RELEASE
   Beta1.00 (V2.02) - 20-April-94

AUTHOR
   Gary Morton (gary@inmos.co.uk)

DESCRIPTION
   This is the first beta release of Gd8051, an intelligent incremental
   8051 family disassembler. 
   Gd8051 can disassemble binary or intelhex format files into assembly
   code format compatible with either the AS31 or CAS public domain
   assemblers.
   I expect it to be of interest to electronics hobbiests using the 8051 
   family of devices, or anyone wanting to disassemble and patch existing 
   8051 firmware (see LEGAL RESTRICTIONS in gd8051.doc!).
   Please feel free to copy the archive file and give to other friends or
   colleagues, but please don't upload to BBS's, FSP or FTP sites without
   asking me first (I hope to limit distribution of the beta release and
   more widely distribute the proper release).
   If you would like binaries for other architectures then again please
   contact me. I certainly would like to be able to support as many
   architectures as reasonable. I am not releasing source code at this
   moment in time.

PUBLIC DOMAIN
   The executables are released into the public domain as long as the 
   conditions of use are adhered to.

REASON D'ETRE
   Gd8051 has been under development for the past 16 months. It was written
   to allow the author to incrementally disassemble the operating system of
   a (now defunct) BSB DMAC satellite receiver. Originally a public domain
   disassembler 'DAS' was used to disassemble 64k's worth of 8051 binaries.
   DAS has a very nice feature of allowing the user to define a set of entry
   points in a file, which allows code execution to be traced and prevented
   data structures being disassembled as asm code (a common failing of
   simple disassemblers), and clearly showed which code had not yet being
   'reached' (which appeared in db format). Unfortunately a bug in DAS 
   (which mapped R7..R4 onto R3..R0 and thus effectively scrambled lots of 
   code), and the inability to incrementally disassemble extra entry points
   was limiting (all the comments added to the previous disassembly could
   not be passed on to the next disassembly which specified extra entry
   points).
   Gd8051 effectively took the idea of using an entry file one step further,
   in that any edits which someone might make to a disassembly listing
   could be easily retained in the next version of the disassembly by means
   of a control file.

FEEDBACK
   I am particularly interested to hear how users of this program get on,
   and welcome feedback of any variety, especially that which allows me to
   weed out the remaining bugs. 
   I would like to hear how gd8051 stacks up against other disassemblers
   (either PD,shareware or commercial), in terms of usability and features.

FUTURE
   Resulting from the feedback I hope to re-release Gd8051 in a (more) bug
   free improved form. At this point in time I am not sure whether to release 
   it into the public domain or as shareware, or whether to release the 
   sources. Any ideas would be appreciated.

MANIFEST
   You should find the following files in the distribution 'zip' file:- 
      gd8051.exe   - PC (DOS) executables
      gd8051       - Sun4 executables (*)
      readme       - this file
      gd8051.doc   - documentation on using gd8051
      ctl.doc      - documentation of control file directives
      example.doc  - example use of gd8051
      example.asm  - original asm source (normally unavailable)
      example.hex  - equivalent intelhex file (e.g. from reading ROM)
      example1.ctl - 1st pass example control file
      example1.asm - 1st pass disassembly
      example1.ed  - 1st pass users attempts to interpret code
      example2.ctl - 2nd pass control file
      example2.asm - 2nd pass disassembly (hopefully closer to example.asm!)

   (*) Although it is common practise to distribute PC programs as
       executables only, I am not sure whether the same holds true for Sun4
       binaries where the threat of virii and trojans is little more serious.
       Feedback please!
