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Retrocomputing

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    I don't think the ROM media was really the problem with patching. There was no internet back then, so "patches" for home PC software weren't really A Thing. However your software was initially delivered to them, bugs and all, was how the customer was going to use it. Commented Sep 15, 2022 at 14:40
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    Oh hacks really * were * a thing. Software might have been on tapes and on old floppy disks with software controllers, but teenagers were disassembling copy protection and modding games as early as Apple II and BBC model B, because I remember it from 1980-82 ish. The difference was they circulated between friends, by hand, not online. (Perhaps BBs but I wasn't around those). So yes, patches and mods were rampant, and modded software to remove bad features and limits, as well as copy protection was an established scene. Systems that only took Roms sometimes had modded Roms, but rarer. Commented Sep 15, 2022 at 16:05
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    @T.E.D.: Many versions of BASIC included hooks to change certain aspects of behavior, and tweaks to do so were quite commonplace, with some being supplied by system vendors. Commented Sep 15, 2022 at 16:46
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    In the early 80s, user groups, computer dealers, and fellow enthusiasts were surprisingly efficient at getting updates distributed. I was always using the latest version of Atari's disk-based DOS as it arrived, but never upgraded the BASIC cartridge that came in the box with the machine. Commented Sep 15, 2022 at 17:15
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    @T.E.D. your "local computer shop" who had a relationship with a sales rep at the manufacturer was a thing, and fixes could be (and were) distributed that way if the company had an interest in doing so. Commented Sep 16, 2022 at 2:58