Date   : Tue, 28 Jul 1992 13:13:34 GMT
From   : nwnexus!ole!ssc!eskimo!lorc!lowen@uunet.uu.net (Lamar Owen)
Subject: Re: TRS-80 Cosmic Fighter by Big Five - PLEASE HELP!

siebeck@infoac.rmi.de (Wolfgang Siebeck ) writes:
> >9125113g@lux.latrobe.edu.au (Mitch Davis) writes:
> >>Does any kind soul out there remember a game for the TRS-80 called
> >>"Cosmic Fighter" by Big Five Software?
> [Nice description deleted.]
> 
> Mmmh, I got it running here on my Emulator, but I prefer the original
> Cornsoft FROGGER! Much better sound :-)

Ah... Frogger... This brings to mind the most unusual Model 3 disk I ever ran 
across....

During the 1987-1988 "Great Purge" at Radio Shack (this was when ALL model
I/III/4 stuff was DRASTICALLY discouted, I picked up six copies of Zaxxon, two
copies of Frogger, and a mysterious "Master Bootstrap Zaxxon" disk.  Egads! 
This disk was the create disk for Zaxxon!!!  Run the programs of this disk, and
it would format and write either a tape or a disk of the fiendishly copy-
protected Zaxxon image.  Zaxxon was neat in that it used a mixed density disk
format; ie, track 0 of the disk was recorded TWICE, once in single density
for model I boot, and once in double-density, for model III boot.  The rest
of the disk was recorded in single density (for model I compatibility), but
with recorded track numbers that didn't match actual track numbers, and with
a couple of weak sectors, along with mixed sector sizes.  This disk I found,
and bought for 99 US cents, had several programs on it to do this wierd
format, and various other tasks.

However, even with the level of protection that it had, it was cracked, and
several versions of it are floating around....  Plus, it IS more convenient
to simply type "zaxxon" at the command line, instead of having to boot the
system.

> 
> Wolfgang
> --
> siebeck@infoac.rmi.de (Wolfgang Siebeck)
> 


Lamar Owen, Systems Consultant, GE Lighting Systems, Hendersonville, NC
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