Re: XYWRITE 4.018 Source Code | request for resources

["russurquhart1@xxxxxxxxxxx" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I want to applaud your efforts on being able to successfully disassemble the Xywrite files and then be able to assemble those and get those running.

I was just curious, as you plan to go to a C language, migration, how will you resolve variable names in the C source? I mean,bly so I just feel like it’s gonna be a real hairy issue and I was just curious what your plans were?

Congratulations, Russ.

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

On Friday, April 3, 2026, 7:58 AM, xyquest xyghost <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

All,

I shared the full source code for XyWrite 4.018 with Carl and Edward. Carl was already able to rebuild it on his computer and confirmed that it works for him. Now, the community has three versions of XY’s source code:

I am currently working on reverse engineering the XYWIN version and making steady progress. I have already recovered 81 files with assembly code and am slowly moving to C programming language, Windows API calls, functions, DLLs, imports, and everything needed

I have a request for anyone with resources: I am looking for Nota Bene versions 5–9—not trial versions, but full versions—to study how they implemented 32-bit support with the XYWrite engine for NB. Any version will help, but having all would be better to see

I am also still looking for the remaining editor EXE files. I haven’t seen much movement on this list beyond a few responses from people whorsions) and editor versions for XYWrite, please

Harry, were you able to find the NB version of XYWrite that you mentioned earlier? Can you send it my way? Thanks.

Best,
XYGHOST

---

Some of the notes from my current project.

#### Reconstruction Priority Table

| Priority | Seg | Size | XY4% | Language | Strategy |

|----------|-----|------|------|----------|----------|

| 1 | 2,10,26,27,28,59,61,66,67,68 | 1B each | N/A | Stub | `db 0CCh` |

| 2 | 31 | 25B | - | ASM | Disassemble 3 tiny functions |

| 3 | 60 | 24B | - | ASM | Disassemble 1 FAR CALL thunk |

| 4 | 38, 39 | 3,884B | 55% | ASM/Data | `db` tables from XY4 seg021 reference |

| 5 | 36 | 2,149B | 88% | ASM | Bootstrap from XY4 seg021, adapt for Win16 |

| 6 | 64 | 4,303B | 29% | ASM | XY3+XY4 character encoding reference |

| 7 | 58 | 1,435B | 18% | ASM | Small ASM segment with XY4 overlap |

| 8 | 35 | 5,084B | 18% | ASM | XY4 code reference |

| 9 | 3 | 5,543B | 20% | ASM | XY3+XY4 cursor/screen code |

| 10 | All remaining | various | 0-13% | Mixed | Ghidra decompile + fresh disassembly |

### 32. Phase 4 Infrastructure Plan

Three deliverables needed before segment reconstruction can begin:

1. **Stub ASM source files** -- 10 stubs (1 byte each) + seg 31

2. **BUILD_XW.BAT** -- Master build script (assemble all ASM, compile all C, link)

3. **VRFXW.PS1** -- NE-aware segment comparison tool (parse both NE headers, compare per-segment)

### 33. Phase 4 Infrastructure -- CREATED (April 2, 2026)

All three infrastructure deliverables completed:

**Stub ASM source files** (12 files in `BUILD\CORE\`):

- `SEG02.ASM`, `SEG10.ASM`, `SEG26.ASM`, `SEG27.ASM`, `SEG28.ASM` -- 1-byte stubs (LOADONCALL)

- `SEG59.ASM`, `SEG61.ASM` -- 1-byte stubs (LOADONCALL)

- `SEG66.ASM`, `SEG67.ASM`, `SEG68.ASM` -- 1-byte stubs (PRELOAD)

- `SEG31.ASM` -- 25 bytes: CC pad + 4 tiny FAR procs (nullsub, RETF, XOR AX,AX/RETF, STC/RETF)

- `SEG60.ASM` -- 24 bytes: CC pad + FAR CALL to seg42:037Eh + 3x RETF

**Segment naming convention:** `SEGnn_TEXT SEGMENT PARA PUBLIC 'CODE'` for CODE segments.

IDA names them `cseg01`..`cseg72` (CODE) and `dseg73`..`dseg81` (DATA).

**BUILD_XW.BAT**: Master DOSBox build script. Currently assembles stub + small segments.

Link step deferred until more segments are ready. Uses SETENV.BAT for paths.

**VRFXW.PS1**: NE-aware comparison tool. Parses both NE headers, extracts each segment,

compares byte-by-byte. Reports per-segment match/mismatch with offset of first diff.

### 34. Deep Analysis: Seg 36, 38, 39

**Seg 38 & 39** (3,884 bytes each, 0 relocs):

- Structure: ~48-byte header/index, then 2-letter ASCII command codes packed consecutively

- Commands found: CN,SN,SU,UW,US,ET,VL,SZ,FY,OR,WD,FO,PS,PR,LE,PE,PG,HM,CP,FB,FE,UO,GD,PZ,

  YP,XP,XS,GB,GE,B1,B2,BE,AT,EA,EF,PT,PC,VS,?X,FA,FP,NA,GR,PU,F1,F0,DF,CS,JU,DM,DA,SF,SC,

  KH,AC,SE,UC,DL,HY,PP,XB,CO,AO,CR,BX,RD,DI,HV,VU,FU,SK,KS...

- **Seg 38 and 39 are byte-identical** (confirmed). Possible upper/lowercase lookup variants.

- No relocations = pure data, no segment references. Easy reconstruction: raw `db` dump.

**Seg 36** (2,149 bytes, 1 reloc):

- **1 function:** `sub_45A60` (IDA) -- buffer lookup + memory copy routine

  - Entry: PUSH BX/CX/DI/SI/BP, MOV AX,CS / MOV DS,AX (set DS=CS for local data)

  - Searches table at CS:008Bh-00AFh (6-byte entries) for BX match

  - On match: copies 128 bytes with REP MOVSB to SS:3099h (stack segment buffer)

  - Adjusts buffer sizes, calls `sub_542F4` (in another seg)

  - Ends: MOV ES, [word_97BD9] (restores ES from global), POP regs, RETF

  - Called from cseg47+AC (`sub_6CAD0`)

- **Data tables** follow the function:

  - 6-byte entries (lookup table at +8Bh to +AFh)

  - Byte sequence 80h-BFh (character mapping table)

  - Sparse data extending to end of segment

- **1 relocation:** The `MOV ES, word_97BD9` at the end references dseg81 (auto data segment)

### 35. First Assembly Build -- SUCCESSFUL (April 2, 2026)

`BUILD_XW.BAT` ran in DOSBox-X. All 12 ASM files assembled with MASM 6.11d:

| File | OBJ Size | Segment | Content |

|------|----------|---------|---------|

| SEG02.OBJ | 73B | SEG02_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG10.OBJ | 73B | SEG10_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG26.OBJ | 73B | SEG26_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG27.OBJ | 73B | SEG27_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG28.OBJ | 73B | SEG28_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG59.OBJ | 73B | SEG59_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG61.OBJ | 73B | SEG61_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG66.OBJ | 73B | SEG66_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG67.OBJ | 73B | SEG67_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG68.OBJ | 73B | SEG68_TEXT 'CODE' | 1-byte stub (0xCC) |

| SEG31.OBJ | 102B | SEG31_TEXT 'CODE' | 25B: 4 tiny FAR procs |

| SEG60.OBJ | 101B | SEG60_TEXT 'CODE' | 24B: FAR CALL thunk |

**OBJ verification:** Hex dump confirms segment names (`SEG02_TEXT`, class `CODE`) and

correct data bytes (e.g., SEG31.OBJ contains `CB CC CB CC 33 C0 CB F9 CB`).

**Bug fixed:** Original `BUILD_XW.BAT` used `for %%F in (...) do (...)` with `%%~nF`

modifiers -- these are Windows CMD features, not available in DOSBox's COMMAND.COM.

Fixed by replacing FOR loops with individual ML commands.

### Phase 4 -- Way Forward

**Segment reconstruction order (81 total segments to build):**

| Priority | Segments | Count | Size | Strategy |

|----------|----------|-------|------|----------|

| **P1 DONE** | 2,10,26,27,28,31,59,60,61,66,67,68 | 12 | 86B |

| **P2 NEXT** | 38, 39 | 2 | 7,768B | db dump command tables (0

| **P3** | 36 | 1 | 2,149B | Bootstrap from XY4 seg021 (88% match, 1 reloc) |

| **P4** | 73-81 | 9 | 206,202B | DATA segments -- db/dw/dd dumps from original |

| **P5** | 63, 57, 41, 23, 33, 58, 56, 40, 43 | 9 | ~20KB | Small ASM/CODE segs (<4KB) |

| **P6** | 35, 64, 3, 5, 8, 21, 30, 48 | 8 | ~36KB | Medium ASM

| **P7** | 11, 13, 14, 19, 37, 44, 47, 49, 53, 54 | 10 | ~105KB

| **P8** | 7, 9, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 42, 50, 51, 62 | 11 | ~108KB | Mixed C+ASM segs |

| **P9** | 1, 4, 6, 12, 18, 22, 25, 29, 32, 33, 34, 45, 46, 52,

| **P10** | 69, 70, 71, 72 | 4 | 74KB | PRELOAD C segs (entry point, CRT, app init) |