The search for hanimar...

[Lazy Bastard]

For those of you who don't know, "hanimar" created PS2Dis, and several other impressive tools, and knows a vast amount about the MIPS architecture, and assembly/disassembly in general. Sometime in 2002, hanimar disappeared from the scene, without a trace.

It would be nice to have hanimar's input on Artemis, and perhaps bring him aboard, but to be honest, I'd be happy just to learn a few things from him.

So I've been tinkering around with finding him, but the trail is thin and cold. I doubt the guy is dead, and it's unlikely he was arrested, so he's probably turned his efforts to the professional side, and is making good money for a company of some sort...or perhaps he's in college somewhere. He'd be about 24 or so right now. So here're some things I've compiled:
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FACTS
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[email protected] - This account seems to still exist - it doesn't return email as undeliverable. By policy, Yahoo shuts down yahoo.com email accounts after six months of inactivity; I'd imagine since they own geocities as well, they probably have the same policy for them. Hence, hanimar has probably logged into this account sometime in the last six months.

[email protected] ??????? - This account seems to be gone/dead. It returns mail as undeliverable, so either hanimar closed the account, the account was closed due to some breach of geocities.co.jp rules, geocities.co.jp has different account expiration policies than geocities.com, or hanimar didn't check this one for six months+, and has checked the other one in the last six months.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/7128/

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Station/8269/

http://us.geocities.com/hanimar.geo/index.html



hanimar got a PS2 on 2000-03-04





hanimar made PS2Dis.

hanimar did some Caetla work as well.

hanimar made something to do with "Parallel SmartMedia Reader/Writer REX-SMA02"
{LPT routines for REX-SMA02 programmed by Hanimar.
* 'REX-SMA02 Parallel SmartMedia Reader/Writer' is a trademark of
* RATOC Systems,Inc.
* Greet to TSG of Non-Standard.}

The above is in the source file for that SmartMedia thing, on hanimar's PS2Dis/etc page

hanimar made something called "EDC/ECC calculator"

hanimar made something called "Modisasm"
Goes as Hanimar (caps H) in the source for his modisasm.exe

***2002-2-17 is the date of the last update on hanimar's site (7128)






In the UnDatel3 source file named "datelenc.h" there is the string, _DATEL_ENCRYPT_BY_HANIMAR_H_

It's quite possible H is hanimar's last initial.

At one point, someone Japanese called hanimar "hanimaru". I should search for this as well.

"hanimaru" is commonly translated into "Circular Range", "Range Circular", "The Range It Is Round", and so on.
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POSSIBLE SIGHTINGS
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http://translate.google.com/translat...26as_qdr%3Dall

The above is a link to hanimar_21's Yahoo Japan auction account. Probably not hanimar, but who knows.

http://translate.google.com/translat...26as_qdr%3Dall

Above is a "translated" page. In the Google cached version from 05/05.2006, there are two recognizable "words" - "hanimar tikagolo". The user name for this account seems to be fx555wku@kansai. The profile page says "moto codomo 's Profile"

http://kansai.gaiax.com/~member/j/di...akanecchi@aiar

Above is the original, untranslated page.

http://translate.google.com/translat...s&ct=clnk&cd=1

Above is the translated version of the cached version, containing the text, "As for number puzzle [oi] .hanimar tikagolo popularity?" Translated, that entry seems to be a poem of some kind. These entries seem to be concerned with terrorism and such. That page is entitled "Dragon star 's Diary".

http://kansai.gaiax.com/~member/i/li...x555wku@kansai

Above is entitled, "H's Links".

When the cache of the main page of this person's account is translated, the title is "Terrestrial person 'S WEBSITE".






http://www.network54.com/Forum/15956/viewall-page-6 April, '99. I think this was hanimar.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/15956/page-8 - Also hanimar.

Matt McDevitt (dead email address at [email protected]), owner of Maktos Translations, helps hanimar translate some things Syu says at the same forum. Perhaps Matt knows where I might find hanimar. The hanimar here speaks about FF8 and other FF games, and tries to translate a bug description for FF8.

Aha! in a post at Maktos, hanimar refers to himself as "hanimar from Osaka,Japan". Osaka and Kansai are pretty much one city, like Dallas-Fort Worth. Note the address kansai.gaiax.com above. It seems possible that hanimar's full name is "Hanimar Tikagolo", though Tikagolo doesn't sound like a real last name. I can't find anything on the name, or word, Tikagolo via any search avenues, including directly Japanese ones.

http://maktos.jimmyseal.net/
The newest home of Maktos Translations, the (now dead) place where (at the old location) hanimar seems to have spoken with Matt McDevitt (the owner) and a few other people.

Syu [[email protected]] spoke with hanimar at least briefly in Japanese after he translated her question at the Maktos Translations old forum (in Mar, '99)





http://lineage2-unlimited.com/main/i...chid=268499058

Above may have been him.





http://translate.google.com/translat...g_view&page=40

This may have been hanimar, in 2003.




http://d.hatena.ne.jp/HANIMARU/

Possibly hanimar's blog of some sort.

2006-02-28 - "Hanimaru" says something that indicates he's in Osaka.

Another page links to this place, calling it "The diary of HANIMARU (range circle)". There's a comic book called "My Private Hanimaru", by a company called "Range Circle". Either this diary is not really a person's diary, or "hanimaru" means "range circle".





http://ueno.cool.ne.jp/hanimaru/guestbook.html

Possibly hanimar's guestbook.



http://translate.google.com/translat...icial%26sa%3DN

Here someone named hanimaru, in Osaka, male, age 19, posts, but doesn't give an email address like most of the other posters. The date/time shows as 101/3/114: 11: 28 (?). The conversation seems to be about PS2 stuff. Other people posting include HAL ([email protected]) from Nara, who seems to have started the page, and seems to have just travelled to the US; yu-ni ([email protected]) from Tama, and several others.

http://translate.google.com/translat...icial%26sa%3DN

Here a Goo-net advisor named hanimaru talks with a bunch of people about RPGs, specifically the FF series.



http://www.geocities.co.jp/Broadway/5188/geobook.html

[email protected]

The Hanimaru here was 21 and went to the Yamagata Prefecture in Yamagata City at the time of posting. That's significantly far away from Osaka, so if this is hanimar, he's not likely to be in Osaka anymore, unless he moved back after college.



http://f59.aaa.livedoor.jp/~sento/mamber%60sreport.html

Someone named "Hanimar" is a member of this fishing group, it seems. There's also someone named "Hiro", a name I've seen with hanimar's at PS2 hacking sites. I should translate whatever I can from here.
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THOUGHTS
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Perhaps it would help to break into the possibly active Geocities account?

So is hanimar a Hanimar camera fan? Or perhaps that's really his name (if so, first or last?)? Or did he derive it in some other way?

Also, if Hanimar is his first name, is it likely that he's the only Hanimar in Japan that goes by his first name on the internet? Or even the only one from Kansai-Osaka? It's possible I'm researching more than one Hanimar by accident, heh.

Since hanimar seemed somewhat afraid of breaking Japanese laws, and had a site full of highly controversial material, wouldn't it stand to reason that he would try to keep himself hidden? The only way he'd use his real first name is if he wasn't thinking about that at the time he entered the scene, and didn't want to change his nick later. That, and "Hanimar" isn't a very common Japanese name, first or last. I got lucky that he was sloppy enough to mention that he was from Osaka, if that was even the same Japanese hanimar, and if he was telling the truth.

If Hanimar wasn't his real name, would he refer to himself, as it seems he has, as Hanimar H?

Is it possible his name is really Hanimaru? Could it have been translated, per syllable, into "hanimar", incorrectly? If it's Hanimaru, it's more likely that's a last name than a first, and hence, perhaps his first name starts with an H (Hanimar, H)?
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NOT HANIMAR
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[email protected] hosts a page with a PIC disassembler made by hanimar (this is the real hanimar, but I don't think this guy knows anything about him...he most likely just grabbed and hosted his program).







Hanimar is a camera company - http://www.tcp-ip.or.jp/~peachan/cam...r/index-e.html

"Cameras with Hanimex brand were once sold in Japan, too, but their manufacuring were in various countries, and I had wondered what kind of company it is. According to a book, it is an Australian company and was " Mr. Hannes's import and export company", and asked manufacturers to produce cameras with its brand and sold them in Australia, and later in other countries, too."










There's a Russian/English translator named Alena Hanimar in Belarus

Vladimir S. Hanimar asks a few questions on the Netplex Technologies site

Apparently, "Hanimar" is a common last name in Belarus and Bavaria

Apparently, Hanimar cameras, sometimes made in Germany (possibly by Hanimex), were at one point very popular in Japan. Hanimar (or Hanimex, perhaps) also makes lenses for non-Hanimar/Hanimex cameras, particularly cameras made in Japan, and these lenses are frequently made in Japan as well

In an 1870 US census, five people with the last name "Hanimar" show up in Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa, with names Josiah, Lydia, Clara, Corwin, and Sarah (European, particularly Eastern European origin judging by names). In a Minnesota census of the same year, six more Hanimars show up (Michael, Maria, Marianna, Michael [2], Leonard, and Margaretha, born in either Minnesota, Illinois, or Bavaria, respectively.

http://hanimar.spaces.live.com/
The above is a "PC Programmer", but seems to be Arab, and very unlike hanimar.


http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/hanimaru/

Hanimaru Football Club.

"My Private Hanimaru" seems to be a Japanese comic book that came out and died both in 1992. Author name - Range circle. Publisher - Member magazine.

[Lazy Bastard]

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DRAM AND HIS BBS
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***A (Japanese, it would seem) guy named "D-RAM" [[email protected]] seems to know him, and possibly have worked with him on PS2-related stuff.

***http://translate.google.com/translat...26as_qdr%3Dall

The above is in 2002. If I'm correct, this is a BBS run by D-RAM/DRAM, with hanimar and a few others speaking on it.

***http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...en-US:official

Above is some page called "Zero Memory", run by D-RAM.

On DRAM's BBS (which starts at the bottom, and progresses upward chronologically), someone whose name translates to "meeting by" ([email protected]) asks hanimar questions about PS2Dis, in January, 2002. Someone named "dA/dt" pays homage to hanimar for his work. Someone named "swsw" (or "monster swsw"; I can't tell) asks a question. Someone named "Sato" asks a question as well. It seems the only people answering questions and giving people advice are hanimar and DRAM. Someone named "float" ([email protected]) says a few things. "meeting lie" speaks to someone named "[katoru]". "[katoru]" says a few things. Someone named "KALEYA" speaks to DRAM.

The first message is in Japanese, by someone named "IRG" [actually, IRG is a group, I believe] ([email protected]), in October, 2001. IRG has a link to a personal site on nifty.com, with the account name "amuro-ray". dA/dt speaks to IRG a few times. Someone named "nsss" ([email protected]) replies. "nsss" seems to run a site at http://ness.cside2.com/. Someone named "molamola" or "[yuuki] [hao]" ([email protected]) (http://www.horae.dti.ne.jp/~molamola) speaks about X-Link. There are a few mystery people, too (if only I could read Japanese, heh). Someone named "RYO" speaks to dA/dt. Someone named "rain" [I think, heh] ([email protected]) (http://home10.highway.ne.jp/rain/) replies. Someone with the email address [email protected] replies a few times. Someone named "[yo] maggot" with the email address [email protected] replies. Vanish (also known as "see, angle", after translation) ([email protected]) shows up, and talks to DRAM. Someone with the email address [email protected] (http://members.home.ne.jp/3233623501/) speaks to DRAM. Someone with the email address [email protected] posts several times, with what seem to be PSX GS/AR/etc codes. Someone with the email address [email protected] posts. Someone named "YUY" ([email protected]) (http://www2.csc.ne.jp/~yuy/) posts what seem to be DQ4 codes. DRAM references http://www.otaku.gr.jp/lips/. Someone named "Rock" posts. Someone with the email address [email protected] (http://www.rcif.net/) posts. Float references http://www.futaba.ne.jp/~kuramoto/4k.../4koma333.html. Several times throughout, people say "hybris"...who knows if this is someone's name, or something in a game, or just a word. Someone with the email address [email protected] posts.

At one point, dA/dt mentions a few sites: Zero Memory, Vanish (http://www.vanish-net.com/), Code Storm (http://chif.server.ne.jp/codestorm/ apparently run by DRAM and someone named "DARK NESS" - possibly "nsss"/"ness"), and "xiao's...something [Jap]" (http://xiao.cside8.com/ apparently run by "DARK NESS")

It's fairly apparent that on DRAM's BBS, the conversation eventually turns to either genetics, or a game involving genetics. Chickens, genomes, chromosomes, cell division, and such are mentioned.

"tera" ([email protected]) (http://terasite.ktplan.ne.jp/) wishes everyone a happy new year, and talks about a few other things (Jan 1, 2002). Someone named "Kick" posts. KALEYA runs this site: http://kily.net/ghfs/. KALEYA might even run kily.net.

More people arrive, including Shin. I'm not sure if hanimar is still talking, as most of this can't be translated by Google, but people are still talking to hanimar, so I'm guessing one of the mystery people is him. I need someone who can read Japanese...
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MISC
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In Japan, white pages are called "Hello Pages", and it seems there's no internet version of these pages. Japan apparently does not allow the export of these phone books, for privacy reasons.



http://www.gu.edu.au/school/lal/japanesemain/bmark.html

An awesome resource for finding Japanese stuff.




[email protected] - May know hanimar; hanimar references this person in one of his pages (eimei's laboratory - http://homepage1.nifty.com/eimei/), and this person references hanimar. Eimei seems to have made some kind of file comparison tool, which several hackers, including hanimar and DRAM, found useful.
http://translate.google.com/translat...en-US:official

Above is Eimei Dohi, who makes anti-spam software (also on Eimei's Lab).



http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...en-US:official

Above is a site run by Shin [GodShin is a hacker that GMO knows, but I think he's German, and Shin seems to be Japanese].
http://translate.google.com/translat...wn-Bingo/8243/

Above is Be Natural's page (Be Natural is "Shin"). Shin and "karus" run the above.




http://translate.google.com/translat...26as_qdr%3Dall

Above is another list of Jap pages related to PS2 stuff, including hanimar's page, and the pages of several related people.




http://translate.google.com/translat...en-US:official

Above is a collection of Japanese pages involved in disassembly of PS2 stuff, one of which may lead me somewhere.



http://translate.google.com/translat...icial%26sa%3DG

Above is a gold mine of various links and info about them.

[Lazy Bastard]

Anyway, these are just my Hanimar-hunting chronicles. If anyone wants to contribute a piece of information, or an idea, feel free.

[cYs Driver]

i hope you find him because my ps2dis has stopped just ran outa time

[Lazy Bastard]

You should quit being such a lazy bastard, and help me search

[cYs Driver]

haha if i had time i would but i have exams n a lot of work commin up for an apprenticeship

[Lazy Bastard]

Though it's not a large breakthrough, I've established that the hanimar at Maktos translations was the hanimar we're looking for. This establishes that hanimar (at least claimed that he) was from Osaka, Japan, and (according to hanimar) is named "Hanimar H."

[Lazy Bastard]

I've also tracked down a person who's spoken with hanimar several times, and seems to know him a little, the founder of Maktos Translations - Matt McDevitt. I'll see what I can glean from him, hopefully later today.

[LiquidManZero]

Wow, nice.

[cYs Driver]

mm hopefully we can finally find him

[Lazy Bastard]

It would seem that hanimar was 19 in 2003, making him about 24 by now, and that in late 2006, he was still in college.

Any chance anyone can track down what was originally here: http://72.14.203.104/translate_c?hl=...%3Dlc%26sa%3DN

From what I can gather, it was some sort of patching or conversion app hanimar made, but later discontinued. It's possible he just included all its functionality in PS2Dis, but it's equally possible he discontinued it for other reasons. He mentions several times in different places that he's worried about Japanese laws concerning breaking encryption and reverse engineering...

[LiquidManZero]

That would go along with the reason I saw as to his removing the Undatel program from his site. It was something about breaking encryption and it being possibly illegal.

I'm not sure, but it's possible that file just isn't accessible due to lack of bandwidth on that account. But then I don't know what the Japanese Yahoo error page for that looks like. The translated text doesn't really make it clear to what the issue is there.

Poking around, so far all I can find are mentions of that file on that page, and not a mirror of it anywhere.

[misfire]

Hanimar's Ps2cheat is a cheat code decryptor/encryptor for AR2 (no DEADFACE support).

BTW, I didn't think of his program's name when developing the cheat system ps2cheat.

[Lazy Bastard]

Ah, heh. Then its functionality has been replaced by other apps anyway.

No, I didn't think you did; the name is fairly simple and straightforward anyway.

Thanks for the info.

[Lazy Bastard]

Ace has advanced the search by finding that Matt McDevitt is (or was) at 2428 Wyoming Dr.
Rockford, IL 61108. I've cross-referenced information and verified that this is the right Matt McDevitt.

He was also, at least in 2003, using the email address [email protected] , indicating that he was probably born in '76.