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Intercept v1.3 documentation
by
The Voice Over
Okay...This is the latest version of Intercept. I wrote it because I
learned that Intercept 1.2 wouldn't work properly with the Apple //c, and also,
one of the instructions in the driver routine wasn't truly slot-independent, as
I had hoped. Anyhow, it's done, so have fun...
Section 1: How it works:
-----------------------
1.0: The process of booting:
---------------------------
When a disk that has been modified with Intercept is booted, the following
is what takes place:
1) The disk controller ROM reads Intercept's BOOT1 routine from track 0,
sector 0 into page 8 of RAM.
2) Intercept clears the screen to either spaces or inverted @'s and prints
'Intercept 1.3' in the upper left corner, and the user defined message
in the center of the screen.
3) Intercept reads in the track/sector list from the sector stored at
track in $8FE, sector in $8FF.
4) Intercept reads in the Intercept driver, the old BOOT1 routine, and
the code to be run as an interception from the sectors listed in the
track sector list.
5) Intercept jumps to the driver routine at $A00.
6) The driver routine calls the intercepted code, and when the intercepted
code returns to the driver, it moves the old BOOT1 routine to page
8 from page B, sets up memory as if a disk had just been booted, and
jumps into the controller ROM's routine that sets up the registers and
jumps to $801.
7) The boot continues as if nothing had ever happened.
1.1: Intercept's structure:
--------------------------
Note: In the docs for Intercept 1.2, I kindly included a breakdown of the
technical workings of Intercept, T/S list format, etc. Unfortunately, certain
people (The Sector Smasher, Mad Rat, The Nudge, 6-Golds, and Knight Writer of
The Star League) decided to be ASSHOLES and remove the small bit of credit I
try to reap by putting Intercept 1.2 in the corner of the screen by changing
the message to all spaces on their crack of Planetary Construction Set. These
guys are so lame, they couldn't even figure out how to NOP out the print
routine...they went and changed all of the data that made up 'Intercept 1.2'
into data that would produce spaces. Well, guys, the whole reason I put in the
user-defined message was so that people wouldn't take out the title and replace
it with something of their own. Thanks to these morons who were not only too
damn stupid to write their OWN boot routine, but also stupid enough to get
caught stealing someone else's, there is no longer any technical information
concerning Intercept available. I'd suggest you call them up and thank them if
you wanted the data. The boards that they frequent are on the title page for
Planetary Construction Set. Now I know how you felt about Bun E. Boot, Tyrone.
Section 2: How to use Intercept:
-------------------------------
1) Crack a ware
2) Make a title page program for it.
3) Boot the Intercept 1.3 disk.
4) SCANNING FOR BLANK SECTORS: Place the disk you plan to intercept in drive
one or two and press the appropriate key. Intercept will begin to scan your
disk for blank sectors that contain all $00s. If you already know where
enough free sectors are to hold your title page program, plus 3 sectors for
overhead, press the <ESC> key. Once you think Intercept has located enough
free sectors to hold your title page, hit <ESC>. Note: You can let
Intercept scan the whole disk for free sectors, as it will continue merrily
along until it locates 255 blank sectors, but why spend the extra time?
5) DEFINING THE BOOT PARAMETERS: There are four parameters you will have to set
for Intercept to continue. They are:
CLEAR SCREEN TO: This option allows you to clear the screen either to spaces
or to inverse @ signs. Choose whichever you like best.
BOOT MESSAGE: This option allows you to enter a 20 character long message
that will be displayed in the center of the screen as
Intercept loads your title program. If you do not wish to
have a boot message displayed, just hit <ESC> at the prompt.
TITLE FILENAME: This is where you enter the name of the file you wish to use
for your title program. Hit ESC to catalog the drive you
booted Intercept from.
FILE TYPE: This option allows you to select the type of file you wish to use
for your title program. Use P if you simply have a standard
hi-res picture, or F if your title program is a BRUNable file.
If you choose the P option, Intercept will load the picture and
ask you if it's the correct one. If so, the picture will be
packed and an unpacker will be included as part of the title
page.
6) DEFINING THE TRACK/SECTOR LIST: This section is where you work with the list
of tracks and sectors on which you want your title page to be written. If
you want to use the blank sectors found with the scan function, use option
1 at this menu.
OPTION 1: USE BLANK SECTORS FOUND WITH SCAN: This option will allow you to
use any blank sectors you found with the scan function as the
track/sector list. You will be notified if not enough sectors
were found to accomodate Intercept's requirements.
OPTION 2: DEFINE TRACK/SECTOR LIST MANUALLY: This option will allow you to
manually enter a track/sector list. Intercept will automatically
stop asking for track/sector pairs once you have entered enough
to hold your title program plus 3 sectors for overhead.
OPTION 3: VIEW CURRENT TRACK/SECTOR LIST: This option will allow you to view
your current track/sector list to verify that it's correct.
OPTION 4: EDIT LIST: This option will allow you to edit the current track/
sector list. Use the arrow keys to select the pair that you wish
to edit, and hit the spacebar to edit it, or D to delete it from
the list. Note that if you delete a track/sector pair from the
list, you may have to add a pair using option 5 in order for there
to be enough room for Intercept to function properly.
OPTION 5: ADD TO LIST: This option is similar to option 2, except it does
not initialize the track/sector list to 0 entries when you select
it.
Once you are finished editing/defining the track/sector list, hit <ESC> to
intercept the disk.
7) INTERCEPTING THE DISK: Once you have completed the necessary preliminary
steps, you will be prompted to place the disk to be intercepted in drive
one, and to press <RETURN>. Make sure the disk to be intercepted is in
drive one and not write protected. Intercept will attempt to place your
title program on the disk. If an error occurs, you will be informed,
otherwise, the message, "Intercept 1.3 has been successfully written to
the disk" along with the ']' prompt will be displayed. I suggest that
after you intercept a disk, you boot it and verify that it functions as it
did before the Intercept process.
8) NOTES: If you make a BRUNable title page program, it MUST NOT BEGIN at an
address lower than $2400. If it does, it will interfere with Intercept.
If it DOES begin at a location lower than $2400, but greater than $BFF, you
may still use it, but you'll have to move it to a location higher than $2400
and write a memory move routine to move it to where it should go. Under NO
circumstances may a title program begin at a location lower than $C00, as
the area from $0000-$07FF is used by the Apple internally, and the area from
$800-$BFF is used by the Intercept 1.3 loader program.
NOTE: If you're a GnU WaReZ KiD, you can use Intercept to add a title page
to cracks that are already out, but let's face it...how much lower can
you get than to steal credit for someone else's crack?
Well, that's about it. If you've got any questions about Intercept, feel
free to leave me mail on any of the following boards:
Club Zero.............(213) 395-0221 Transfers ][............(514) 738-1247
RAPS ][...............(907) 753-RAPS Halifax.................(301) 445-5897
-The Voice Over
Documentation completed 19, December, 1986, 11:19 PM, MDT.