md3serial(1)

📦
version 1.5.9 · 2 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💾 md3serial — like, the manual page bestie 💾

okay so this is the manpage for md3serial(1) — it lives in the Emulators section, and it's genuinely one of the slayest little utilities. Let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

md3serial — view or change the serial number on MicroDesign discs. that's it, that's the whole vibe 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

md3serial [-serial SERIAL] [-format FORMAT] [-type TYPE] [-side SIDE]
[-comp COMP] DISKIMAGE

(and yes -format FORMAT is right there in the synopsis — the page doesn't spell it out any further down, so that's all we get, iykyk 💅)

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So Md3serial lets you view or change the serial number on program discs distributed by Creative Technology — or on image files that were made from those discs. literally that's the whole job and it does it flawlessly, no cap 🫶

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • -serial SERIAL — writes a brand new serial number onto the disc, up to 7 characters long. and if you don't pass this at all? the existing serial number just stays exactly as it was. no notes, iconic behaviour 👑
  • -type TYPE — picks which driver gets used. this is the main character option fr:
    • auto — selects according to the disc image file. this is the default, bestie ✨
    • dsk — uses the DSK (CPCEmu format) image driver.
    • edsk — uses the extended version of the DSK format.
    • floppy — uses the floppy driver. 🍓
    • myz80 — uses the hard disk (MYZ80 format) image driver. heads up: this format cannot be autodetected. ⚠️
    • cfi — uses the CFI (DOS fdcopy format) image driver. also cannot be autodetected, so don't come for it when auto doesn't pick it up 🙈
    • raw — uses the raw driver.
  • -comp COMP — selects the compression method used on the source disc image file. small caveat: this has no effect when reading a floppy disc. noted 🎀
    • auto — detects from the first few bytes of the file. this is the default 💫
    • sq — Huffman coded (SQ / USQ).
    • gz — gzipped (gzip / gunzip).
    • bz2 — Burrows-Wheeler compressed (bzip2 / bunzip2).
  • -side SIDE — determines which side (0 or 1) of the disc (or image) is to be identified. pick a lane bestie 🌈

The authors of MicroDesign have placed it in the public domain and explicitly gave permission for the copy-protection system to be reverse-engineered. like, they said yes themselves. genuinely iconic of them ngl 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

John Elliott <seasip.webmaster@gmail.com>. king behaviour, periodt 🔥

and that's the whole page, bestie — this was Version 1.5.9, dated 17 September 2018 🦋 go forth and check those serials, you absolute legend ✨💅

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