#3D Studio R2 LOCKED?
9 messages in this thread
Bruce: I don't agree with companies like Autodesk putting too much heat on
the people that sell ways to avoid dongles (or copy protection…) These
tools, which do, I admit, often get used to make illegal copies also have
legitimate uses and provide part of the counterweight to balance the
software suppliers. They sometimes make it look like they would go to copy
protected explosive dongles if they could get away with it.
Most companies that are responsive to their customers (like AutoDesk)
removed copy protection because their customers hated the pre-broken
software. The protection breakers are a barometer of how angry the
customers are – the more they sell, the more annoyed the customer base is.
Dongles are a lot more responsible than copy protection since they don't
require that you buy damaged disks that you can't back up. I would be
happier with them if you didn't have to stack them off the back of the
computer, if they were all as transparent as they are supposed to be, and
if they didn't provide a **very** vulnerable single point of failure. (If
you wanted to shut down a 3DS-2 system you could steal the dongle, a
simple, 60 second operation…)
If 3DS is going to be protected, a dongle is probably the best way
available right now. Let's not get too heavy handed with the companies that
provide software that avoids them. It is legal to write, advertise and
sell, so you seem to be advocating putting them out of business because you
don't approve of the product. Chris
I've heard tell about new processors that have a new instruction called
Compare system ID, that reads a silicon encoded processor serial number.
That would eliminate the external key, but would also put you out of
business should your system fail without another registered computer.
James
James: A lot of the workstation systems have their own CPU IDs. That
wouldn't be a bad way to handle it if you could work out a way to deal with
CPU upgrades. In fact, our SGI machines have the processor ID in ROM
somewhere else in the system, so you can swap out the processor board
without changing the ID. Our Developer's RenderMan floating licence uses an
encoded key that is keyed to this ID. No security is unbreakable, you just
need to make it too hard to be worth doing.
The dongles are probably the best compromise available now.
Chris
Chris,
The dongle can be installed inside the machine, at least those with
chassis cutouts. This makes them a little less vulnerable.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin: How do you connect the dongles inside the machines? The ones that
I've seen connect to the parallel port and the printer cable connects to
it. There is certainly plenty of room inside the machine for the dongles, I
am just wondering how you wire it. I guess a couple of 25 pin ribbon cables
would work.
Chris
Chris,
Yeah, run a ribbon cable back inside from the port, connect to the
dongle inside the machine, bolt the dongle to the chassis cutout, and
voila, your parallel port continues on, just accessed at a different
location than the back of the I/O card. Easier than it sounds.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
I've had problems with the dongle when using Fastlynx (similar to Laplink).
You attach a special cable to the parallel ports of your two machines but
with the dongle attached it won't even allow me to start transmissions.
Under those circumstances, I need quick access to the dongle to remove it
(with POWER OFF naturally).
This is the only problem we know of with dongles. Fast-parallel file
transfer programs, like Fastlynx, Laplink (parallel version), and Flying
Dutchman, all need you to remove the dongle before transferring files.
There is a note to this effect in the r2 readme.doc.
– G
Kevin: Sounds logical. I'll have to try it when I get my 3DS update. I
already have one dongel (on LPT1) and I hesitate to put one between LPT2
and my Tektronix color printer. I've had enough trouble with that thing by
now!
(I've got one port on the Tek connected to an SGI Personal Iris (4D/20) and
when it acts up we turn off the printer, pull the plug on the parallel line
amp, plug the line amp back in, turn on the printer, dump **two** image
files to the printer and then cancel the first one. Then it usually
works…)
Chris