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- STOBIN.DOC
- 1989-9-24
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- STOBIN is a small program for converting files in Motorola
- S-record format into memory image files. The Motorola freeware
- cross-assemblers for Motorola's microcontroller chips (MCU's) do
- not produce executable files. They produce ASCII files which
- indicate what the executable file should contain. The format
- used in the ASCII files is called the Motorola S-record format.
- If you want to program a Motorola microcontroller via the
- "bootstrap mode" available on some of them, you'll need to
- convert the S-record output from the assembler into binary, burn
- the binary version of the program into an (E)PROM, and use the
- (E)PROM and a suitable programming circuit to program your
- microcontroller. Motorola usually prints a programmer schematic
- in the data sheet for any part which has "bootstrap mode".
- This version of STOBIN is a "quick and dirty" program
- which I wrote for my own use, so it lacks the usual niceties. It
- requires MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher, it does not read the
- command line (it prompts you for all input), it won't let you
- tell it what to name the output file, and it will never write
- over an old file. If there's already a file with the name the
- program wants to use, the program simply quits with the error
- message "Attempt to create output file failed." The program
- names the output file *.BIN, where * is the name (without the
- three character extension) of the first input file.
- One nicety that this STOBIN does have: it allows you to
- build a binary file from any number of S-record files. However,
- it does not check for address conflicts among the input files.
- Each memory location in the output file will contain the value
- called out in the most recent input file which had a value for
- that location.
- To use STOBIN, just enter STOBIN. The program will ask
- you for the name of an input file. Enter the name of the first
- S-record file you wish to use (with path and drive, if needed).
- Next the program will ask you what size of memory chip you're
- going to program. Enter the size in BYTES (not kbytes) of your
- (E)PROM (for instance, enter 2048 for a 2k EPROM). Next, the
- program will ask you whether it should fill unused memory
- locations with ones or zeroes. If your microcontroller data
- sheet recommends programming unused locations with $FF or ones,
- press 1 (don't press the ENTER key). If you microcontroller data
- sheet recommends programming unused locations with $00 or zeroes,
- enter 0 (don't press the ENTER key). If you don't know whether
- to use ones or zeroes, pick your favorite. You won't do any harm
- by picking the "wrong" one (programming will simply go a tad
- slower, and if you reprogram your chip many many times you'll
- wear it out a little faster). Finally, the program will ask you
- for the name of the next input file you want to use. If you
- don't want to use any more files, just press the ENTER key.
- Otherwise, enter the name of the next file you want to use, and
- the prompt will reappear so you can use another file. When
- you're done using input files, just press the ENTER key at the
- "next file" prompt.