Which disassembler?

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GONZO
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Which disassembler?

Post by GONZO »

Which disassembler are you guys using?

I have been using the dewtronics disassembler and it has worked well for me, but I have run into problems with some later bins which have addresses bigger than 16 bits. :oops:

What are you guys using for these bins?
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antus
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Re: Which disassembler?

Post by antus »

The later bins pose quite a problem, as the processor is a 16bit processor and they have implemented bank switching. Therefore everything is addressed within 0000->FFFF but which part of the bin your looking at depends on the bank switching control. Im not sure the best way to handle it :( It might take a more advanced tool like ida pro and something written in its SDK to monitor the bank switching and add a 1 or a 2 to the front of the 16 bit addresses at decompile time, and some other tool to remove them again at recompile time. It ends up a bit like pushing sh*t uphill though as all the tools around assume a 16bit program and address space. That is not to say its impossible, though! To make matters worse the later hc11s have native bank switching, but it looks like its been done in a propriety way instead. Ive attached the layout of the rom / banks.
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vs_rom_map.txt
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VL400
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Re: Which disassembler?

Post by VL400 »

Yeah the bank switch is proving to be an issue, I understand what its doing and have used a normal disassembler (m6811dis) to get some info out of it but it reports heaps of errors. Have attached the bank switch code, in the memory map that antus posted the only part of the code that m6811dis touches is the 0x0000-0x7FFF but it also misses alot in there as it gets confused with some address references. A custom disassembler will prob be required.
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bank switch.txt
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Aedakin
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Re: Which disassembler?

Post by Aedakin »

Sorry, I'm new to this. What are the assemblies/disassemblies about?
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Gampy
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Re: Which disassembler?

Post by Gampy »

Aedakin wrote:Sorry, I'm new to this. What are the assemblies/disassemblies about?
No apology necessary ...

A Disassembly is the results of a Dissembler, A Dissembler takes a binary executable file (.exe for example) and Dissembles it into Assembly language typically, though some more modern dissemblers can also dissemble into other languages like C language for example.

For the purpose of reverse engineering programs.
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