fiath

A hardware device would certainly be nice. However, even if we were not Amiga people, it would be the only machine we could use to dump disks without building hardware. Perhaps it is better thought of "the dumping hardware". The DIY hardware will come, it is just going to take some time. No idea how long currently. We have bought quite a few ST titles, and nearly all are dumped, we just need more. I think many publishers/developer no longer have copies of their software, and combine that with it taking a lot of time to track them down makes me think the time is better spent on eBay/other contributors.

We totally agree about uncertainty Although the device itself will be complex (consisting of RAM, ROM, CPU, etc.) we are hoping it will be fairly simple to build, as it will use off-the-shelf parts. It will also very very simple to operate (and have upgradable firmware) However, building it will probably be a problem for novices. Amiga's are getting less common, and in some places in the world, getting hold of the required Amiga is very difficult. We will be transforming into a more generic organisation, which will strive to preserve all the floppy disk media we can get our hands on in the near-ish future. Atari ST will likely be the next platform supported. This does bring another point though. Many users of other platforms do not like the fact that they need an Amiga to dump disks. Even if the hardware is more expensive (to buy the components) they seem to rather a hardware device. Unfortunately, we still won't have it ready for quite some time, but at least people know it is on the agenda. I think it is also likely they we will be considered a more serious organisation when we have our own dedicated hardware (for example, by entities that could give us a lot of help in several key ways). Annoying, but unfortunately a fact of life.

Yes, unfortunately. It is possible to develop a simpler device, but there are two problems: 1) It won't work with all games/disk 2) They will introduce an "element of uncertainty", which is not a good idea for preservation! Ultimately, we believe it is better to do something properly, or not doing it at all. We do not believe in half-working solutions.

Oops, forgot to log in again Anyway, you can read a bit more about our plan for a hardware device here: http://www.caps-project.org/articles.php?id=remaster

Hi You are of course exactly right about the developers I also think that since an ex-Amiga games developer leads the project (as well as another member) they think of us more like bothers than a fan-project. Which is nice of course! The reason a CAPS counterpart does not exist for other systems is probably because it is such a complicated problem. This is also why there has not been something similar for the Amiga either. I wouldn't worry too much on this though, we will be making big pushes into other systems very soon. One point I should make. An Amiga will be required to dump other systems floppies until we have the resources to build some dedicated dumping hardware. It is physically impossible to get the data we need on an ST, PC, etc. because of their floppy controllers. We have talked to the authors of STeem, SainT and NetAtari, and all are interested in it. The thing required here is a very accurate emulation of the ST's floppy controller in order to be able to run copy protected games. We will be working with them to write this, and once it is done, we will be able to do some ST releases. There will be no separate plugin though. As I said, the technology is generic, just because Amiga emulators use the current plugin, doesn't mean it only works with Amiga emulators. It works at the disk-level not the system level. So they will be working with the single "IPF plugin". And yes, when we start doing other systems, we will be changing our name

Yeah, I am sorry, I didn't really really like my French teacher Most developers contact us purely to: 1) Tell us they like what we are doing, and 2) Get any scans and IPF images for any games they did 3) Dump their games for us. I am not entirely sure what "editors" are. I thought you guys meant developers. Do you mean publishers? An editor in English is the kind of person that does final review on some journalism, for example, an editor of a magazine. The technology is completely generic (it's about magnetic removable media, and magnetic recording theory, not Amiga stuff) so yes, the project will move into other systems in the future. We just need more dumps of other systems disks

Hi, yes I am a member of CAPS. I just couldn't work out how to register on this forum. Thank you very much for your support Sigfrodi, and everybody else on this board! Yes, we do indeed talk to developers. Mostly they contact us, but on a couple of occasions we have taken the initiate when trying to find out something about a game we are preserving (for example, see here: http://www.caps-project.org/articles.php?id=a_lcp). Also, since a couple of us are ex-games developers, we also have friends that are still in the industry. As above, most of the developers we have talked to contacted us. Usually about getting their games preserved. Definitely a good thing So yes, they do like what we are doing. In fact we have never spoken to any developers that do not like what we are doing - I suspect they do not exist So, no, it is not hard to convince them since they are usually know about what we are doing anyway. I guess the alternative (cracked copies == "digital graffiti") makes it an easy choice for them.