ASM help for Linux?

[Marlin]

- An ASM helpfile could be downloaded here (http://www.purebasic.com/download/AsmHelp.zip). If you place the 'ASM.HLP' in the 'Help/' folder of PureBasic, you can also get help on Asm keywords with F1. (Note: this feature is only enabled, when InlineASM is enabled).

I unpacked those files to the help folder,
but those are apparently helpfiles for Windows only!

The do appear in the IDEs menu item Help/External Help,
but are displayed as binary files with the fileviewer
and can not be used or read, as a helpfile!

Is there any download of those helpfiles for Linux,
or a workaround that would fix this problem?

[Trond]

There are some programs that can show chm files on Linux, but the better idea would be to download the fasm manual in pdf or html format. You won't get F1 help, but I did it this way even on Windows and didn't find it too much of a hassle.

[Marlin]

I believe those are not chm help files, as the have a .hlp extension
and a companion with .GID extension.

I downloaded a tutorial in pdf format and the manual (a copy of their website) from flatassembler.net.

The tutorial - well, it is a tutorial - (and it seems unfinished work).

The Programmer's Manual is also helpful,
but none of them is stuctured as or therefore very usefull
as a reference for intel instructions like I've seen in ASM.hlp (W2K).

Unfortunately I do not know, what format of helpfile PB for linux uses
or how to convert the hlp file to that format.
But I think, the people who provided that Windows helpfile,
could also comparably easily provide the same for Linux.

And that would be great and very useful.

[Trond]

The programmer's manual is the one you want. It does have a reference with help for each instruction (it's chapter 2.1).

For a more detail specification of each instruction you can look in the following two documents:
Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 2A: Instruction Set Reference, A-M
Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 2B: Instruction Set Reference, N-Z
Which you can get here: http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/

[Marlin]

The programmer's manual is the one you want. It does have a reference with help for each instruction (it's chapter 2.1).

I trust you read it all and therefore know it contains "help for each instruction".

But even if this holds true, it is "structured" (if this word is at all applicable)
more for reading and learning,
for which I do accept it.

As for http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/:
I do not wish to purchase (or even "order" for free)
a CD-ROM just for that purpose.
(I did not go far enough with the ordering process to find out about
if or how much they would want to charge.)

I did find other references in the internet, that come closer to the reference character of ASM.hlp,
but none of them yet saturated my appetite for a linux version of ASM.hlp.

I admit, that I only had a few glances at it and am not fully quallified
to make an in debt judgment on it,
but the view of its structure did leave a lasting impression with me.

[Trond]

The programmer's manual is the one you want. It does have a reference with help for each instruction (it's chapter 2.1).

I trust you read it all and therefore know it contains "help for each instruction".

It's a reference, of course it contains all instructions. Yes, I read it all from 2.1.1 to 2.1.17 (the rest are special purpose instructions of which I only read some).

As for http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/:
I do not wish to purchase (or even "order" for free)
a CD-ROM just for that purpose.
(I did not go far enough with the ordering process to find out about
if or how much they would want to charge.)

Huh? You just scroll down and download the pdfs for free. You don't even have to register. Assembly is a bit difficult and first and foremost require patience to read documentation thoroughly. If you can't even find the download link you need more patience.

Although I have never looked in the hlp file, so I don't know exactly what you're looking for.

[Marlin]

Although I have never looked in the hlp file, so I don't know exactly what you're looking for.

I see.
So you could not possibly have been spoiled by it, like me.

I'm describing it from a (possibly slightly fuzzy) memory:
It is structured in a way, that I thought (not time for much actual trying yet)
I could find what I'd want to know with just one or two exra glances
with no search tool whatsoever.

Huh? You just scroll down and download the pdfs for free. You don't even have to register.

Thank you for clarifying this.

I just searched for the main part of the string given in you post
and only found it in this CD order section that shocked me away a little.

Hmm... now after downloading, another issue:
Why are those PDF files password protected???
(KPDF asks for a password in order to read the file.)
Is there another thing I have overlooked or done wrong?

Assembly is a bit difficult ...

I do not consider assembly language as such to be very difficult.
Intel is just a dialect I am not yet familiar with yet ...
In fact I developed and created an assembler for 6502 (?) quite some time ago,
using code tables, some builtin debugging tools and builtin basic language
on an Apple IIe replica (a bought as a student),
often times typing in the opcodes as hex numbers...
Later I could use the assembler to assemble its own sourcecode.

Somewhat difficult could be integrating assembly into a pc system,
learning to communicate with the system ...

[Trond]

The files are not password protected.

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/manual/253666.pdf (2A)
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/manual/253667.pdf (2B)

[Marlin]

The files are not password protected.

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/manual/253666.pdf (2A)
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/manual/253667.pdf (2B)

so you say,
but my KPDF still says: "Please insert the password to read the document:".

Maybe those are in a rather new pdf format my KPDF can not read?


Edit: But you are basically right again.
I can read them on W2k (But not Linux! )
I am just trying to convert one of them into something that I can read using Linux.
This printing to another PDF uses about 90 MB of interim document size
and appears agonizingly slow!
I wonder, if it really will be finished sometime today.
... I've got one of them now...
I'll check later, if I can read it in my Linux system.

[Trond]

I can view them in Linux just fine with evince.

[Marlin]

With help from a friend, I got those PDFs now in a format, that I can read with my KPDF.

I can view them in Linux just fine with evince.

Hm... , I just saw, there are compiling instructions for my "distribution" for Evince-2.30.2 available.

I might try that some time.

I believe, I now have enough reading material for ASM at the moment.

Still, nothing as nice a reference for overview and reminding as ASM.hlp!

I still want that more than anything else in that category available for Linux.

[Vera]

I still want that more than anything else

so here you go

ASM.hlp -> ASM.chm
DL: ASM-hlp-vs1.chm

cheers ~ Vera

edit: updated dl-link

[Trond]

By the way, I had a look at the hlp file and it contains far from all instructions, which is one of the reasons it seems "easier".

[Marlin]

I still want that more than anything else

I'm afraid, you've shortened the quote in such a way, that it is [almost] out of context.

so here you go

ASM.hlp -> ASM.chm
DL: ASM-hlp-vs1.chm

Thank you Vera,
but there is still one problem with this:
I do not know how I can open a chm using Linux.

By the way, I had a look at the hlp file and it contains far from all instructions, which is one of the reasons it seems "easier".

Talking from memory again at the moment,
I dare to dissagree.

• If instructions are missing, those would only be a few.
  Also such would not make it "easier".
  I did not and would not use that term to describe it.

But this was not the point with my view about Asm.hlp at all.

It is, that

• the instructions appear in a list of links, so that you can find the one your interested in
  with one glance and then simply follow the link to see more about it.
  Realy done in a nice viewerfriendly way, clearly (I'd allmost say perfectly) structured.

[Trond]

If instructions are missing, those would only be a few.

No, it's a lot. Asm.hlp has 8 instructions starting with A, compared to 18 in the official references. A lot of new instructions have been added to the original instruction set.

• the instructions appear in a list of links, so that you can find the one your interested in
  with one glance and then simply follow the link to see more about it.
  Realy done in a nice viewerfriendly way, clearly (I'd allmost say perfectly) structured.

The official reference also has a list of bookmarks (one for each instruction), it's just the pdf viewers for Linux that don't show it.