WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

[inflex]

There's file format called "Teboview" with an extension .tvw, and I've noticed some Lenovo laptop boards are using it.

I would like to write a decoder for the format for OpenBoardview but thus far, naturally, I've not found any useful specification on the internet. I've downloaded TeboView-ICT but unfortunately it also doesn't provide a lot of information about the technical information for each part/net/etc.

I've decoded a moderate amount of the file format but I would *really* appreciate it if anyone could drop a file format spec accidentally

There's at least one 3rd party program out there that can decode it that I know of but I'm not sure how they got the spec and it's unlikely they're going to share it.

As an alternative, if anyone has some *small* TVW files they'd like to share, that might provide me a smaller search space to decode the puzzle.

Most of the files I have now are 1MB+, something simpler more along the lines of 100K would be vastly preferred

[mon2]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

hi. attached are a few small filesize tvw files.

Adding another boardviewer that can support the tvw format. Extract and launch the executable from within the same folder as it makes use of the dll files.

https://we.tl/t-e8KqK8jigX

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

hi. attached are a few small filesize tvw files.

Many thanks for that ... definitely a nice improvement to only have 1/10th the volume of data to dig through.

Hopefully I can decipher the trickery they're using (I'm sure there's a real reason for it).

It would be great if we could find something like a simple 2-layer board with only a couple of components on it. Not sure how or who generates tvw files but if it's possible, creating very simple boards is often a good way to start the decoding process too.

Many thanks again mon2.

[SMDFlea]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Can you post an example of what youve decoded already,what should we be looking for

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

I've created a github project for this reverse-engineering task

https://github.com/inflex/teboviewfomat

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

ahem... I mean https://github.com/inflex/teboviewformat

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Oh, Pascal strings everywhere :-)

Looking at the 3 example files, and counting strings with backslashes inside, it seems to me the 4th value in the header after all the strings should be the layer count.

I started writing a python parser, not much else to see yet.

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Managed to get TeboView to run under WINE. But it's 5am so I should sleep some hours first.

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Managed to get TeboView to run under WINE. But it's 5am so I should sleep some hours first.

You can also try running "Boardviewer" which can decode the tvw file format, and might be doing a more simplified decoding process

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

What's with this "nail" thing that's always -1 anyway?

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

I'll be pushing what I have here, not much for now.

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

I'll be pushing what I have here, not much for now.

Thanks for that, would you be also able to comment with some sort of breakdown of the structure you're decoding in addition to the python decoder, ie;

headerformat:

bytes / length | description
------------------------------------------


I'll update it on my file format description text so you can get an idea of the format; that way at least if it's documented it's easier for everyone to implement in their own script/language

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Trying to write a format table for these types of very dynamic (length) structures is frustrating. I'll try write something with more clarity

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Yeah it's just trying stuff out for now.

[inflex]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

I've updated the fileformat description document with what I'm trying to achieve

PART entry:
type/details	| description
----------------------------------------
string		part name
int32		bounding box minimum x
int32		bounding box minimum y
int32		bounding box max x
int32		bounding box max y
int32		center x
int32		center y
int32		rotation (degrees)
uint32		unknown (132)
uint32		unknown (0)
uint32		unknown (1417)
uint8		unknown (1)
string		metadata about part (100K etc)
int16		unknown
string		package name (case insensitive)
string		unknown, possible UID
uint32		unknown (0)
uint32		pincount
uint32		unknown (2)
PINS			Array of pins


PIN entry:
type/details	| description
----------------------------------------
uint32		networkID/map entry 
uint32		unknown (0)
uint32		integer pin index (1-based, ie, 1, 2, 3...n)
string		pin name (1, 2, 3 etc for small parts, or AA42, B24 etc for BGA)
uint32		unknown (0)

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

Looking at the SOLDERMASK_TOP layer, the first part is actually a shape dictionary, with bounds and other things like radius, then there must be a list of them with the coordinates, since some shapes are identical.

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

For some reason Boardviewer complains it doesn't have Mono despite mono-complete being installed…

[mon2]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

@mmu, try this Boardviewer:

https://we.tl/t-Gs3ZMzhbWY

[SMDFlea]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

It is in dot net. Theres a good app for windows called dotPEEK that might help to decompile part of it

[mmu]

Re: WANTED: Teboview / TVW file format specification to write OpenBoardview decoder

@mmu, try this Boardviewer:

https://we.tl/t-Gs3ZMzhbWY

Thanks, this one runs, but doesn't help much.
The decompiled version doesn't have much info, just tons of hex :-)