Hi all!
Some of the longtime regulars here might remember the
software program "
Moneta: The Roman Imperial Coin Program" - This site itself used to sell and offer support for the product until it became obviously abandoned and inaccessible.
There have been numerous threads over the years about the program after it ceased updates in the 2000s. The
software was never able to be installed on 64-bit operating systems and further required a unique validation license every time it was installed. This code
had to be requested directly from the developer based on a hardware-specific ID.
The website went under and for at least a decade it has been impossible for users to activate their copies, even if they
had an old enough computer to support it. I am not a coin collector but a
software engineer who has a friend who was prolific in
Roman coin collecting. He
had purchased the
software back in the late-90s for $100 and used it to manage
his collection and print reference cards.
He approached me with the challenge of revitalizing it enough so that he could run it on a modern laptop. As
part of that, it required patching the program to circumvent the now impossible-to-acquire registration details. I know many others in the past
had expressed an interest if this would be possible, and a couple users here supported the effort directly by providing me with the later updates and builds than what my friend
had so that I could patch the very final version ever released (2.0.15a).
So for the benefit of anyone who is interested, I've made the patched version available to all. It is the same program but with a modern installer and patched executable that circumvents all of the registration checks and has a few other subtle enhancements. As I'm an advocate for spreading knowledge, I also used this opportunity to create a thorough "Resurrecting
Moneta" video and blog guide on my methodology for patching such abandonware products, of which the core principles can be
applied universally.
The new version (which I've dubbed 2.0.16) will run on any operating system from Windows XP 32-bit through Windows 11 64-bit. The layout is in its original arrangement, which might not be too aesthetically pleasing, but it works! I know some have old databases of their
collections that were tied to this product and for years haven't been able to even open them, so this should
help in that effort.
Here is my 25 technical minute on my method to patching the program, mostly for technical folks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR_KJ6OUjLAThe blog companion, which includes links to the download is here:
https://mattpilz.com/moneta-roman-coin-program-patching-abandonware-methodology/And for those just interested in the executable, you can find it here:
https://mattpilz.com/downloads/Moneta-Setup.exe - It has been
certified 100% virus free from 70 scanners at VirusTotal.com.
Enjoy!