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Post by Keith Henrickson on Jul 26, 2005 16:00:46 GMT -5
I'll try to dig through my old C64 disks (I still have a C64 and my box of disks from that time lying around). No guarantees, and the media may be dead, though I kept it in closets not basements). I still have a 9-track magtape that may have some code on it, and may not. The tapes are probably unlabeled, and could be either one of two tapes I think. Wow, that would be cool if you had something. Out of morbid curiosity, how were the areas edited? As in, adding a menu to the Commodore Software Showcase, or something. Was it just a privledged account that added 'new menu item' options to everything, or did you actually have to somehow bang on the server directly?
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Post by Randell Jesup on Jul 27, 2005 16:40:11 GMT -5
Remember, I was PlayNet, not QLink. They made (minor) mods to the SW (like scrolling highlights in menus instead of moving the menu itself I think), and added additional areas and features.
That said, it's almost certainly a server thing. In general, things were either done on the server, or by modifying (and updating) the user's software (which involved downloads and building disks).
It's possible they made "super-accounts" that could modify databases on the server with special commands - much like I made the whole auditorium/panel/moderator setup using the OLM capabilities. But I doubt it for general stuff like that; maybe for a few thigns often done by "Helpers".
I'll rummage this weekend.
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Post by Keith Henrickson on Aug 3, 2005 3:56:28 GMT -5
Sorry that I have not gotten back to a couple of emails or done stuff I said I would do this wekeend. However, I got distracted by another Q-link related project. On my website at www.phin.com/qlink, you will see a file newdsc.prg. You want to replace the DSC file on your qlink disk with this file. It eliminates the custom fast loader. This means that it is compatible with more modern speedup techniques. I have only tested it in Vice with 'True Drive Emulation' turned off. In that case, it loads in 5-10 seconds. Should help greatly in testing. I'd expect JiffyDOS to fully support it, which means it should install on a 1541 emulation partition on a CMD-HD or RamLink. This is untested. PLEASE BE CAREFUL MODIFYING YOUR Q-LINK DISK! It is, truly, irreplacable. I don't want to be responsible for someone killing their disk. I have only done it on a disk image using the VICE monitor. If you know how to move files from your PC to your commodore, you should be able to figure out how to do this. Basically, the 'newdsc.prg' file from my website must be placed on a Q-Link disk, named 'DSC'. All of the disk code is in this one file, so it should speed up the in-program loads as well. Just imagine, bbs to people connection in 5 seconds. Also, I have placed an x64.exe file on the same website. If you have VICE 1.16 official windows distribution, you can replace the x64.exe with mine, and your user port serial to TCP redirection may start working.
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Post by Keith Henrickson on Aug 6, 2005 2:33:45 GMT -5
And in other pieces of useless trivia:
The entire 'change access' program is a huge BASIC program. Load 'change access', and reset, then poke 44,19 to be able to list it.
In the 'change access' routine, there is an option to 'revalidate disk'. This allows the user to change the validation code on the disk. Of course, it prompts for a 6 digit code, but validation codes are 4 digits.
So, we get from A to B as in the following. The code is (sixth digit)(first digit)(fourth digit)(third digit). Add the digits together, multiply by the first digit, divide by the third digit. Take the right most two digits of that answer. These are the check digits located at positions 2 and 5 in the 6 digit string the user must input.
Useless trivia, but it was the last piece of the early phases I wasn't pretty sure of.
Another thing....
To 'load' a qlink 'file' (which is exactly like a GEOS VLIR file, BTW), load "DSC",8,1 then poke your filename to 821, 822, and 823, and SYS 40952.
Since the 'file' will likely try and auto execute, use an emulator and break at 9f00. That seems to be the 'entry point'.
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Post by Keith Henrickson on Aug 8, 2005 1:29:30 GMT -5
And an updated DSC is on my website.
I was using channel 2 to read the sectors down. Qlink uses channel 2 for the modem. And sulks when you want to share. So, I now use channel 9.
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Post by Keith Henrickson on Aug 10, 2005 2:19:17 GMT -5
Grrr....seems as if there is ANOTHER fast disk loop, this one buried inside the code for the message bases. Used to access files for downloads and uploads.
Dunno if my DSC patch breaks that, but it's not likely to be happy.
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Slarti
Junior Member
Posts: 84
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Post by Slarti on Aug 10, 2005 3:12:14 GMT -5
Excellent! Thanks for sharing this ;D
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Post by Keith Henrickson on Aug 14, 2005 13:03:28 GMT -5
Another tip...
Tho I do not understand the state machine yet....
Packets are processed by the tables beginning at c86c. The first table is the two letter tokens that can be received. The second table is the inputs to the state machine The third table is the function called to process any parameters.
The state machine itself uses tables down around 4000
Setting a breakpoint at F8B2 will let you break in just before the command is executed. If the state machine rejects the command, this will not get called, but if it's a valid command for the current state, you can at least see what it does.
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