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posted by janrinok on Monday March 24 2014, @08:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-for-the-faint-hearted dept.

Anonymous Coward writes:

"Dan Luu, in his blog, suggests that editing binaries is something that we should consider from time to time. From that blog:

Editing binaries is a trick that comes in handy a few times a year. You don't often need to, but when you do, there's no alternative. When I mention patching binaries, I get one of two reactions: complete shock or no reaction at all. As far as I can tell, this is because most people have one of these two models of the world:

  • There exists source code. Compilers do something to source code to make it runnable. If you change the source code, different things happen.
  • There exists a processor. The processor takes some bits and decodes them to make things happen. If you change the bits, different things happen.

If you have the first view, breaking out a hex editor to modify a program is the action of a deranged lunatic. If you have the second view, editing binaries is the most natural thing in the world. Why wouldn't you just edit the binary?"

 
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Monday March 24 2014, @09:43PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 24 2014, @09:43PM (#20583)

    You'd probably get a kick out of this

    http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/memship.htm l [retrotechnology.com]

    which is a 1802 programmed from a binary front panel

    Or this

    http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=24 [brielcomputers.com]

    which is a 6502 programmed in hex.

    I have both. Its hard to say which is better for new guy. The 1802 is certainly a simpler system but the binary coding is maddening. On the other hand 6502 is more complicated but the UI is far better. Probably better off with the KIM-1 6502 board.

    I also owned one of these in the late 80s somewhat soon after it became obsolete but before it became a classic:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit_H8 [wikipedia.org]

    which is a 8080 programmed in octal, although you could upgrade it to a Z80 unfortunately still programmed in octal. It was an interesting experience.

    Although if you feel the need for octal, this architecture is dramatically superior to the 8080:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8 [wikipedia.org]

    And no I never owned one but fooled around extensively with emulation. They sell on ebay for about the price of a used car now in the 2010s.

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  • (Score: 2) by Koen on Tuesday March 25 2014, @01:25AM

    by Koen (427) on Tuesday March 25 2014, @01:25AM (#20670)

    Sir, thanks!, *this* is why I read SoylentNews.
    Now where is my credit card, I'm gonna order a 1802 memship at once.
    May the Forth be with you.

    --
    /. refugees on Usenet: comp.misc [comp.misc]
  • (Score: 0) by crutchy on Tuesday March 25 2014, @06:34AM

    by crutchy (179) on Tuesday March 25 2014, @06:34AM (#20837) Homepage Journal

    thanks for links... lead me to this http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=18 [brielcomputers.com]

    not a *real* altair, but would be just about worthy of programming while wearing a stormtrooper outfit