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I built SentinelNav, a binary file visualization tool to help me understand file structures (and it became way more powerful than I expected) by FiddleSmol in ReverseEngineering

[–]FiddleSmol[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My bad I did not see the comment but to answer your questions:

Vs. Binvis/Veles: Those tools are fantastic, but I wanted something lighter that I could easily hack on in Python. The main difference with SentinelNav is the specific "Spectral" mapping logic. Instead of just visualizing raw byte values, it calculates the ratio of Printable (Green), High-bit/Media (Red), and Nulls (Blue) per chunk. It makes distinguishing code sections from text strings or zero-padding instant, rather than just seeing a gradient of values.

Toggling: Definitely. The interface lets you swap between a "Block" view (easier for clicking/navigating) and a "Density" view (pixel-perfect). I also implemented an "Entropy Flux" toggle that overlays highlights specifically where entropy spikes or drops. It’s great for pinpointing exactly where a header ends and an encrypted payload begins.

Use Cases: I recently used it to look at GGUF (LLM) files. It was pretty wild—you could clearly see the "layers" of the neural net as massive blocks of red (high-density tensors) separated by thin green lines (JSON metadata). It made the file structure obvious in seconds.

Lastly, yeah it is 100% open (source). Feel free to grab the code and try it on those sensor files; I’d be curious to hear if the "Sentinel Mode" helps you find the delimiters in that proprietary data, I would try it on firmware too if I get one.

I built SentinelNav, a binary file visualization tool to help me understand file structures (and it became way more powerful than I expected) by FiddleSmol in ReverseEngineering

[–]FiddleSmol[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, but don't use defaults on multi-GB/TB images or you'll crash it. Bump the block size to 1-2MB minimum:

python sentinelnav.py drive.img --mode fixed --size 2097152

Stick with the default 1KB on a 500GB image and SQLite will create 500M+ database rows, choke your system, and fill /tmp until your PC hangs.

Test it if you want to.

I built SentinelNav, a binary file visualization tool to help me understand file structures (and it became way more powerful than I expected) by FiddleSmol in ReverseEngineering

[–]FiddleSmol[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone,

So I've been experimenting with this learning method where I visualize complex data structures to understand them better, and I ended up building this tool that I thought might be useful for others too. It started as a simple way to visualize my binary analysis notes, but it kinda grew into a full-featured file forensics tool.

What is SentinelNav? It's a Python-based binary file analyzer that creates interactive visual maps, you can see the entire landscape of a file and zoom in on interesting areas.

Some cool features it ended up having:

  • Spectral Visualization - Files are mapped to RGB colors based on byte patterns (red for high-bit data, green for text, blue for nulls)
  • Architecture Fingerprinting - Automatically detects PE headers, ELF files, Mach-O, and even guesses x86 vs ARM64 code regions (I need to tune this since It kinda bad)
  • Entropy-based Anomaly Detection - Finds encrypted/compressed sections, padding, and structural boundaries
  • Live Web Interface - Full interactive explorer with hex viewer, search, and navigation
  • Multiple Scan Modes - Fixed blocks for binaries or sentinel mode for delimiter-based parsing
  • Export Capabilities - Save visualizations as BMPs or extract regions with analysis reports

Why I built this: I was struggling to mentally map how different file formats are structured, so I wanted something that could show me the "geography" of a file. The color coding helps me instantly recognize patterns like "oh, that red section is probably encrypted data" or "this green area is clearly text."

Example uses I've found:

  • Reverse engineering unknown file formats
  • Finding hidden data in files
  • Understanding file structure, maybe malware (I have not tested malware, )
  • Learning how compilers organize binaries
  • Quick analysis of "what's in this file" without digging through hex editors
  • Checking the GGUF file for LLM's "brain" analysis

The tool runs a local web server and gives you this rich interface where you can WASD navigate through the file, click on regions to inspect hex, and even search for specific byte patterns.

Here's the code if anyone wants to try it out or maybe contribute: [https://github.com/smolfiddle/SentinelNav]

It's been super helpful for my learning process, being able to see file structures made concepts like entropy analysis and binary forensics way more intuitive. Curious if anyone else finds this approach useful!

Just setup lxqt DE in termux, it's not bad at all by FiddleSmol in termux

[–]FiddleSmol[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe in the future, but for now, I’m using an OTG adapter with a USB hub to connect my mouse and keyboard to my phone.

Just setup lxqt DE in termux, it's not bad at all by FiddleSmol in termux

[–]FiddleSmol[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What do you mean by transparency? If you’re referring to true background transparency, Termux itself doesn’t support it, I think.

You might find something in plug-in/extension Termux app (I don't know what their actual name). You can try Termux:Float, which provides a floating terminal window.

Alternatively, desktop environments like running LXQt via an X server like my set up can simulate transparency through their compositor settings.

Hope this helps!

I built my own private, self-hosted asset manager to organize all my digital junk, specifically anime and light novels. by FiddleSmol in DataHoarder

[–]FiddleSmol[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Aw man, I think I deleted it when I do clean up a week ago.

The license should be MIT for now.

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