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authorJuan J. Martinez <jjm@usebox.net>2020-12-30 19:07:31 +0000
committerJuan J. Martinez <jjm@usebox.net>2020-12-30 19:23:41 +0000
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tree9116764364b4ee0ce7f6037305077807b57776de /tools/hex2bin-2.0/doc/README
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+Yet Another Hex to bin converter
+
+It can handle the extended Intel hex format in segmented and linear address
+modes. Records need not be sorted and there can be gaps between records.
+
+Some hex files are produced by compilers. They generate objects files for each
+module in a project, and when the linker generates the final hex file, the
+object files are stored within the hex files, but modules can appear not
+necessary in order of address.
+
+How does it work?
+
+Hex2bin/mot2bin allocates a 4 MBytes buffer and just place the converted bytes
+in its buffer. At the end, the buffer is written to disk. Using a buffer elimi-
+nates the need to sort records. If the option l is used (3), the buffer will be
+allocated with the maximum size specified if over 4Mbytes.
+
+Before reading the hex file, the buffer is filled with a default value. These
+padding bytes are all FF by default so an EPROM programmer can skip these bytes
+when programming. The padding value can be changed with the -p option.
+
+1. Compiling on Linux or other unix platforms
+
+ make
+
+ then
+
+ make install
+
+ This will install the program to /usr/local/bin.
+
+1a. Compiling for Windows on Msys, Cygwin or DOS prompt
+
+ The programs can be compiled as follows:
+ gcc -O2 -Wall -o hex2bin.exe hex2bin.c common.c libcrc.c binary.c
+ gcc -O2 -Wall -o mot2bin.exe mot2bin.c common.c libcrc.c binary.c
+
+2. Using hex2bin
+
+ hex2bin example.hex
+
+ hex2bin will generate a binary file example.bin starting at the
+ lowest address in the hex file.
+
+3. Binary file starting address and length
+
+ If the lowest address isn't 0000,
+ ex: 0100: (the first record begins with :nn010000xxx )
+
+ there will be problems when using the binary file to program a EPROM
+ since the first byte supposed to be at 0100 is stored in the binary file
+ at 0000.
+
+ you can specify a starting address for the binary file on the command line:
+
+ hex2bin -s 0000 start_at_0100.hex
+
+ This start address is not the same thing as the start address record in
+ the hex file. The start address record is used to specify the starting
+ address for execution of the binary code.
+
+ The bytes will be stored in the binary file with a padding from 0000
+ to the lowest address minus 1 (00FF in this case).
+
+ Similarly, the binary file can be padded up to Length -1 with FF or another byte.
+
+ Here, the space between the last byte and 07FF will be filled with FF.
+ hex2bin -l 0800 ends_before_07FF.hex
+
+ EPROM, EEPROM and Flash memories contain all FF when erased.
+
+ This program does minimal error checking since many hex files are
+ generated by known good assemblers.
+
+ When the source file name is
+ for-example.test.hex
+ the binary created will have the name
+ for-example.bin
+ the ".test" part will be dropped.
+
+ Hex2bin/mot2bin assume the source file doesn't contain overlapping records,
+ if so, overlaps will be reported.
+
+4. Checksum of source file
+
+ By default, it ignores record checksum errors, so that someone can change
+ by hand some bytes allowing quick and dirty changes.
+ If you want checksum error reporting, specify the option -c.
+
+ hex2bin -c example.hex
+
+ If there is a record checksum error somewhere, the program will continue the
+ conversion anyway.
+
+ The example file example.hex contains some records with checksum errors.
+
+5. Check value inserted inside binary file
+
+ A check value can be inserted in the resulting binary file.
+
+ hex2bin -k [0-4] -r [start] [end] -f [address] -C [Poly] [Init] [RefIn] [RefOut] [XorOut]
+
+ -k Select the check method:
+ 0: Checksum 8-bit
+ 1: Checksum 16-bit
+ 2: CRC8
+ 3: CRC16
+ 4: CRC32
+
+ -r Range to compute checksum over (default is min and max addresses)
+
+ -f Address of the result to write
+
+ -C Parameters for CRC
+ Parameters for common CRCs are listed in doc/CRC list.txt. They appear in
+ the same order. Feed them as is and use t for TRUE, f for FALSE.
+
+ See also the test/Makefile for these common CRCs; since they're tested,
+ you'll have the command line figured out.
+
+ -E Endian for storing the check result or forcing it
+ 0: little
+ 1: big
+
+ Change from previous versions of hex2bin/mot2bin:
+ Replace former options to this version
+ -k 1 -> -k 1 -E 0
+ -k 2 -> -k 1 -E 1
+
+6. Value inserted directly inside binary file
+ Instead of calculating a value, it can be inserted directly into the file at a specified address.
+
+ hex2bin -k [0|1|2] -F [address] [value]
+
+ -k Select the value format:
+
+ 0 = 8-bit
+ 1 = 16-bit
+ 2 = 32-bit
+
+ -F Address and value of checksum to force
+
+ -E Endian for storing the check result or forcing it
+ 0: little
+ 1: big
+
+7. Motorola S files
+
+ mot2bin example.s19
+
+ Options for mot2bin are the same as hex2bin. Executing the program
+ without argument will display available options. Some are specific to
+ Motorola files.
+
+ This program will handle S19 files generated for Motorola micropro-
+ cessors. Since I use this program for an EPROM programmer, I will
+ rarely need to have more than 4M, I limited the source program for
+ 24 bits or 16 bits address records.
+
+ 32 bits records are now supported, but obviously I can't allocate all
+ the memory for the binary target. What I did is simply assume that the
+ binary file will occupy less than 4M. For binary files greater than 4M,
+ see length option (section 3).
+
+8. Support for byte-swapped hex/S19 files
+
+ -w Wordwise swap: for each pair of bytes, exchange the low and high part.
+ If a checksum needs to be generated to insert in the binary file, select
+ one of the 16-bit checksums.
+
+ hex2bin -w test-byte-swap.hex
+
+9. Goodies
+
+ Description of the file formats is included.
+ Added examples files for extended addressing.
+
+ Check for overlapping records. The check is rather basic: supposing
+ that the buffer is filled with pad bytes, when a record overlaps a
+ previous one, value in the buffer will be different from the pad bytes.
+ This will not detect the case when the previous value equals the pad byte,
+ but it's more likely that more than one byte will be overlapped.
+
+
+10. Error messages
+
+ "Can't allocate memory."
+
+ Can't do anything in this case, so the program simply exits.
+
+ "Error occurred while reading from file"
+
+ Problem with fgets.
+
+ "Input/Output file %s cannot be opened. Enter new filename: "
+
+ The user may not have permissions to open the file.
+
+ "0 byte length data record ignored"
+
+ This means that an empty data record was read. Since it's empty, it's simply
+ ignored and should have no impact on the binary file.
+
+ "Data record skipped at ..."
+
+ This means that the records are falling outside the memory buffer.
+
+ "Overlapped record detected"
+
+ A record is overwritten by a subsequent record. If you're using SDCC, check
+ if more than one area is specified with a starting address. Checking the map
+ file generated by the linker can help.
+
+ "Some error occurred when parsing options."
+
+
+
+11. History
+
+ See ChangeLog
+
+12. Other hex tool
+
+ There is a program that supports more formats and has more features.
+ See SRecord at http://srecord.sourceforge.net/