question: Load [address] appears not to take any address other than 100

[assad-ebrahim-uk]

Is loading a .COM file into generic destination address supported?

Documentation (debug.txt) indicates the 'load program (L)' command accepts an optional destination address: L [address] Documentation mention no constraints on the address. However, in practice it appears only L 100 is accepted. All of the below variations work with 100 but not with e.g. 600 L 600 L CS:600 L 0600 L 072A:0600

Intended Use Case: To load a program into the default address (0x100). To then load separately created binary user data file into a designated space (e.g. 0x600) which the program knows to access. E.g. N program.com L
N data.com L 600

Thanks!

[Baron-von-Riedesel]

You're right, it seems Debug/X mimics exactly MS Debug's behavior. L accepts 100h as address only, W is more generous here. I guess it's best to adjust the help screen and leave the program as it is.

[assad-ebrahim-uk]

Andreas, thanks for the reply. Given that the feature is not there, I agree it’s probably better to leave the program as it is to avoid complications around folks wondering why a loaded program does not run. If you want me to draft some wording to clarify the Manual / Help file, let me know and am happy to do it.

For a use case like mine, a solution (that falls to the programmer) would be to read binary data from disk and put it wherever desired.

[ecm-pushbx]

I believe in Debug/X if you load a file that has a name ending in eg ".bin" (not ".com" nor ".exe" nor ".hex") then the L command accepts other addresses such as l 200. This is true of lDebug as well.

In lDebug you can run the debugger init with /F or run the command install fswitch to treat any file as a flat binary. This will enable commands like l 200 but you will load MZ .EXE files as if they were flat binaries (header and all) instead of loading and relocating the .EXE image as instructed by the header.

[assad-ebrahim-uk]

Confirming this works: .bin filename with binary data loads up into any specified address location using L command. Many thanks ECM!

@Baron-von-Riedesel : Suggested addition to the file Debug.txt in the paragraph starting "The Load command (L)..." "Note: to load binary data into a location other than CS:100, ensure the filename is not .com or .exe (you can use .bin). Then the command L 200 or L 1000 works."

[Baron-von-Riedesel]

I added the hint to debug.txt. Also, if debugger is in protected-mode (DebugX): to load/write non-program files is rejected, and reading/writing sectors triggers a check whether a DOS extender is active.

[assad-ebrahim-uk]

I did not see the hint in debug.txt in the L command section in either the main branch (shows last edit last week) or the new branch. Am I looking in the wrong location?

[Baron-von-Riedesel]

Am I looking in the wrong location?

No. I just didn't upload the change yet.