Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: morton@wam.umd.edu (Rob Morton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Raw Copy version 1.3 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications Date: 21 Apr 1993 15:34:30 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 182 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1r3pi6$rc6@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: morton@wam.umd.edu (Rob Morton) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: copy protection, copier, commercial PRODUCT NAME Raw Copy version 1.3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION A software copier for copy-protected disks. It uses parameters. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Micro Systems International Address: 1143 Monroe St. Carleton, MI 48117 Telephone: (313) 654-8402 LIST PRICE $59.95 (US). SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS None. COPY PROTECTION In one version, it could not copy itself. I do not know if this is still in effect. It does install on my hard drive, though. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING A2000, 1 Meg Chip RAM, 2 Meg Fast RAM, AmigaDOS 1.3, 2 internal drives, 1 external drive, 100 Megs of hard drive space. REVIEW I got this program because I was getting very tired of "look up in the manual" copy protection. I especially dislike manuals printed on dark red paper with black letters: I have a hard time reading those. I have gone as far as typing all the codes from one such program (SimCity) into a file, so that I can get a white page print out. Anyway, I no longer have to put up with that. Raw Copy has been able to remove that protection from the games I use. Once the program is loaded, a rather plain screen comes up. Using menus is how you switch the type of copying you are going to do. If you just want to use the parameters, just start the program copying. It will automatically pick the right parameter. This is nice, but I like picking my own parameter. Don't ask me why, but it just makes me sure that I get the right one. It copies fairly quickly, and then you are finished. If you have a game that is not on the parameter list that you want to try and copy, there are some other methods. The two strongest are "Nibble A" and "Nibble B." They take quite a while but can copy some games with harder protection schemes. They will not get rid of the manual protections, but they do copy many games. The program has many features included for the Hacker type of person; however, I don't use them, so I cannot really review them. PROGRAM SUCCESSFULLY COPIED I usually used the best copier for the task. Raw Copy would copy and remove protections, so it got used for manual-based games the most. Nib got used for most of the first round of copying, and then any long tracks I did individually with Super Card Ami II. If that didn't work, then I just used Super Card Ami. (See my reviews of the other 2 copiers mentioned.) Copied: AAARGH! Bard's Tale Earl Weaver Baseball Gunship Marble Madness Menace Rampage Copied and removed "look up in the manual" protection: Battle Chess Death Knights of Krynn Dr. Doom's Revenge Eye of the Beholder Knights of the Sky North and South Nuclear War Pirates Sim City Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [MODERATOR'S NOTE: My copy of "Eye of the Beholder" was not copy protected at all. - Dan] DOCUMENTATION The documentation comes in a small (10-15 page) book and on the disk. The book explains how to use the software and what each feature is. While the manual is small, it is quite complete, with more information than I needed. The disk-based manual has a list of the games that the program is known to be able to copy. The list is quite extensive. LIKES AND DISLIKES Likes: I like the program because it does exactly what it is supposed to do. Also, updates are easily attainable from MSI. They mail out information frequently about updates. They also give discounts on their other software to current users. Dislikes: I can't see how anyone could really like the main screen. It is very boring and dull. It also seems to be slower than some other copiers. When an error is found it prints, an "E" on the screen for that track, but there is no buffer so the E goes away. If you are not looking at it constantly, you may not notice. Suggestions: Make it look better. I know it is a copier; but if I have to look at it, I want it to be appealing to the eye. Also, speech capability would be nice to say when it finds an error and when it is complete. The last suggestion is a buffer for error messages. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS Well I can really only compare it to Nib (Stellar Systems, Inc.; see my other review). Raw Copy is much worse-looking than Nib and not as enjoyable to use. However, unlike Nib, Raw Copy still is supported quite well. I have seen Project D, and Project D looks better as well, but it is also not supported anymore as far as I know. Raw Copy seems to be the strongest of the disk-based copiers for copying programs that it has no parameter for. BUGS None found. VENDOR SUPPORT I have gotten one upgrade from MSI and ordered some of their reduced price software. They were very friendly on the phone, and I got the software fairly quickly. They also don't seem to mind that I do not upgrade every time there are new parameters. (I think I have upgraded only once in 2.5 years). The only problem I had was that they accidently charged my credit card twice. It took me about 3 minutes on the phone to get that corrected, and the person on the phone was very apologetic about the mistake. All in all, I was quite pleased. WARRANTY Unknown. CONCLUSIONS This product is very good and seems very stable. It has great support and needs only cosmetic work to make it a 5 out of 5 program. At present, I give it 4 out of 5 points. --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu