NAME¶
srec_signetics - Signetics file format
DESCRIPTION¶
The Signetics file format is not often used. The major disadvantage in modern
applications is that the addressing range is limited to only 64kb.
Records¶
All data lines are called records, and each record contains the following 5
fields:
The field are defined as follows:
- :
- Every record starts with this identifier.
- aaaa
- The address field. A four digit (2 byte) number
representing the first address to be used by this record.
- cc
- The byte‐count. A two digit value (1 byte), counting
the actual data bytes in the record.
- as
- Address checksum. Covers 2 address bytes and the byte
count.
- dd
- The actual data of this record. There can be 1 to 255 data
bytes per record (see cc)
- ss
- Data Checksum. Covers only all the data bytes of this
record.
Record Begin¶
Every record begins with a colon “:[rq] character. Records contain only
ASCII characters. No spaces or tabs are allowed in a record. In fact, apart
from the 1st colon, no other characters than 0..9 and A..F are allowed in a
record. Interpretation of a record should be case less, it does not matter if
you use a..f or A..F.
Unfortunately the colon was chosen for the Signetics file format, similar to the
Intel format (see
srec_intel(5) for more information). However, SRecord
is able to automatically detect the dofference between the two format, when
you use the
-Guess format specifier.
Address Field¶
This is the address where the first data byte of the record should be stored.
After storing that data byte, the address is incremented by 1 to point to the
address for the next data byte of the record. And so on, until all data bytes
are stored. The address is represented by a 4 digit hex number (2 bytes), with
the MSD first. The order of addresses in the records of a file is not
important. The file may also contain address gaps, to skip a portion of unused
memory.
Byte Count¶
The byte count cc counts the actual data bytes in the current record. Usually
records have 32 data bytes, but any number between 1 and 255 is possible.
A value of 0x00 for cc indicates the end of the file. In this case not even the
address checksum will follow! The record (and file) are terminated
immediately.
It is not recommended to send too many data bytes in a record for that may
increase the transmission time in case of errors. Also avoid sending only a
few data bytes per record, because the address overhead will be too heavy in
comparison to the payload.
Address Checksum¶
This is not really a checksum anymore, it looks more like a CRC. The checksum
can not only detect errors in the values of the bytes, but also bytes out of
order can be detected.
The checksum is calculated by this algorithm:
checksum = 0
for i = 1 to 3
checksum = checkum XOR byte
ROL checksum
next i
For the Address Checksum we only need 2 Address bytes and 1 Byte Count byte to
be added. That's why we count to 3 in the loop. Every byte is XORed with the
previous result. Then the intermediate result is rolled left (carry rolls back
into b0).
This results in a very reliable checksum, and that for only 3 bytes!
The last record of the file does not contain any checksums! So the file ends
right after the Byte Count of 0.
Data Field¶
The payload of the record is formed by the Data field. The number of data bytes
expected is given by the Byte Count field. The last record of the file may not
contain a Data field.
Data Checksum¶
This checksum uses the same algorithm as used for the Address Checksum. This
time we calculate the checksum with only the data bytes of this record.
checksum = 0
for i = 1 to cc
checksum = checksum XOR byte
ROL checksum
next i
Note that we count to the Byte Count cc this time.
Size Multiplier¶
In general, binary data will expand in sized by approximately 2.4 times when
represented with this format.
EXAMPLE¶
Here is an example Signetics file
:B00010A5576F77212044696420796F75207265617B
:B01010E56C6C7920676F207468726F756768206136
:B02010256C6C20746861742074726F75626C652068
:B0300D5F746F207265616420746869733FD1
:B03D00
In the example above you can see a piece of code in Signetics format. The first
3 lines have 16 bytes of data each, which can be seen by the byte count. The
4th line has only 13 bytes, because the program is at it's end there.
Notice that the last record of the file contains no data bytes, and not even an
Address Checksum.
SEE ALSO¶
http://sbprojects.fol.nl/knowledge/fileformats/signetics.htm
AUTHOR¶
This man page was taken from the above Web page. It was written by San Bergmans
<sanmail@bigfoot.com>