Q: Inverse assembly

[Robert Baer]

I have been using this program provided by Casio to run one of their
label printers, and i hate it, because it "feeds" too much trailer after
printing real stuff (desired image).
I wrote them in Japan where this all was created,asking for a fixed
program, or source code (saying i would cheerfully sign any
non-disclosure) and got a polite "no".
So, i would like to use a semi-intelligent (or directable?) inverse
assembler to generate (initially uncommented) assembly code so i could
cut out 90 percent of that "feed" (would use MASM to generate new EXE).
I vaguely remember roughly 20-30 years ago there was IASS and a few
other dis-assemblers, and one was fairly" intelligent acting for a
one-pass operation; one might have been able to use it in multiple
passes to spiff up the output but do not quote me on that as it was too
looooooong ago.
Help?

[wolfgang kern]

Robert Baer asked:

Have you tried one of this famous 'reverse-engineering-camps' or
just look for any still alive printer foren (Casio might be an
exotic brand today anyway).

I'm particular happy with HP and its full documented PCL3/6 docs.
__
wolfgang

[Robert Baer]

Thanks for the ideas; will poke around.

[Frank Kotler]

Dustin wrote:
> Robert Baer <rober...@localnet.com> wrote in
> news:KKLtt.352$9b...@newsfe29.iad:

> There was/is a free version of IDA Pro. Ollydebug also comes to mind...

Agner Fog's "objconv" ( http://www.agner.org ) will "convert" to source
code for several assemblers, too (amongst several other formats). There
are possibilities. Probably not "legal", but the cops aren't going to
come to your house.

My first "programming success" was a routine for an 8-bit Atari that
printed a "hi-res" (*cough*) graphics screen to the (9 pin) printer. The
code expected pin 0 to be at the bottom, but my printer had pin 0 at the
top. By changing a shr to a shl here and an inc to dec there, etc., I
finally got it working. Encouraged me to think that I might be able to
do assembly language...

Best,
Frank

[Rod Pemberton]

"Frank Kotler" <fbko...@myfairpoint.net> wrote in message
news:kqqhf3$ckv$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

> Dustin wrote:
> > Robert Baer <rober...@localnet.com> wrote in
> > news:KKLtt.352$9b...@newsfe29.iad:
> >> wolfgang kern wrote:
> >>> Robert Baer asked:

> >>>> So, i would like to use a semi-intelligent (or
> >>>> directable?) inverse assembler to generate (initially
> >>>> uncommented) assembly code so i could cut out 90 percent
> >>>> of that "feed" (would use MASM to generate new
> >>>> EXE).
> >>>

> >>> Have you tried one of this famous 'reverse-engineering-camps'
> >>> or just look for any still alive printer foren (Casio might
> >>> be an exotic brand today anyway).
> >>>
> >>> I'm particular happy with HP and its full documented PCL3/6
> >>> docs.
> >>>

> >> Thanks for the ideas; will poke around.
> >
> > There was/is a free version of IDA Pro. Ollydebug also comes to
> > mind...
>

> Agner Fog's "objconv" ( [link] ) will "convert" to

> source code for several assemblers, too (amongst several other
> formats). There are possibilities. Probably not "legal", but the
> cops aren't going to come to your house.
>

Oops, I forgot to reply to the OP. Sorry, Robert. I hope you're
still reading for a while...

He mentioned "semi-intelligent (or directable?) inverse assembler".

I remembered one assembler like that but I couldn't recall the
name. It was called Bubble. I think that's what the OP is
remembering. It's in old Simtel archives. It was early 1990's.

Seems to be here too:
http://www.programmersheaven.com/download/15763/download.aspx


I hate to say this, but "intelligent disassembly" also sounds like
functionality that Betov's purported RosAsm to have... AIR,
Randall Hyde and Betov were arguing about the ability to do
intelligent disassembly correctly a few years back.
http://rosasm.freeforums.org


Rod Pemberton