Akin to an expansion of the UNIX file command.
It would listed known machine code(s) encountered at least within 4 bytes (in probability order).
Good times, good times.
(oh, sadly, not open source, but proprietary; I still do wish I could release this gem.)
It can also breakdown the file in question by regions and group such data content into most probable types … for each region.
As to its final application, that is not in my contract/task description.
10 or 20 years ago, when reverse engineering any unknown file it was a good to assume it was no compressed and you could get some insight looking at the hex editor and hopping the best. Now many are compressed, so a good first step is to change the extension to .zip and try WinRar (or look for a header if you are not lazy).
I assume that with compressed code you can use the same strategy. Try to assume it's using a well known compression algorithm, and crossing your fingers.
And, of course, upx.
I wrote about the Diablos and their multi-axis realtime motion control here [1]. The good stuff about the hacking starts just over halfway down the page, "the Diablo proprietary processor."
HN has honored me in past by recognizing other items on the site, such as "One-Bit Computing at 60 Hertz" [2] and "the KK Computer - a radical 6502 redesign" [3].
[1]https://laughtonelectronics.com/oldsite/comm_mfg/commercial_... [2]https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/One-bit%20computer/On... [3]https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/KimKlone/Kimklone_sho...
I suspect the Anonymous author might have gotten a tip or two from a friendly Transmeta hardware or software engineer.
