> Van: Walter Banks <walter@BYTECRAFT.COM>
> Aan: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Onderwerp: Re: [SOT] Copy Protection; Reverse engineering vs Theft
> Datum: donderdag 6 mei 1999 13:41

Hello Walter,

<Snip>

> Most of the Hex formats have information type record types in their
format
> what has been missing is universal consensus over the format of an
> identification type record.
>
> I am all in favor of putting identifying information in the HEX file.
> The MPC compiler has processor and configuration information
> internally and it is easy to bring this information out.
>
> We believed that processor identification was important and when we
> developed the .COD file format included it in Byte Craft's .COD file.

It's not really the information in the .HEX-file I was referring to, but a
few bytes in the controller itself that will hold the controllers type.
This way several checks can be done, ranging from trying to overwrite the
data (and failing if the .HEX-file targets another controller-type) and to
be able to query (and display) the controllers type by the PC (or
programmer).

Information about the controller in a "Information-record" has got no value
(IMHO) if nobody can use this data.  It's (maybe) valuable if non-telling
filenames are used, or when dis-assembling the .HEX -file.  In the first
case I would prefer a Human-readable header .  And the second case ....
should never occur :-)

Greetz,
  Rudy Wieser