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HomeWare 14
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utils2
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rmem101.arj
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READMEM.DOC
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1994-03-08
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5KB
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94 lines
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS PROGRAM IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN! IT IS COPYRIGHTED SOFTWARE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that we have that out of the way, I can tell you what it is. This
program is giftware. If you like it, and you use it I would like you to
send me a gift! I would like 1 3.5"HD floppy disk. No, I am not going to
send it back with the newest version; partly because I have no idea when
that will be and partly because I will always upload the most recent
fully working (ie, not crippled in any way) version whenever I have
finished it. I would like a disk because I hate buying them and I go
though hundreds of them. So if you think in monitary terms the registration
fee is about 80 cents. (Floppies out here go for around $0.50 each).
Here is where to send the disk:
Sean Kennedy
12082 Ellen St.
Garden Grove, CA
USA 92640-3227
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WHY READMEM
------------------
This program is just a simple memory dump program. It has its roots in
the debug D (dump) command. I originally wrote this to help me give IBM
memory dump information when I was using their beta S3 drivers. I was
sick of using debug's ugly interface. I also wanted to write a program
in 100% assembly, and thus READMEM was born.
-----------------
HOW DOES IT WORK
-----------------
At its simplist, you can just use the page up and page down keys to
cycle through memory a screen full at a time. You can also use the
cursor up and cursor down keys to move up or down a line at a time.
In addition to these commands I have added several more that can make
scanning though a memory dump more interesting. By default READMEM
starts off at the bios data area (0040:0000). You can return to this
area at any time by pressing 'B'. You can move to the top of memory
(0000:0000) by pressing the HOME key and to the bottom of memory
(FFFF:FFFF) by pressing the END key. The 'G' key will allow you to
enter any segment and offset pair and the program will begin is new
display there. The left arrow key will move a line up though memory
continuosly without having to keep pressing it. This allows you to sit
back and just watch the dump. The right arrow key works the same
going down through memory. The 'H' key will bring up a small help
screen to remind you of all of these commands. My favorite command
is the 'D'ynamic Display command. When you press 'D' the program will
keep re-scanning memory while it waits for your next command. This will
allow you to view any changes to the ram in real time. To demonstrate
this, when the program first starts up, use the 'D' command. In the
bios data are where the program starts, you should see several addresses
continually changing. One of these is the system clock. Do remember
that the Intel family processors uses a reversed byte format, where the
low byte is displayed first and then high byte. So the seconds (in hex)
will be the first byte rapidly changing and the minutes will be the
second byte. The 'P' command will just do a printscreen (INT 5) and
dump the contents of the screen to your printer. The 'Q' key or the
ESC key will exit you from the program.
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FEATURES
-----------------
Let's face it: this is the known bug list! One thing big on my list
of 'things to fix' is memory wraparound. I would like the program to
wrap from FFFF:FFFF to 0000:0000 and inversely. As it is now, 01000h is
just subtracted from the segment so from FFFF:FFFF you would start at
0FFF:0000. Minor but it bugs me. I do not know of any more bugs, but
if you should find one please let me know. You can contact me at the
above address or through the internet at sean.kennedy@kandy.com.
-----------------
UPGRADE LIST
-----------------
As I mentioned before, I will fix the wrap around problem, but before
to much longer I am going to add an editing feature so you can change
the contents of the ram. I plan to upgrade the display routines, as
right now I am using the bios routines, but I would like to use some
direct video access, which should improve the speed of the display. I
would also like to be able to display all of ram, not just the first
megabyte, but I have to learn some protected mode assembly before I can
do that! (At least better than I currently know it!) I plan on allowing
for a full or close to full screen display and if I get real exited I
may add a dissasemble mode!
-----------------
HISTORY
-----------------
Not much yet! this is only the second version, and the first to be
released.
v 1.00 - First version. Never released.
v 1.01 - First released version. Optimized a lot of the code. Updated
display routines to be compatible with ANSI.SYS.