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Passport

a verification and copy program for 5.25-inch Apple II floppy disks

Minimum system requirements:

  • Apple //e, //c, IIgs, or ][+ with 64K
  • Two 5.25-inch disk drives(*)

(*) fully compatible with floppy drive emulators like CFFA3000 and FloppyEMU.

Some fun facts about copy protection

  1. Many companies, especially smaller ones, outsourced their protection. I have seen byte-for-byte identical copy protection on disks from seven different companies!

  2. Even companies that wrote their own copy protection would try to re-use it on multiple disks to get the most "bang for the buck."

  3. Not everything has been cracked! Because there was so much piracy in the 1980s, some people assume that everything ever published has been cracked, digitized, and preserved in an emulator-friendly format. In reality, there are hundreds of disks that have never been cracked. Thirty years later, these programs are still trapped on physical media, literally rotting away.

Usage

Using Passport is simple. After running the program, put an original disk in slot 6, drive 1 and a blank formatted disk in any other drive. If necessary, press "S" to cycle through your drives. Then press "C" to start the cracking.

If all goes well, Passport will read your original disk and write a copy in a standard format, then remove any protection checks from the copy. The copy will boot and run just as well as the original disk, but it will be copyable with COPYA or any full-disk copy program.

If all does not go well, Passport will tell you where it all went wrong.

In any case, Passport will NEVER write to or alter your original disk in any way. And neither should you! Don't reduce the number of original disks in the world; they aren't making any more of them.

Supported protections

Passport targets common protection schemes that were reused by multiple companies. These types of protection were common in educational software.

  • Abracadata e.g. Design Your Own Home

  • Apple "Special Delivery" e.g. Ernie's Quiz, Instant Zoo

  • ArtSci e.g. AceCalc, Magicalc

  • Blue Chip e.g. Squire, Baron, Tycoon

  • BrainBank e.g. BackAid

  • Davidson & Associates e.g. Math Blaster Plus, Read N Roll

  • DC Heath e.g. What Makes A Dinosaur Sore, Buzz Bang Harvey

  • DesignWare e.g. Spellicopter, Crypto Cube

  • Developmental Learning Materials e.g. Curious George in Outer Space, Alien Addition

  • Edu-Ware e.g. Decimals, Algebra 2

  • Ellen Nelson Learning Library e.g. Science (series), House-a-fire!

  • EME e.g. Metric System Tutor, Water in the Air

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica e.g. Problem Solving in Algebra, Math Skills: Elementary Level

  • Focus Media e.g. The Time Tunnel (series), Travels with Za-Zoom

  • Gamco e.g. Math Leap Frog, Math Football

  • Grolier Publishing e.g. NoteCard Maker, EduCalc

  • Hartley Courseware e.g. Chariots, Cougars, and Kings; Tim and the Cat and the Big Red Hat

  • Hayden e.g. SAT Score Improvement System, Microscopic Journey

  • Heartsoft e.g. Electric Chalkboard, Tommy the Time-Telling Turtle

  • Hoffman e.g. Good Thinking! series

  • Houghton-Mifflin e.g. Game Frame One, Math Masters

  • HRM Software e.g. Gene Machine, Heredity Dog

  • Josten Learning Systems e.g. Building Reading Skills, Explorations in Science

  • Krell e.g. Time Traveler, College Boards

  • Laureate Learning Systems e.g. Concentrate on Words & Concepts

  • The Learning Company e.g. Bumble Games, Gertrude's Secrets

  • Learning Multi-Systems e.g. Solar Reading

  • Learning Technologies e.g. Animal Hotel, Bike Hike

  • McCarthy-McCormack e.g. Vowel Corral, Library Magic

  • Marshware e.g. Squeegee Learns About Drugs

  • MECC e.g. Word Munchers, Clock Works

  • Media Basics e.g. Return to Reading (series)

  • Methods & Solutions e.g. Fantasy Land, Behind The Wheel

  • Micrograms e.g. Wild West Math

  • Millennium Group e.g. The Brain Game, Concentration

  • Milliken Publishing e.g. Math Sequences

  • MindPlay e.g. Fraction-oids, Dyno-Quest

  • Mindscape e.g. The Halley Project, Paperboy

  • MUSE e.g. RobotWar, Caverns of Freitag

  • National Geographic Society e.g. The Botanist's Apprentice

  • Optimum Resource e.g. Stickybear Math, Car Builder

  • PDI e.g. Leadsheeter, Polywriter

  • Pelican Software e.g. Dino Days, Graphics Converter

  • Phoenix Software e.g. Zoom Grafix

  • Polarware e.g. The Electric Crayon (series), The Spy's Adventures (series)

  • Quest Learning Systems e.g. Bingo Bugglebee Presents Home Alone, Outdoor Safety

  • Queue e.g. Force and Motion, Practical Grammar

  • Random House e.g. Snoopy to the Rescue, Charlie Brown's ABCs

  • Reader's Digest e.g. Key Lingo, Cogito

  • Scholastic e.g. Math Shop, Microzine

  • Science Research Associates e.g. Computer Drill and Instruction

  • Spinnaker Software e.g. Snooper Troops, KidWriter

  • Springboard Software e.g. Early Games for Young Children, Puzzle Master, Mask Parade

  • Sunburst Communications e.g. M-ss-ng L-nks, The Incredible Laboratory

  • Thunder Mountain e.g. Pathwords, Quink

  • Troll Associates e.g. Dino Dig, Make A Face

  • Unicorn Software e.g. Magical Myths, Ten Little Robots

The latest version of Passport can also recognize and defeat the protection used by some game companies. In general there was more variation and "one-off" protection in games than in educational software, so your mileage may vary.

  • Activision (patcher by TRex) e.g. Hacker, Rampage

  • Adventure International e.g. Adventureland, Strange Odyssey

  • Atari e.g. Defender, Gremlins

  • Border e.g. Arena, Early Bird

  • Broderbund e.g. Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego, Choplifter

  • Coastal e.g. The Chalice of Mostania

  • Dakin-5 e.g. MIRV, Rings of Saturn

  • Data East e.g. Ikari Warriors, Batman

  • Electronic Arts (patcher by qkumba) e.g. The Bard's Tale, Skyfox

  • Epyx e.g. Summer Games, Deathsword

  • Gebelli e.g. Horizon V, Russki Duck

  • HAL Labs e.g. Sheila, Super Taxman II

  • Infocom e.g. Planetfall, Zork I/II/III

  • Interplay e.g. Borrowed Time, Tracer Sanction

  • MicroFun e.g. Crown of Arthain, Miner 2049er

  • Origin Systems e.g. Ultima V, Times of Lore

  • Penguin Software e.g. Xyphus, Thunder Bombs

  • Phoenix Software e.g. Sherwood Forest, Masquerade

  • Polarware e.g. Oo-topos, The Crimson Crown

  • Softape e.g. Photar

  • Sierra On-Line (patcher by qkumba) e.g. BC's Quest for Tires, Sammy Lightfoot

  • Strategic Simulations e.g. The Eternal Dagger, The Shard of Spring, Roadwar Europa, Warship

  • Trillium e.g. Rendezvous with Rama, Fahrenheit 451

License

Passport is open source and is distributed under the MIT license.

Passport Copyright (c) 2016-2020 by 4am

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

History

Development (unreleased)

  • NEW: patchers/tsr.a (Dawn Patrol, Dungeon, Theseus and the Minotaur)
  • NEW: patchers/datasoft2.a (Canyon Climber, Fathom's 40)
  • NEW: patchers/jmpb500.a (Starship Commander)
  • NEW: patchers/woodbury.a (PlayWriter)
  • NEW: patchers/meccdqc.a (MECC DataQuest Composer)
  • NEW: patchers/rwtsswapmecc2.a (Word Wizards v1.0)
  • IMPROVED: patches/mecc.a to erase site license information from final generation of MECC disks (by qkumba)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/rwtsswapmecc.a (fixes Zoyon Patrol)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/prodosmecc.a (fixes Miner's Cave)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/rwtslog.a (fixes La Guillotine)
  • "BB00 protection" renamed to its marketing name "Lock-It-Up"
  • update Passport disk to ProDOS 2.4.2
  • Matching updates to the Passport test suite

2020-07-20

  • NEW: patchers/harvey.a (Buzz Bang Harvey, Harvey by Primes)
  • NEW: patchers/jmp2012.a (BackAid)
  • NEW: patchers/pdi.a (Leadsheeter, Polywriter)
  • NEW: patchers/rps.a (Pac-Man Thunder Mountain release, Problem Solving in Algebra)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/ssprot.a (fixes Metric System Tutor)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/bb03.a (fixes Spanish for Mastery)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/sierra.a (fixes Mission Asteroid)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/ea.a (fixes One on One)
  • Passport will now quit gracefully if you manage to launch it with less than 64K
  • Matching updates to the Passport test suite

2019-06-16

  • NEW: verify pure 13-sector disks (by qkumba)
  • NEW: verify Infocom 18-sector disks (by qkumba)
  • NEW: patchers/artsci.a (AceCalc, Magicalc, Photar)
  • NEW: patchers/choplifter.a (Russki Duck, Choplifter) (by qkumba)
  • NEW: patchers/dakin5.a (Neutrons, MIRV, Rings of Saturn)
  • NEW: patchers/e7everywhere.a (Curious George series, Garfield Trivia Game)
  • NEW: patchers/hallabs.a (Sheila, Super Taxman II)
  • NEW: patchers/hoffman.a (Good Thinking! series)
  • NEW: patchers/holle.a (Crime Wave, Sherwood Forest)
  • NEW: patchers/muserwts.a (Caverns of Freitag, The Function Game)
  • NEW: patchers/springboard.a (The Newsroom, The Chalice of Mostania)
  • NEW: patchers/zoomgrafix.a (Zoom Grafix - all versions)
  • IMPROVED: id/trace33p.a (fixes Kaves of Karkhan)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/diskvol.a (fixes Diet Analysis Program)
  • test suite

2018-10-14

  • NEW: 13-sector MUSE support
  • NEW: 13-sector Sierra support (by qkumba)
  • NEW: 13-sector RDOS support (SSI) (by qkumba)
  • NEW: PanglosDOS (per-file encryption) (by qkumba)
  • NEW: Dinkey-DOS support (Ultima V)
  • NEW: Interplay support (The Tracer Sanction, Borrowed Time)
  • NEW: Davidson & Associates support (Math Blaster Plus)
  • NEW: Penguin RWTS (Xyphus)
  • NEW: MicroFun RWTS (Crown of Arthain)
  • NEW: Swordthrust RWTS
  • NEW: patchers/f7f6.a (Might & Magic)
  • NEW: patchers/trillium (Rendezvous with Rama, Fahrenheit 451)
  • NEW: patchers/fbffencrypted.a (Clue, RISK, ESL Writer)
  • NEW: patchers/fbffpascal.a (Widespread, The Typewriter)
  • NEW: patchers/polarware.a (Oo-topos, The Crimson Crown)
  • NEW: patchers/microfun.a (The Heist, Station 5, Miner 2049er)
  • NEW: print volume name on ProDOS, Pascal, and DOS 3.3 + variants
  • IMPROVED: patchers/jmpb4bb.a (fixes Rubik's Cube Unlocked)
  • IMPROVED: id/advint.a (fixes The Curse of Crowley Manor)
  • IMPROVED: detection of unformatted tracks (fixes Thunder Bombs)
  • IMPROVED: Micrograms detection (fixes Shapes and Patterns)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/bbf9.a (fixes Magic Slate II 20-column)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/memory.config.a (fixes Where Did My Toothbrush Go)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/c9ff.a (fixes Swiss Family Robinson)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/bb03.a (fixes Alice in Wonderland)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/optimum.a (fixes Fat City)
  • IMPROVED: logging track and sector when switching to built-in RWTS

2017-11-14

  • Supports ProDOS RAM disks to read an entire disk at once (IIgs RAM disk, RAMFactor, RAMWorks, modern clones)
  • NEW: DOS 3.2 support (MUSE, Edu-Ware, Hartley, Krell, Hayden, DLM)
  • NEW: patchers/advint.a, an encrypted nibble check (Scott Adams adventures)
  • NEW: patchers/bbf9.a, a desync bitstream (late Sunburst disks)
  • NEW: patchers/jmpb400.a, a self- decrypting nibble check in late boot (Mindscape, DLM, Thunder Mountain)
  • NEW: patchers/memory.config.a, ProDOS startup program with nibble check (DC Heath, Marshware)
  • NEW: patchers/pascalrwts.a (Learning Multi-Systems)
  • NEW: patchers/sra.a (SRA)
  • NEW: patchers/rwtslog.a, refactored and expanded log of RWTS variants
  • NEW: id/micrograms.a (Micrograms)
  • NEW: id/rdos.a (SSI)
  • NEW: support for early Infocom disks
  • IMPROVED: patchers/a6bc95.a (fixes Friendly Filer)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/jmpbeb1.a (fixes Spelling Rules)
  • IMPROVED: patchers/sierra.a (fixes Winnie The Pooh)
  • IMPROVED: id/laureate.a (fixes Sound Ideas)

2017-05-14

  • NEW: patcher for Activision (by TRex)
  • NEW: patcher for Electronic Arts (by qkumba)
  • NEW: patcher for Sierra On-Line (by qkumba, replaces old patcher)
  • NEW: patcher for Optimum Resource (by qkumba, replaces old patcher)
  • NEW: patcher for Gamco Software
  • NEW: patcher for Border Software
  • NEW: patcher for Blue Chip Software
  • NEW: patcher for Houghton-Mifflin
  • NEW: patcher for Milliken Publishing
  • NEW: patcher for Methods & Solutions
  • NEW: patcher for Laureate Learning
  • NEW: detection of LSR $6A ProDOS RWTS
  • NEW: identification of Pronto-DOS, Diversi-DOS, David DOS, and Quick-DOS
  • IMPROVED: patcher for MECC (fixes Word Munchers v1.1)
  • IMPROVED: patcher for Scholastic (fixes Bank Street Writer II)
  • IMPROVED: patcher for Grolier (fixes Countries of the World)
  • migrated build to ACME assembler and source code to GitHub (by qkumba)

2016-12-30

  • add support for DOS 3.3P e.g. Ernie's Quiz, Instant Zoo
  • improve support for disks created with MECC Database
  • faster detection of 4-and-4 encoding and 5-and-3 encoding (neither is supported)
  • various speed improvements

2016-09-02

  • add support for Protected.DOS e.g. Moebius, Math Blaster
  • add support for "JMP $B660" RWTS e.g. Verb Viper, Master Match
  • add support for Datasoft encrypted bootloader e.g. Tomahawk, Video Title Shop
  • fix bug in boot sector detection that erroneously claimed some disks were unreadable
  • add informational messages about some RWTS variants (LSR $6A, BCS $08)
  • refactor code in /id/ directory

2016-07-12

  • initial release