>> Is it likely to be EBCDIC, and does anyone know any way I can convert the
>> data payloads in the packets "on the fly".
EBCDIC. Ugh.
The Hacker's Dictionary/Jargon file has a very good entry under EBCDIC,
which I will quote here:
EBCDIC
: /eb's*-dik/, /eb'see`dik/, or /eb'k*-dik/ n. [abbreviation, Extended
Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code] An alleged character set used
on IBM dinosaurs. It exists in at least six mutually incompatible
versions, all featuring such delights as non-contiguous letter
sequences and the absence of several ASCII punctuation characters
fairly important for modern computer languages (exactly which
characters are absent varies according to which version of EBCDIC
you're looking at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from punched card code in the
early 1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic (see
connector conspiracy), spurning the already established ASCII
standard. Today, IBM claims to be an open-systems company, but IBM's
own description of the EBCDIC variants and how to convert between them
is still internally classified top-secret,
burn-before-reading. Hackers blanch at the very *name* of EBCDIC and
consider it a manifestation of purest evil. See also fear and
loathing.
> There used to be a C function atoebcdic (or something like that) like
> atoi(3) however I can't see it around anywhere either.
Howard needs an ebcdictoa.
The only program I ever heard of that did conversions was dd, you give
it the flag conv=ascii to convert from ebcdic to ascii. It should
work "on the fly" in a pipeline.
Better still use the perl as suggested by Rodos.
Cheers,
Stuart.
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