Wild Vectors from the Secret Motor

Software visualization in real time using a custom designed bus monitor shows Apple Macintosh system software during start-up.

Oscilloscope screen shows overall program flow as the system builds, then vectors or traffic pointing to the audio chip as the computer chimes at 00:09.

Then, probably, a hardware check is the bright spot at 00:12-13. Then, boot-up sequence, initial program loader or phantom system.

Rising fan-like memory scans from 00:15 to 00:20, hard drive read-write signals are big bows stretching from center to the upper left screen corner at 00:24-26.

Hard drive data port firing from about the 1 o'clock position throughout.

System stack wiggles from left to right at around the 4 o'clock position.

This method of seeing software is known as constellation view or constellation mode or chart mode.

Reference the HP 1600a logic analyzer a 1980's software development/debugging tool.

This was the looking part of a larger effort by Mike Kan to modify stark naked software while it is running using his ICE PIC -(In Circuit Emulator Program InterCept) that could insert variables when a particular condition was present.

After connecting many colorful wires of the bus monitor to the processor's address lines we pointed the video camera fairly straight at the oscilloscope screen and pushed the computer's power button.

Thanks to Steve Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar from an article way back titled "Stalking the Wild Vectors". http://www.circuitcellar.com

Music from, "The Title" by Steve Mobia
-used with permission.

Corrections welcome.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• software
• visualization
• application
• mapping
• hack
• logic
• analyzer
• tv
• test
• pattern
• thinkmap
• system
• stack
• xcode

[hamnose]

House of cards.

[MuellerNick]

Thanks for the nice memories. I have had built a card for my Apple ][ that displayed the same graphics.

Long gone ...

[jfkdlsls]

WOW!

[yhancik]

This is wonderful !

Who's that Mike Kan ? Does he have other works ?

[KeyFilmation]

nice!