Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Fri, 10 Apr 1992 08:21:23 CST
From:         "Alejandro J. Kurczyn S." <AKURCZYN@ITESMVF1.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Questons...
X-To:         BBS relay system <POOL@ITESMVF1.BITNET>

>I am from Singapore. We do not have support (decent ones I mean) for Amiga.
>We do not have talented ppl to do all those amazing demos that I use to get
>from ab20. So it has always amazed me when I saw those demos (eg. hardwire)
>from ab20. I have a few qns (hope that they are not silly):
>1. How are those demos done? What package/utilities the ppl use to do the
>demos? I really hope that one day I could make my own demos. Could someone
>guide me as to where I should start off?

As far as I know, they are mostly pure assembler code, along with some
graphics, and noisetracker (music) modules. A lot of them have a good set
of mathematics included. I think the sole purpose of a demo is to show-off
the programming capabilities of the coder.

>2. I use to 'buy' (ya! Buy!) pirated copies of games and utilities from some
>shops here (there are only 3-4 amiga shops in my country). It always puzzle
>me as how did the ppl crack the passwords? Is there a utility specially for
>cracking password? Can someone teach me?

Well, if it is possible for you don't buy pirated programs, in some cases they
are corrupted, miss some files or anything.

To "crack" a game you should be familiar with machine language, and the Amiga
operating system. How to crack a specific game? well, that depends on the
protection itself. If it is "password entry" you can search on the disk for
the passwords and replace them by nulls or something else (this is just an
example!).

>3. What is CRC? I use to get this CRC problem when I download stuff from ab20.
>Is there something wrong with the .lzh files?

CRC is a method to maintain data integrity, probably you are having problems
because the .lzh files where transmitted as "ascii" files, not "binary". Try
the command "BIN" just before downloading.

>4. I am doing some BASIC programming. I encounter this ".bmap" problem. I need
>to use the convertFD in the Extras Disk to get my .bmap libraries. I don't
>know what are all these. How do I get the .bmap files? Could someone help me.

Sorry, can't help you there.

>5. I am very amazed by the music potential of amiga. I have a copy of
>DeluxeMusic. I wanted to compose some tunes and save them such that when I
>click on their icons they are able to load and play. Is it possible? How to
>do it? I don't want to load the main program. I just want to play the tunes
>by just clicking the icons.

You should get a copy of MED or NoiseTracker. Both available at AB20. Now
THAT is music! (Don't forget to visit /incoming/amiga/MODULES while you are
there).

>6. Are there any programs that can display pictures according to the time
>specifications given by the user? I mean something like a slide shows. Where
>can I get it then?

I can recommend Showiz, available on AB20 (I think) or Show, on fish disk #323

In fact I recommend you to dig into the available software in the net, it is
great, and sometimes you can find better programs here than commercial ones.

Drop me a mail if you have any questions.

-Alejandro Kurczyn S.
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