[Coco] A new meaning for "resource"

[Roger Taylor]

I have started on the 6809 disassembler for Portal-9.  Actually, it will be 
a feature of CCASM, to be able to turn binaries back into source code.

I've gone a step further than your typical disassembler that uses two or 
more files (the original binary and an aid file for marking off code and 
data areas).  In order for Portal-9 to work better with this process, CCASM 
will offer two modes, one that turns a binary into a .dsm file, and the 
other mode will turn a .dsm file into source code.  This lets Portal-9 
offer you a grid editor for manipulating a .dsm file structure.

Once a binary file is converted to a .dsm file, the entire disassembly 
session and original file structure is preserved in the .dsm file.  The 
.dsm format will preserve all LOADM origins in the order in which they were 
originally in.

This is where Portal-9 comes in.  Using a nice grid editor, you'll be able 
to jump from address to address, marking them as code or data, while seeing 
in real-time instructions materialize from former FCB data, or data forming 
from former bad instructions.  The grid will collapse and expand it's rows 
accordingly to reflect what's at each address.  The origins can be doctored 
with, labels and symbols can be named/renamed, etc.

Once the grid .dsm layout is believed to be promising, a conversion can be 
tried just by building the Portal-9 project, since a .dsm file is like any 
other file that needs something done to it during the build process.  CCASM 
will be called as normal, but this time it will use "cm pitfall.dsm 
-o=pitfall.asm" or something similar, automatically.

AND... the resulting .asm file wil automatically be tagged as a component 
to be assembled in the same build run.  That is, the .dsm grid will be 
converted to an .asm file, and that .asm file will be assembled to a .bin 
file, and if you have auto mount and launch on for M.E.S.S.... you'll be 
able to type LOADM "GAME" to see if it runs ok.  If it's a ROM image, it 
will run automatically, as usual.  A listing can be dumped to the readout 
window by clicking the (L) checkbox.

You heard right... you'll be able to go from a binary, through a 
disassembler, into source code, and back into a binary, all in the click of 
the Build button.

The disassembler feature will only work with registered versions of Portal-9.


-- 
Roger Taylor