift Register, Whatever that is LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Heh heh. I'm not sure my dongle, like so many things, still works. But I did open it up many years ago. Here's some pics. Paperclip probably been cracked. But I don't think it would be easy to make a fake dongle, it is a printed circuit board and a chip. I have one of these too, it was a freebie in an ebay auction. Seller thought it was a port tester? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) I have one of these too, it was a freebie in an ebay auction. Seller thought it was a port tester? I can't find my original disk and instructions. I used it a lot, wrote a 64 page syllabus with it. I remember using ANALOG spell checker along with it, you made your own dictionary. The disk wasn't copy protected, so you could use a backup copy. Paperclip was much better than Atariwriter Plus. OH.... update. I do still have the instruction book, along with BGRAPH book. Edited March 23, 2011 by russg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Heh heh. I'm not sure my dongle, like so many things, still works. But I did open it up many years ago. Here's some pics. Paperclip probably been cracked. But I don't think it would be easy to make a fake dongle, it is a printed circuit board and a chip. Today (and back then) this would cost $5 in parts more or less and there is nothing custom about it. Duplicating the dongle by visual inspection is simple. The 4031 is standard stuff and not a rom or pla. Nothing crypto about it. The only "customization" here would be changing the resistor values or trace configuration, how its wired together - and then matching the program to expect different values. Like a key code. For emulation, sure you could just have the emulator return the expected values to the program. But that sets a precedent and requires more work on the emulator author for minimal niche return. Then requests for other programs flood the guy's inbox. Then if the emulator doesn't support this this and that it gets labeled as sucky. Patching/cracking the program in question is the traditional way to go with something like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wright Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Ahh, the dongle that nearly got me a beating from a schoolfriend's older brother! I'd managed to lose this tiny device while borrowing the US Gold UK cassette version of Leaderboard from a mate. Obviously the game was useless without the dongle, so when the time came to return the loaned tape... well... Perhaps it was naive of the teenaged me to expect a simple, "sorry, I don't know what happened to it" to suffice. Within hours, a surly thug came knocking, asking for me, threatening violence if the tiny bit of plastic wasn't replaced - and fast. It cost me several weeks pocket money/allowance, but after pleading with my parents I was hurriedly taken into town to buy a replacement copy complete with dongle. As far as I remember, the original lost device never turned up. Worst of all, I had no interest in golf and had only played the game once, but starved of Atari software I readily accepted his offer to loan me the tape. Needless to say, my friendship with one of only a thimbleful of local Atari owners was immediately and irretrievably "consciously uncoupled". So thanks for that Bill Carver, or whoever was responsible. Had it been the chunky matchbox-sized type of screw-in dongle that was becoming common with pro applications, no problem, but something the same size and colour of a liquorice allsort? Not kid friendly! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 If you plug a Colecovision controller in, then holding down 0 on the keypad would pass as the dongle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Destructo Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 My Paper Clip .ATR reports "COMPU-RICK Cracked For The Lima, Oh. Gang". Paper Clip 130XE .ATR boots up with its original title screen. The 130XE version was very easy to crack. I dimly remember doing it by disassembling the sectors until I found references to the second joystick port address, replaced them with NOPs, and tacking "Cracked by The Code Crusher" or some such nonsense onto the title screen. That particular floppy has been lost to time, apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Afaik, the european versions of Leaderboard were only available with a dongle, whereas the US versions of Leaderboard were available with and without dongle - at least there is a dongle-free combo of Leaderboard and Leaderboard Tournement on one disk (named Leaderboard Dual Pack, Leaderboard on side A, Tournement on side B) available, but that version was only sold in the US. Luckily I have that dongle-free version in my collection (bought/imported it from Bravo Sierra Computers)... http://www.atarimani...-pack_6761.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 anybody has the dongle version dumped ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Yes, it is in the latest Atari Software Preservation torrent: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/234684-atari-8-bit-software-preservation-initiative/?p=3319802 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Yes, it is in the latest Atari Software Preservation torrent: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/234684-atari-8-bit-software-preservation-initiative/?p=3319802 Thanks a lot ! I missed that torrent... I wasn't aware of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 The European versions plus Fighter Pilot with the "Lenslock". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 The European versions plus Fighter Pilot with the "Lenslock". Cool. Do you have a dump from Fighter Pilot ? I have found only cracked versions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred_M Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 Sorry, no. At the moment I don't have the necessary equipment to make dumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 The European versions plus Fighter Pilot with the "Lenslock". I've been looking for a LENSLOCK for my Fighter Pilot tape for years, I had the cassette version and it went missing in one of my moves. There was a later version that came out on one of the budget labels that had the Lenslock removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) Looking more closely it appears to be prisms in the lens... so get out your cereal box bees eye decoder toy! here is a spectrum emulator lenslock decoder... http://simonowen.com/spectrum/lenskey/ similar to what could be done for any emulator really Edited September 16, 2015 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I have some done some testing with it: http://manillismo.blogspot.cl/2014/11/lenslok-atari.html It works for almost every game, but not for Fighter Pilot: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/105083-lenslock/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Was playing around with my Leaderboard games today and ran across my boxed Amiga version and it didn't have the dongle on it. Found one on eBay just to compete my boxed game. It's the small black plug with red glue or whatever on the end. Question I have is would this work on the Atari version and ST version? Or are they different across platforms? I did see the Commodore 64 version seemed to use the datasette port as a dongle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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