★ APPLICATIONS ★ PROGRAMMATION ★ MEMORY BOSS (SETANTA SOFTWARE)|Amtix) ★ |
| Memory Boss (Setanta Software) | Applications Programmation |
THE NOT SO UNIQUE MACHINE CODE MONITOR ANTHONY CLARKE analyses a utility from SETANTA SOFTWARE and concludes it's not all it is claimed The Memory Boss from Setanta promises to be a ‘unique machine code monitor' but after the two minutes it takes to load you find very little in the way of options. In its way the program is very unique being the only machine code monitor that doesn't actually disassemble machine code, merely printing out the memory contents in hex and ascii form. When loaded you are greeted with a menu of twelve commands, only eleven of which are usable on the 464 or 664 without a memory expansion, each option being selected by an almost logical key press. Pressing R shows the entire contents of ram starting at oh and working its way through to BFFFh , pressing Enter at any time starts and stops the listing on the screen, giving an audible bleep each time. The display is made up in the standard fashion used by Devpac or the RML 380Z, having the memory locations listed on the far left, the contents of each location taking up the main part of the screen in the centre and finally an ascii listing on the far right. The main problem that I encountered was getting back to the menu, a little key prodding showed that when the listing is stopped M takes you back to the menu. L allows you to look at the lower rom, from 0000h to BFFFh, although personally, I thought the lower rom finished at 4000H. It is when you get to this stage that you realise that there is little point in looking through a rom if you have to disassemble it by hand. I would prefer to write a small program to access the lower rom and let Devpac 80 earn its keep, though take it from me that there is little down there that is going to be of use to anyone. One interesting thing that did crop up was the number of companies that helped with the design, Amstrad and Arnold are obvious but what about Orion, AWA, Solavox, Saisho and ISP? As before stopping the listing and pressing M returns you to the menu. H allows you to look at the basic Interpreter rom in the same way as the lower rom but this time there is more to whet the appetite. The first thing to note about Amstrad's rom is how well documented it is, with remarks before each routine. It didn't take long to find and copy the random number formula for my own use. Also a quick glance at the keyword list reveals a few keywords that have not been implemented, reset being one example.
ADDITIONAL ROMS B allows you to look at any additional roms that you might have attached. You are first asked to enter a rom number from zero to seven, this in itself is strange as the Amstrad can handle up to 240 background roms and although it is highly unlikely that anyone will ever have 240 roms popping out the expansion port it would have been nice to be able to do it. If a particular rom does not exist then you are greeted with the message not found followed by nothing. You still have to select the menu option if you wish to do anything else. The X command is only for 6128 owners and those 464/664 owners who have bought the DK'Tronics memory expansion packs. When selected you are asked to give the bank number to be displayed from 0 to 3. The contents of bank 1 -4 are then shown, logical isn't it? I was quite disappointed that only banks 1 -4 could be accessed as I have a 64K memory expansion on my 6128 for use as a ram disk. Having said that there is very little use in looking through the extra memory as you usually know what is there at all times except when it is being used to store screens, and who in their right mind would want to look at a screen? I don't quite know whether it was my 6128 acting up or someone pulling a fast one but when I loaded data into the banks all I could get at was the contents of the main memory, which was at the time my data base program. The I command is for use in conjunction with the R, L, H, B and X commands and allows you to set the memory location to start when a listing is made. Each press increments the pointer by 256 bytes but there is no option to reduce it or to be more specific. To obtain a lower value you must go round the loop again, although if you hold down the key then this process is speeded up. S allows you to save ram to tape or disk. You are first asked for the output, tape or disk, then for the start and end addresses then finally for the file type, from basic to protected binary. It seems that every one nowadays is saving machine code in a protected binary form but I will tell you now that it doesn't work and never has. The save routine lacks the option to save the contents of a rom and so finally makes this utility of very little use whatsoever. When you are prompted for the file name you must make sure that, if you are using disk, the filename is no longer than eight characters or the machine hangs up. The T command loads a file into memory. First you must give the filename and then a four digit hex address to load at, even if the location is only 1, 2 or 3 digits long so leading zeros must be inserted. PROMPTED W allows you to change an area of ram except that in which the Memory Boss is situated. You are prompted for a four digit hex address to start at and then a listing of the memory form that location onwards, is given. Pressing enter skips a byte and typing a two digit hex number alters the location. Although the contents of memory are shown in ascii at the far right there is no option to type ascii characters directly into the machine. P turns the printer option on and off, the current state of which is shown at the top of the menu screen. In the manual it says you must be careful to ensure the printer is connected before you select an option that may send a printer output, if you don't then the program remains in an infinite loop! Adding a few bytes of code could have rectified this problem. The most important key must be Q which returns you to basic; calling 35000 returns you to Memory Boss. The comprehensive manual is a an eleven page work of something rhyming with art, most of which is dedicated to warnings on the hazards of copyright infringement. Only four pages deal with the package itself but they are fairly clear. The final five pages consist of a hex to decimal converter and a list of all the zso opcodes, printed in just the right way so that they can be easily followed when you disassemble any code by hand. Who this package is aimed at I don't know being little more than a few firmware calls and a loop. The cover says that it is ‘A great aid for the beginner in machine code, ' but as the program has very little to do with machine code I would not recommend it to a beginner, and as any competent programmer would know how to access the roms and look through memory then it is of little use to him/her either. All I can say, without being brought up on charges, is there is no obvious use for this package as there are many better versions, with more features, which have been on the market for a long time.
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