Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match For Mac

This site is my attempt to collect every single version of each Infocom game, both source code and compiled game files. I have labelled each package with release and serial number information where possible. (Infocom serial numbers were a timestamp of the compilation date, which is very useful for reconstructing the development sequence.)

  • Guessing it’ll never happen though. Man my Stream library went from like 200 Mac games to 30 😞 At least Blizzard updates their games, even if they won’t release Overwatch, and id’s are open source and 64-bit for ages. Otherwise leaning into Crossover 19 but still clunky and brittle compared to real Mac versions.
  • Feb 12, 2020 Empires & Puzzles: Tips and Tricks for Beginners. Empires & Puzzles might seem like a simple Match-3 release, but the developers at Small Giant Games have taken this genre one step further by adding RPG and base-building elements.
  • Venture into the Dragon Portal and help Mila save the world! Inventive match-3 puzzle gameplay in a world full of wonder and style. REVIEWS 'A phenomenal puzzler that fires up match-three gameplay with inventive new mechanics and wonderful sense of style' - PocketGamer.co.uk - GOLD AWARD 'Solid match-three puzzle concept.
  • Originally released in 1993, Myst was recently revamped for the Mac, so that you can explore the open world of Myst Island and its Ages in a gloriously rebuilt environment. The world is completely interactive, and you'll have to discover and solve puzzles to find books containing access to all of the Ages.

Jason Scott began this process in April of 2019, when he posted a large collection of Infocom source code on GitHub. Source code and compiled files, in fact.

This was tremendously exciting to fans and scholars of old-school text adventures. This material was known to be out there in private collections, but it had never been publicly available in this form.

Swap eso for final fantasy 14 and this is a solid list. Continue this thread. Apple will of course eventually be transitioning the Mac Pro to ARM (probably the very last model to switch), and with the disaster of the trashcan Mac Pro still fresh in their minds, they must know the new model will need to.

Jason's collections are excellent, but they are an edited extract from one source: the so-called 'Infocom Drive'. They omit some published variations, beta-tests, and so on. I figure it's good to have every Infocom game file variation in one place.

Nonetheless, let me be clear: this site would not exist without Jason Scott's efforts. Thank you, Jason! Also thanks to Beaux Hemmer for maintaining the patch collection. Thanks to Torbjörn Andersson for enthusiastic help tracking down more versions and info on them. And, of course, thanks to the Implementors who created these games in the first place.

Update, December 2019: Another cleaned-up source collection has been posted by Adam Sommerfield.

Disclaimer

These are proprietary documents. The copyright rests with Activision. Mind you, Activision certainly doesn't have the development tools or the expertise to compile this source code any more. Quite likely they don't even have the source code any more. If it weren't for private collectors passing it around, this material would be entirely lost.

Like Jason, I believe that the historical value of these documents to the IF community outweighs the rights of the legal owner. As I wrote in April, copyright is a balance. Activision has not commented on the matter.

Differences from the GitHub release

The GitHub repositories structure the source code as a sequence of commits, showing the development process. This site packages each source directory separately.

This site includes game files collected from original game releases. These have historically been collected as 'patch files'. This was a legal figleaf; it allowed a user to transform a legally-owned game file into a different version, without actually distributing copies of each version. I have used those transforms to recreate all known game file versions.

Several of the GitHub repositories contain a common error: an old source file is sometimes not deleted in newer commits. For example, the Zork 2 source contains 'crufty.zil' in r22 and r48, but this file has been removed in r63. The GitHub zork2 repo fails to delete it. This site avoids that error.

The GitHub repos omit personal email and individual developers' comments found in the source collection. This site does too; I followed Jason's example in this matter. It is not my intent to expose private communication, even thirty years after the fact.

However, I have included a few files that Jason omitted, primarily 'browsie/feelie' manuscripts intended for the game package.

On Z-code and ZIL

The game files collected here are Z-code files, which may be played with any Z-code interpreter. The source packages contain ZIL source code and associated files.

I have not attempted to collect Infocom's interpreters. Extracting the interpreter binaries from the original disks (for each platform) would be fairly easy. Infocom's interpreter source has not been preserved, with one exception: the assembly source for their TRS-80 (Tandy) CoCo interpreter. (Thanks to Brian Moriarty, Carlos Camacho, and John Linville.)

Z-code files come in various versions. Infocom referred to these as 'zip' (version 3), 'ezip (version 4), 'xzip' (version 5), and 'yzip' (version 6). They used the '.zip' file suffix for all of these; the version is distinguished by the first byte of the game file. These days, '.zip' is a compression format, so we tag files as '.z3', '.z4', '.z5', '.z6'.

This collection also includes a few '.z1' and '.z2' files recovered from very early releases of Zork 1. These have nonstandard serial numbers.

(In 1995, Graham Nelson proposed '.z7' and '.z8' as simple modifications to support larger game files. The Inform compiler and most modern interpreters support these versions. See the Z-code specification.)

Extracting the version, release, and serial number from a Z-code file is easy. I use this little Python script: zcanalyze.py.

Compiling ZIL source code into a game file requires more effort. Infocom's original ZIL compiler has been recovered, but only in a very early version (circa 1981; see below). However, ZILF is an open-source ZIL compiler which is under active development.

Some notes on the files

Despite the title of this page, it is not a complete collection! We have what's been recovered. In particular, there's no guarantee that the 'most current' source corresponds to a final release.

All of the source packages contain source (.zil) files. Some also contain temporary files in various stage of compilation (.zap, .zabstr). Some contain compilation reports, design documents, or other related files. It's just a question of what was found in the source archive.

Release numbers are not always sequential. Infocom tended to reset the release number sequence after beta/gamma testing was over, or at other major development milestones. The serial number dates are more reliable, except where they've been obviously zeroed out.

It is perhaps amusing to learn that the 'Solid Gold' editions (z5 re-releases with built-in invisiclues) were labelled as the 'cheap' releases during development.

Games with sound (Sherlock, Lurking Horror) and graphics (most z6 games) may or may not include the media files in the source directory. The game files never include media. Even if present in the source, these files are probably not in a form that a modern interpreter can understand. See this page for portable versions of these media files.

A few game files are modified for the Macintosh. According to the internal notes, the modifications are 'special flags' on certain objects. This apparently refers to setting the fixed-width font for descriptions with ASCII art. Infocom's Mac interpreter required this; it was the only one of its kind that defaulted to variable-width font display. (Most modern interpreters do.)

Source comment on the Mac versions:

The following is a list of changeds specifically for the Mac version:

SEASTALKER -- Special flags set on Sonarscope, control panel in sub and control panel in Bly's office.

ZORK2 -- Special flags set on magic well etching (top and bottom), Label on candied insects and stone cube in bank vault.

ZORK3 -- Special flags set on Royal puzzle and bronze plaque in cage.

ENCHANTER -- Special flags set on Translucent maze map, sign on path to brook and on fireworks for Filfre scroll.

SUSPENDED -- Special flags set on all three monitors: 1) Weather, 2) Hydroponics 3) Transit.

INFIDEL -- Special flags set for Hieroglyphs: bottom of stairs, scarab, book of dead, page in book of dead, beam, scroll in forward cabin, opening in top of pyramid, stone cube, bricks, recessed panel, west end of passage, north antechamber, south antechamber, room of Nephthys, Isis, Selkis, Neith, narrow hallway, cube room, cube south part, silver room, gold room, skeleton in room.

Z-code game files are sometimes found with zeroes or garbage data padded on the end. This does not affect the game behavior. I have generally ignored these variations. I've also ignored variations in byte 1 of the game file; these represent interpreter variations from different platforms, not game differences.

The patches archive contains several game files whose serial numbers are blank or nonsensical. These are always minor modifications of other game files, typically with only the serial number (and checksum) altered. We assume these are 'crack' versions modified by users. I have included them regardless, as their dates are unknown; they may be contemporary with the original releases.

The patches archive also includes a set of game files which have been modified to bypass Infocom's 'feelie' copy protection. I have omitted these, as they definitely postdate Infocom (they were released circa 1999). The feelie data is of course well-archived in any case.

Original Zork, MDL version

The 'mainframe' version of Zork/Dungeon, created at MIT between 1977 and 1979. This package, unlike the others on this site, is written in MDL.

Zork-MDL has been available for some time. (It was posted on Bob Supnik's web site in 2003, perhaps earlier. Ports to Fortran and C are also easily findable.) I include it here because, well, it's Zork.

Four versions of the source, labelled according to the 'US NEWS & DUNGEON REPORT' date (see dung.mud; note that the 1979 version shows inconsistent dates). The 1981 version says 'no longer being supported' and refers players to the commercial Infocom release.

Several runnable versions have been recovered from MIT tapes. These are available at the ITS project. I have not mirrored the executable files, because they're only executable inside ITS (running on an emulated PDP-10). See this post for a list of Zork versions found. Visit the project page for information on setting up ITS; or telnet its.pdp10.se 10003 to try it online.

You can try the ITS environment online! Telnet to its.pdp10.se, port 10003 (telnet its.pdp10.se 10003). When it says 'Connected..', hit ctrl-Z. Then type :login yourname. (Any name will work.) Then type :zork to play. :advent is also available; that's the original Crowther version. You can also try :games;adv350 and :games;adv448.

It is worth noting that the 1977-78 versions introduce themselves by saying 'Welcome to Dungeon'; the 1979-81 versions say 'Welcome to Zork'. Of course the 'Dungeon' versions still mention 'Zork' in many places within the game.

Sources:

  • zorkmdl-r771212.zip -- From this historical repo.
  • zorkmdl-r780124.zip -- From this historical repo.
  • zorkmdl-r791211.zip -- From this historical repo.
  • zorkmdl-r810722.zip -- From Bob Supnik.

Game files:

  • https://github.com/PDP-10/its/ -- ITS emulator; see above.

ZIL

An early version of Infocom's ZIL compiler, written in MDL. The files are dated no later than early 1981; most are 1979-1980. This version includes both the compiler (ZILCH) and assembler (ZAP) stages.

This source was originally archived at https://github.com/PDP-10/its-vault (the twenex/zork directory) by Lars Brinkhoff. See also the standalone repository at https://github.com/PDP-10/zil.

The documentation has been gathered from the Internet Archive, the collection at frobnitz.co.uk, and other sources. Note that .rno is Runoff and .fwf is Scribe, two venerable markup languages for document formatting.

Sources:

Documentation:

  • zil.doc -- Infocom document giving a quick summary of the ZIL language; undated.
  • zil-course.fwf -- Infocom document on writing games with ZIL, written Oct 1982 by Marc Blank.
  • Learning_ZIL_Meretzky_1995.pdf -- Infocom document on writing games with ZIL, written 1989 by Steve Meretzky.
  • zip-xzip-yzip-1989.pdf -- Infocom document describing the Z-machine.
  • spec-zip.rno -- Z-machine spec V3, written Dec 13 1982, updated 1984.
  • spec-ezip.fwf -- Z-machine spec V4, written Oct 26 1984, updated 1985.
  • spec-xzip.fwf -- Z-machine spec V5, written Oct 22 1986.
  • spec-yzip.txt -- Z-machine spec V6, written Nov 30 1988, updated 1989.

ZAP

We have two standalone versions of the ZAP assembler, one early and one late.

The first is written in the MIDAS assembly language for the PDP-10. This version is dated Jan 7 1982. It was found within the minizork-r2 source directory (see below).

The second is written in C and dated March 1988. The comments say 'Zinn Computer Company, for Infocom', implying that the work was outsourced. The directory includes .o and executable binaries, presumably in Sun architecture (the directory was labelled 'sun'). From this historical repo. (A handful of other utilities are included, including zsplit, zglue, zspix, and zsymtest. These appear to have to do with packaging game files onto disk for specific platforms.)

A third, earlier version can be found as part of the ZIL source repository above. This is MDL code dated 'Jan 18 1980'. I'm not sure if it can be run independently of the rest of the ZIL toolset.

Sources:

  • zap.mid -- MIDAS, dated Jan 7 1982.
  • zap-sun.zip -- C, dated Mar 1988.

Documentation:

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Zork 1

Collector's note:

The Zork I Release 2 game file was extracted from a self-booting, copy-protected TRS-80 Model I disk. The disk itself was not an original and did not come with a label or packaging, but it seems to have been the early Personal Software release.

Sources:

Game files:

  • zork1-r2-sAS000C.z1 -- See note above.
  • zork1-r15-sXXXXXX.z2 -- Labelled 'Hack of 15.UG3AU5'. It differs only in the effaced serial number.

Zork 2

Sources:

Game files:

Zork 3

Sources:

Game files:

Starcross

Sources:

Game files:

  • starcross-r17-sXXXXXX.z3 -- Differs from r17 s821021 only in the effaced serial number.

Deadline

Sources:

Game files:

Enchanter

Sources:

Game files:

  • enchanter-r15-s999999.z3 -- Differs from r15 s831107 only in the effaced serial number.

Suspended

Sources:

  • suspended-rlater.zip -- No game file for the most current source.

Game files:

  • suspended-r5-sXXXXXX.z3 -- Differs from r5 s830222 only in the effaced serial number.
  • suspended-alt-r8-s840521.z3 -- This appears to differ from the Mac version only in a text encoding error: 'The breathing of the mechanisms has becomeIrrenothing lar..' It may be the result of a disk read error.

Planetfall

Sources:

Game files:

Infidel

We have two game files labelled r22, Mac and non-Mac. Neither of them seems to correspond to the most current source. (E.g.: the source mentions InvisiClues if you type HELP, but none of the game files contain that line.) I've labelled the current source 'infidel-rlater' for lack of better information.

Sources:

Game files:

The Witness

Sources:

Game files:

Sorcerer

Sources:

Game files:

  • sorcerer-beta-r67-s000000.z3 -- From the patch archive; the serial number has been effaced but without correcting the checksum. The $verify command therefore fails.
  • sorcerer-beta-r67-s831208.z3 -- Pre-release, labelled 'sorcerer.beta'.
  • sorcerer-gamma-r85-s840106.z3 -- Pre-release, labelled 'sorcerer.gamma'.

Hitchhiker's Guide

Sources:

Game files:

  • hitchhiker-beta1-r108-s840809.z3 -- Test version, labelled 'beta1.zip'.
  • hitchhiker-beta2-r119-s840822.z3 -- Test version, labelled 'beta2.zip'.
  • hitchhiker-r42-s850323.z3 -- A hack of r56 with both the serial number and release (42, sure pal) changed. This is a rare example of a dateable user hack.

Suspect

We have two version of the r18 game file. They are identical except for an internal serial number (189 or 190), which is displayed if you type $VERIFY 1949.

Sources:

Game files:

  • suspect-r14-s000000.z3 -- Hack, effaced serial number.
  • suspect-atari-r14-s841005.z3 -- Variant r14 game file for Atari.

Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match For Mac Pro

Seastalker

Many game file variations tagged with platform names ('tandy', 'coco', etc). This is no doubt due to the difficulties of making the sonar display (status window) work across different screen sizes.

Sources:

Game files:

Cutthroats

Sources:

Game files:

Spellbreaker

Sources:

Game files:

  • spellbreaker-r63-sXXXXXX.z3 -- Appears to be based on r63 s850916 with the serial number effaced, but the data differs beginning at address 0x1CF00. The file does not appear to run correctly.
Mac

A Mind Forever Voyaging

Note that many source files were deleted between r79 and the 'rlater' version, so the GitHub repo error is particularly noticeable.

Sources:

  • amfv-rlater.zip -- No game file for the most current source.

Game files:

  • amfv-first-r1-s841226.z3 -- Test version, labelled 'first.zip'.
  • amfv-prealpha-r47-s850313.z4 -- Test version, labelled 'prealpha.zip'.
  • amfv-fullalpha-r84-s850516.z4 -- Test version, labelled 'fullalpha.zip'.
  • amfv-gamma-r131-s850628.z4 -- Test version, labelled 'gamma.zip'.

Wishbringer

Sources:

  • wishbringer-invclues-rearlier.zip -- An early stage of the InvisiClues release. This contains the hints text (as hints.zil) but otherwise is nearly the same as the r69 source.

Game files:

  • wishbringer-rX165-s880609.z3 -- The release number is 32933 (165 with the high bit set). This fails with memory errors in modern interpreters. It may be a compilation failure or an intermediate compilation stage.

Ballyhoo

Sources:

Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match For Mac X

Game files:

Trinity

Sources:

Game files:

  • trinity-alpha-r1-s851202.z4 -- Alpha test version.
  • trinity-beta-r1-s860221.z4 -- Beta test version.
  • trinity-beta-r14-s860313.z4 -- Beta test version 'for James Hayes'.

Moonmist

Sources:

Game files:

  • moonmist-beta-r65-s86082X.z3 -- Labelled 'beta' in the patch archive. The high release number supports this assumption. This version was reconstructed from a damaged copy by Alessandro Giassi and Matthew Russotto. The serial number is inferred from a build list found with the source. See announcement.
  • moonmist-beta-r65-sXXXXXX.z3 -- The damaged version of the above 'beta' game file. This appears to have been corrupted after being copied and compressed with Dalton's Disk Disintegrator.

Hollywood Hijinx

Sources:

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  • hollywoodhijinx-rlater.zip -- No game file for the most current source.

Game files:

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

The patch archive contains two further hacks are which are identical to r59 s000001 except for release and serial; I have omitted these.

Sources:

Game files:

  • leathergoddesses-r0-sXXXXXX.z3 -- This is identical to r50 s860711 except for release and serial.
  • leathergoddesses-r59-s000001.z3 -- Another hack.
  • leathergoddesses-first-r1-s851008.z3 -- Testing version, 'first'.
  • leathergoddesses-alpha-r57-s860121.z3 -- Testing version, 'alpha'.
  • leathergoddesses-beta-r118-s860325.z3 -- Testing version, 'beta'.
  • leathergoddesses-gamma-r160-s860521.z3 -- Testing version, 'gamma'.

Beyond Zork

Sources:

Game files:

  • beyondzork-alpha-r1-s870412.z5 -- Testing version, 'alpha'.
  • beyondzork-beta-r1-s870715.z5 -- Testing version, 'beta'.

Stationfall

Mac

Unusually, we have full source code for the beta (r63) and gamma (r87) versions.

Sources:

  • stationfall-rlater.zip -- No game file for the most current source.

Game files:

Bureaucracy

Sources:

Game files:

Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It

Sources:

Game files:

Hanoi

The Lurking Horror

Sources:

Game files:

Plundered Hearts

Sources:

  • plunderedhearts-rlater.zip -- No game file for the most current source.

Game files:

Border Zone

Sources:

  • borderzone-rlater.zip -- No game file for the most current source.

Game files:

Sherlock

A conundrum, Watson. Four source directories appear. The base and -sound directories differ in only a few lines of zil. The -nosound directory has nosound.zil in place of gamesound.zil. The -ss directory is substantially different from the others; the header timestamps imply that it is an early development version. For what it's worth, the included version note says:

The SOUND version is the Release version. The NOSOUND version is currently NOT the release version but contains the Bob Bates updates that are in the SOUND version (without the sound code, of course).

Sources:

Game files:

Zork Zero

Many alpha and beta game files. Also two demo versions, which could be considered 'Mini-Zork Zero'.

Sources:

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Game files:

Journey

Note the early z5 version whose release number (46) is out of sequence. We have two source directories which appear to match this version. Originally this was one source directory containing '.zil' and '.beta' files; the '.beta' files are earlier, so I have moved them to a separate beta directory.

Sources:

Game files:

Shogun

Sources:

Game files:

Arthur

Sources:

  • arthur-rmid1.zip -- Source is intermediate between r41 and r74; no game file.
  • arthur-rmid2.zip -- Source is intermediate between r41 and r74; no game file.

Game files:

Mini-Zork 1

Sources:

Game files:

Mini-Zork 2

Torbjörn Andersson reports that this game file fails on modern interpreters when you exit the Carousel Room.

Sources:

Game files:

Infocom Sampler

The sampler appears to have gone through several combinations of games. r26-r55 contained samples of Zork 1, Planetfall, Infidel, and The Witness. r97 contained Zork, Trinity, and LGOP; but we find a parallel r8 which contains only Zork and Trinity, plus partial work on adding Ballyhoo. Comment from the r8 source:

This directory is for NSAMPLER stuff where all references to LGOP have been deleted. The XM4.* files are a stripped down Ballyhoo that could have possibly been inserted into XSAMPLER in place of LGOP, but wasn't. These files stand alone as a separate mini-game and would need to be integrated into XSAMPLER if ever used (when hell freezes over).

There's also a folder sampler-trinity, which appears to be a very partial tear-down (or build-up) of Trinity.

I have used the following labels:

  • sampler-1z: Tutorial plus Zork
  • sampler-3zpi: Tutorial plus Zork, Planetfall, Infidel
  • sampler-4zpiw: Tutorial plus Zork, Planetfall, Infidel, Witness
  • sampler-3ztl: Tutorial plus Zork, Trinity, LGOP
  • sampler-2zt: Tutorial plus Zork, Trinity.
  • sampler-1b: Ballyhoo.

Sources:

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Game files:

The Abyss

An incomplete and unreleased game by Bob Bates, based on the James Cameron movie.

Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match For Mac

Sources:

Game files:

Checkpoint

An incomplete and unreleased game by Stu Galley. Curiously, the game file 'spy.zip' originally found in this directory was not Checkpoint at all, but an early version of Journey.

Sources:

Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Very incomplete and unreleased. Two versions found.

Sources:

Game files:

Hypochondriac

An unfinished game by Tomas Bok. Bok worked for Infocom briefly before college (see this forum thread). Hypochondriac was a 'fun project' he was working on in his own time.

The source package is Bok's work directory, and contains several fragments of source code unrelated to Hypochondriac. Some of them (boot.zil, circuit.zil, maintenance.zil) are from an incomplete sci-fi game titled 'Search 'n Rescue'. Others are source files from Infocom games (Zork, LGOP, etc), modified while Bok was experimenting with ZIL.

Sources:

Game files:

ZilLib

This is the 'new parser' that Infocom developed around 1987, late in its history. Their earlier games were based on the ZIL parser developed for Zork 1, and then copied from game to game in an evolutionary sequence.

ZilLib was an attempt at a next-generation parser to go along with the next-generation (z6) Z-machine. See this article from Infocom's 1989 newsletter.

The source code for Zork Zero, Arthur, Shogun, Abyss, and Restaurant all refer to the zillib directory. (And the zillib/parser directory contains include files that refer back to them; e.g. 'parser.shogun'.)

Sources:

ZipTest

A regression test suite for Infocom's Z-code interpreters. No source code found.

Cached

Game files:

  • ziptest-r40-s840613.z3 -- Tests z3 ('zip').
  • ziptest-r13-s890619.z6 -- Tests z6 ('yzip').

Generic

This appears to be a template for creating a new game. It includes a parser, a couple of rooms, and a couple of stub objects. Three game files were found with various dates and Z-code versions.

Sources:

Game files:

Cataloged by Andrew Plotkin from sources atGitHuband elsewhere.

Last updated November 21, 2020.

Learning has never been so easy!

How to find an IP address when you have the MAC address of the device.

4 Steps total

Step 1: Open the command prompt

Click the Windows 'Start' button and select 'Run.' In the textbox, type 'cmd' and click the 'Ok' button. This opens a DOS prompt.

Step 2: Familiarize yourself with arp

Type 'arp' in the command prompt. This gives you a list of options to use with the arp command.

Step 3: List all MAC addresses

Type 'arp -a' in the command prompt. This lists a number of MAC addresses with the associated IP addresses. Since you have the MAC address, scroll down the list to find the associated IP address. The MAC address is shown in the 'Physical Address' column with the IP address in the 'Internet Address' column. An example of a table record is in Step 4.

Step 4: Evaluate results

The following is an example of ARP output. The first column is the IP address. The second column is the MAC address, and the third is the type of IP assigned--static or dynamic.

Internet address Physical Address Type

192.168.0.1 01-a3-56-b5-ff-22 static

Published: Jan 21, 2013 · Last Updated: Aug 03, 2017

References

  • How to Use a MAC Address to Find an IP Address

16 Comments

  • Datil
    Krizz Jan 21, 2013 at 10:36pm

    You've forgotten about one little thing: arp keeps mac<>ip association of recently contacted peers, so it's quite often not to find the mac<>ip association we're looking for, of machine that exists in the network. Prior to using arp -a it's wise to ping the host first.

  • Habanero
    Twon of An Jan 21, 2013 at 11:24pm

    Used in conjunction with ping (thanks Krizz), this is a good basic walk through. I can't go wrong with these steps!

  • Cayenne
    Syldra Jan 22, 2013 at 03:17pm

    I'm sorry but.. if the thing is to find the IP address from the MAC, how will you ping the host first ?

  • Serrano
    Enzeder Jan 22, 2013 at 04:37pm

    I thought the aim of this exercise was to FIND an IP address. Doesn't using PING imply you already know the IP (or hostname) which makes ARP redundant? How do you PING a MAC?

    Assuming no IP or hostname info, I have used a portscanner (like LanSpy or Zenmap) to get MAC > IP info. Currently my preferred method if the device isn't listed in Spiceworks :-)

    There was a time when I was a baby admin and I didn't want to raise alarms by installing a scanner that I wrote a batch file (yes, that long ago) that PINGed every IP on a subnet, then immediately ran ARP redirecting output to a text file. But that depends on the device in question being set to respond to PING requests.

  • Pimiento
    christian.mcghee Dec 23, 2013 at 03:47am

    This does not work for any host on the other side of a router. Any hosts on the other side of the router will show the routers MAC address.

  • Serrano
    @Greg Mar 11, 2014 at 03:11pm

    I realize this is an old topic, but someone like myself may be looking for an answer. I became admin of a network with little over 200 devices, which none of the cabling was mapped. I was told I was responsible for the cabling, so I began looking for a way other than toning out all the cables. I was fortunate to have Cisco switches and Windows Server 2008. I was able to use the Cisco Network Assistant to grab MAC addresses and the port number, then in DHCP on the Server 2008 I could find the MAC and corresponding IP. Furthermore I could also get the computer name from DHCP and correlate that to which user was on the machine using PDQ inventory to see who was logged in to the machine. Most of this of course depends on the devices being in use. I've been able to create an accurate map of about 90% of my network without touching the cables.

  • Pimiento
    christopherblouch Jun 4, 2014 at 05:08pm

    I am interested in this thread, hopefully someone can help. There are 4 types of arp message: arp request, arp reply, rarp request, rarp reply. So, that being said, is it possible to manually send a rarp request? Sort of a arp based ping?There is arping, but we need rarping.. if it exists. Of course, I understand that I can't arp outside my default gateway, but if there is a rarp request, how is it used inside the local network? Thanks to whatever guru can explain what we're missing.

  • Serrano
    Maxwell Brotherwood Jul 18, 2014 at 10:07am

    Great for finding an IP if you have the MAC address.

    My instance where I found this useful was after updating the firmware on a switch remotely via TFTP, the IP of the switch would change (making pinging redundant, obviously). Trying a network scan over Spiceworks or rescanning the single device would not update the IP and I needed an alternate way to find it.

    This method worked perfectly. Thank you. Hopefully this helps those trying to understand the purpose of this practice and how it was in-fact useful.

  • Pimiento
    robertrobinson2 Aug 4, 2014 at 04:30pm

    I understand the issues in attempting to use a MAC address to locate a device from outside of its local network.
    What puzzles me is how Honeywell Total Connect does this with their WiFi connected thermostats. The hardware configuration is: a Honeywell WiFi thermostat that is WiFi connected to a Netgear N600 router which uses DHCP to assign an IP adddress. The router is connected to Comcast with a Motorola SB6120 modem. Comcast assigns a system wide (dynamic) IP. There is no static IP.
    On initial setup, a WiFi connection is first established between the thermostat and the router. The thermostat's MAC and CRC and a username and password are entered into the Total Connect software setup. It is then possible to read or set thermostat values using Total Connect Web pages.
    I know how to do this with a static IP or a DNS service that automatically tracks changes in dynamic IP addresses.
    Does anyone understand how this works with Total Connect?

  • Tabasco
    Joe979 Sep 4, 2014 at 01:05pm

    This post was extremely helpful, thanks itdownsouth :) I used show interface to find MAC addresses on our switches (reason for this is poor network documentation and mis-labeled switchports and wall jacks..). I took the MAC addresses that I could not locate the hosts or ip addresses for, ran arp -a to list the address<>mac list, then one by one, nbtstat -A for each IP address I matched a MAC to from the unlabeled ports. Tedious, but found 5 or 6 now (seeing hexadecimal thoughts now though..).

  • Tabasco
    Joe979 Sep 4, 2014 at 01:12pm

    By the way, the reason this is working great for me is the lack of routers -- all switches, so if you have only one subnet like we do, this will do -- otherwise, you will probably need to login to the router or switch on the other side of the router to find MAC address tables on the other networks. You may not be able to see them all on the local host, as far as arp -a on the local host, but looking up the arp or hosts tables on switches and routers could be a possible solution for those with multiple subnets.

  • Jalapeno
    Jay196 Oct 21, 2014 at 03:28pm

    Use SuperScan to do a bulk ping of the entire network range. SuperScan 3 (I recommend) is a free tool by McAfee.

    Then use arp -a Find '5c-d9-98' to get for example all ping nodes with a manufacturer of Asus.

  • Datil
    WealthyEmu Mar 25, 2015 at 07:55pm

    There's also this:

    http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/

    It should be able to find most devices on the network. You can specify the range to scan and scan across subnets. I won't try to share all the features because quite frankly I don't know them all.

  • Pimiento
    amiruli Jul 4, 2015 at 10:18am

    If you want you can ping the broadcast address to ping everyone on the network then do arp -a

  • Pimiento
    chrisdahlkvist Nov 23, 2015 at 09:56am

    @RobertRobinson I'm the lead designer and project manager on the Honeywell systems.

    I can tell you exactly how I designed it. It's actually quite simple. Nothing is sent back to the unit. The unit is allowed access to the Internet via your setup and the router. As long as the unit has permission to make an outbound connection it will work. What happens is the unit makes a report to the server. If it needs to make a request then it gives the server a unique key. The server puts any needed data in an xml (readable) and the thermostat (or quite a few other devices) hits that URL a few seconds later (the device told the server where it would pick up that info).

    All your device needs is a simple read-only connection to the outside world. No need to download anything.
    It's a VERY simple process that I developed back in 1992 when the Interwebs were still pretty new to most people. There were many processes built off of this simple idea (it was pretty cutting edge when I first designed it). Store and forward, offline browsing, push technology, etc. all are based on this simple technology.

    Am I rich? Not even close. I was working on my PhD at the time and was hired by Honeywell to implement my design. I literally gave it away to the general public as is right.

    I hope that clears it up for you. If not, feel free to contact me for more information.

    Chris Dahlkvist
    chris@usarf.org

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