Amiga Bootblock Reader

[jasonver2.0]

Hello everyone, my brother and I have just made a new program that we find useful and we hope you find it useful to

- Its a program that can read, write, save from disk and install to disk bootblocks.
- It has a brainfile that recognises bootblocks and has the ability to add more
- Any suggestions and feedback would be appreciated and if you feel so inclined add your own bootblocks to the program and send me the brainfile so it can grow

Made in VB 2008 / .NET so it requires .NET 2.0

bb.brainfile included may be used by anyone for any purpose as long as you credit us. (We put a lot of work into it )

1.40
987 Bootblocks now recognised
- Added ZIP support through ICSharpZip library
- Batch scanning files now has colour coding depending on what bootblock is found on the disk (can be turned off)
- Brainfile colour coded by category
- Added 'Test run bootblock' to allow you to see bootblocks without the risk of infecting / booting the actual disk
- Added 'Boot disk with WinUAE' to boot the disk loaded into ABR with WinUAE
- Added bootblock picture preview (489 Bootblock pictures included in the seperate ABR Bootblock Pictures zip)
- Added Logo, Boot Intro and Boot Menu classifications

= Link no longer valid =

[StingRay]

Just had a quick look, seems to work fine but there should be an option to display the bootblock in hex.

[TCD]

Hi jasonver2.0,

looks nice and simple Will try it with your bootblock pack
Btw : You only need to provide the executable of your application. The other files aren't needed for the program to run.

[jasonver2.0]

@Stringray - Will work on it
@TCD - Thanks and you definately need the *.bbk files and the bb.brainfile

[TCD]

Originally Posted by jasonver2.0

@TCD - Thanks and you definately need the *.bbk files and the bb.brainfile

Of course they are, I meant the other 'AmigaBBReader' files

[DH]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Just had a quick look, seems to work fine but there should be an option to display the bootblock in hex.

Yep! I agree with that Still looks OK

There was one available back in the 90's for the Amiga, I would like the program again but for the life of me I cant remember what it was called

[heavy]

Originally Posted by DemonHellraiser

There was one available back in the 90's for the Amiga, I would like the program again but for the life of me I cant remember what it was called

BootMaster ?

[jasonver2.0]

Updated my program with a new version see post #1

[hit]

cool tool. i remember those "brainfiles" from marauder (copy tool)
the brainfile itself only saves those pattern, for recognizing the bootblocks?
would be usefull, if there were a second file, for storing a bootblock collection

[DH]

Originally Posted by jasonver2.0

Updated my program with a new version see post #1

Excellent news, now includes an option for displaying the bootblock in hex

[TCD]

Originally Posted by DemonHellraiser

Excellent news, now includes an option for displaying the bootblock in hex

Nice work jason, but that's not a hex viewer See attachment for what a hex viewer should look like. Most important feature of a hex viewer is that it displays the values of the bytes in hex form. I'm sure you can manage to display it that way in the next version

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by hit

cool tool. i remember those "brainfiles" from marauder (copy tool)
the brainfile itself only saves those pattern, for recognizing the bootblocks?
would be usefull, if there were a second file, for storing a bootblock collection

Bit offtopic: If someone have "brainfile" (or creates one) that detects most bootblocks and boot viruses, I will add it to WinUAE

(same with fileviruses too but that won't be so easy)

[DH]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Nice work jason, but that's not a hex viewer See attachment for what a hex viewer should look like. Most important feature of a hex viewer is that it displays the values of the bytes in hex form. I'm sure you can manage to display it that way in the next version

Ok TCD you're right, but it's close enough for now

[TCD]

Originally Posted by DemonHellraiser

Ok TCD you're right, but it's close enough for now

It's a bootblock viewer There is just room for improvement, you know

[DH]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

It's a bootblock viewer There is just room for improvement, you know

There was a hex viewer for the Amiga 'n' you could view all tracks 'n' stuff from a floppy, really go in depth with it, can't remember much about it now though as to many years has passed by 'n' my memory has almost gone

[musashi5150]

DiskMonTools was a great tool for playing around with low-level stuff. Is that the one you mean?

[exoticaga]

Thank you Jason for this win32 bootblock viewer, manipulator.

Anyone one know of a converter for .Net app to another code c++ or any code than .Net. A simple gui to click insert file that pops converted app that needs no .Net to run. Just cannot use the .Net it seems cripples my pcs, with needs for standby resume passwords and the like.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by exoticaga

Thank you Jason for this win32 bootblock viewer, manipulator.

Anyone one know of a converter for .Net app to another code c++ or any code than .Net. A simple gui to click insert file that pops converted app that needs no .Net to run. Just cannot use the .Net it seems cripples my pcs, with needs for standby resume passwords and the like.

There is no way to convert a .Net exe to tun without the .Net Framework. There is a tool called NGen.exe which will convert the IL exe file to a more native version, but it still needs the .Net Framework. Which OS are you using exoticaga? Even on Windows 2000 .Net 2.0 should run fine. I tested it on quite a few machines (2000, XP and Vista) and never had a problem so far. Maybe you could describe which problem occurs when you try to install .Net 2.0.

[Rabbit80]

Originally Posted by exoticaga

Thank you Jason for this win32 bootblock viewer, manipulator.

Anyone one know of a converter for .Net app to another code c++ or any code than .Net. A simple gui to click insert file that pops converted app that needs no .Net to run. Just cannot use the .Net it seems cripples my pcs, with needs for standby resume passwords and the like.

Does it? Start/Run "control userpasswords2" lets you set a default login and password for windows then you can diasble the welcome screen and on resume display logon screen from screensaver box...

For standby try - Start the Power Options Control Panel applet / Select the Advanced tab / Uncheck the Prompt for password when computer goes off standby check box / Click OK.

[OddbOd]

Nice little tool you have here, as a small contribution I've uploaded some bootblocks to The Zone for you to add, some you have already others you don't. There is a small problem with the interface becoming unresponsive when an unknown bootblock is loaded, a progress indicator would look better I think.