[SOLVED] Convert Windows .dat to Linux

stockton · 02-08-2016, 05:44 AM

I have received a file from a Windows server that in Linux hexedit shows the following first few characters.
AA 18 3C 2B 60 56 03 00 00 01 01 00
The Windows program may have received this via RS232.
I need to "understand" this on a Linux machine.
Please suggest where I may start decoding this?

pan64 · 02-08-2016, 05:49 AM

do you have any kind of information about its content? Is this an executable, a document or whatever ???

michaelk · 02-08-2016, 06:14 AM

In addition there isn't a standard RS-232 communication protocol. Without knowing anything about where it came from there isn't anyway for us to decode it.

stockton · 02-08-2016, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pan64

do you have any kind of information about its content? Is this an executable, a document or whatever ???

I am supposed to read this file and create a spreadsheet from it, that would therefore probably qualify it as a document.

pan64 · 02-08-2016, 06:28 AM

first, you can try the command file to catch the file type. Next you will need to specify its original format (word, html, cvs, json, whatever ??)

michaelk · 02-08-2016, 06:52 AM

From the data provided it isn't a standard document file like Microsoft Word, Excel or look like a simple text file. It just looks like a binary data file. Assuming ASCII data it would convert to the following. The .. are unprintable characters.

Code:

AA 18 3C 2B 60 56 03 00 00 01 01 00
.. .. <  +  `  V  .. .. .. .. .. ..

jefro · 02-08-2016, 09:29 PM

How does this window user access this type of file?