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I am looking for a text editor/word processor for an old Tosihba T1100Plus laptop (no hard drive, 2 3.5" floppies). What I'd like to have: mouse support, word wrap, MS shortcuts (ctl x,c,v). In fact, a windows Notepad look-alike. Recommendations anyone?
Not many DOS WP's left anymore. Only one that comes to mind (freeware & fits on a floppy) is Breeze 5.6 (supports word-wrap, not sure about cut & paste):
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/oldfav.html
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Thanks, I should have specified "fits on a floppy". Yes, I had identified Breeze, EditV and TM as possibilities from http://short.stop.home.att.net/freesoft/txtedit1.htm#borlandtv
There are many more listed here. It will take me a while to go through the details. For DOS users with more substantial systems, there is [free] Word 5.5 for DOS and OS/2.
Years ago I used a program called Sidekick that was pretty easy but used awkward Wordstar/Borland key combinations. I'm too used to M$ shortcuts now.
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The standalone DOS Edit from Win9x is quite functional, and a huge improvement over its Qbasic predecessor.
No word wrap though
Might be something here
If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers
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... I guess I shoulda hit 'refresh' before posting : /
If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers
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Same ref I looked at in response 2. I've got to have word wrap. TM and Breeze lock up my tiny 640K RAM (squeezed by DOS 3.3 and a mouse driver, no doubt). EditV looked pretty good but unfortunately has no word wrap. PEDIT is a possibility.. for tomorrow. Much appreciated..keep those ideas coming!
By the way, after loading DOS and a mouse driver, is there a way to see how much conventional memory is free?
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Yes, I know - I didn't see your response until after I submitted my post.
DOS that old will be... limited. I don't believe there's a 'mem' command, you might have to use a 3rd party app from something like PCTools.
Of course, you could run 622 for increased functionality, but it would consume about 50K or so all by itself
If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers
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Yeah, I don't think 3.3 had the MEM command but you may be able to use it from a later dos version by adding it to setver.exe. Usually setver adds older dos commands to an OS. I don't know if it'll work with a command that's newer than the OS. But it won't hurt to try.
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A year or so ago I ran across a copy of M$ Works 2 for DOS and got it working on an bootable floppy for a Toshiba T5100 with a bad HDD. Had about everything you'd need for an office suite on one disk...
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VDE from Eric Myer should do.
Highly configurable and the user base has written tons of macros for you.
IIRR it's written in asm, so it's quick as a bunny.
I used it with DOS 3.2 and still do.
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Hi,
Mc> I am looking for a text editor/word processor
Mc> for an old Toshiba T1100Plus laptop... In
Mc> fact, a windows NotePad look-alike.If it had been older, i would have suggested `The
SemWare ® Editor Junior v4.0 for DOS' because it's
lightweight, customizable and quite reliable too;
i can't tell about the Pro (2.5) version, though.This is old SoftWare and i didn't need to evaluate
another text editor in years but i recall that TSE
was excellent when i started BBSing, a decade ago.
Salutations,Michel Samson
a/s Bicéphale
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Thanks for the tips; I'll investigate all. First, I tried using DOS 6.22, loaded a mouse driver and ran MEM, which reported 73K out of 640K free. Then I ran EDITV, which works fine (but no word wrap! Rats!). Then loaded PEDIT which seemed to load from diskette, but returned to the A: prompt. I ran MEM again, which indicated that PEDIT had not loaded; still only 74K used. Any ideas on what is going on here? Why does a program appear to load but not display and return to the A prompt? My followup of your tips continues...:)
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Oops! I meant DOS occupies 60K and the mouse driver occupies 13K out of 640 K conventional. My updated spec for an editor:
1. Must fit on a 720K floppy
2. Must support mouse
3. Must have soft word wrap (no CR at end of line)
4. Editor and small document must fit in 640-73=567K
5. MS shortcuts CTRLx,c,v
6. Compatible with 80C86 processor. Other Toshiba specs at http://www.inkpotproductions.ca/toshibainfo.html
7. Really, any OS: I have MSDOS 3.2, 3.3, 6.22
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With 6.22 you'd have memmaker available. I don't know if it'd work on a floppy-only system but you could try it. If it did work you'd have better memory management than with earlier dos versions.
You might be able to find a dos mouse driver that takes less space than the one you're using.
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>>>You might be able to find a dos mouse driver that takes less space than the one you're using.<<<
CuteMouse comes to mind...
http://cutemouse.sourceforge.net/
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T-R-A, please see Toshiba specs in post#12. Do I need the CTmouse version that is BIOS based or do I need the one that uses 'direct hardware access'?
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Quest update:
1)Tried VDE. It works but poor mouse support and has Wordstar shortcuts. Could not see mouse on monochrome LCD screen.
2) Have MS Word v2a for Windows but could not find version for DOS.
3)IIRR. Couldn't find. M2, URL please?
4) TSE Pro - overkill!!
5) TSE Jr - SemWare Editor Jr - Pretty good shareware - close to what I want, but does not have MS shortcuts CTRL x,c,v
Did MS ever develop Notepad for DOS?
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>>>Do I need the CTmouse version that is BIOS based or do I need the one that uses "direct hardware access"<<<
That old of a machine would have to be DHA.
>>>Did MS ever develop Notepad for DOS<<<
No..
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EDIT.EXE (60Kb)
No "M$" style shortcuts though - may be time to relax your conditions, or else continue searching on your own
I agree; Computing.Net participants need to proofread
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I'm not ready to close this thread or give up yet, and yes, I am doing a lot of searching on my own. Most recent find: http://www.texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EditorIndex
I tried EDIT.exe. It locks up my Toshiba with both DOS3.2 and 6.22, with and without mouse. In a win2k DOS window, it appears not to have mouse support, but I can't be sure.
As for compromising, not yet! Windows Notepad may not be the best text editor, but it is familiar and comfortable. I'm sure many will agree, and I hope someone out there has tweaked one of the many DOS editors to look/act like M$ Notepad.
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Notepad for DOS (not from M$):
http://www.geocities.com/dosiussoftware/dosius.htm
Word wrap, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V
(my final answer...)
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Well, it's a horse race. The final contenders are Dosius Software's [free!] Notepad for DOS and SemWare Editor Jr (formerly QEDIT or TSEJr). Notepad has the familiar look, somewhere between DOS Edit and Windows Notepad. Unfortunately in wordwrap mode, the cut/copy/paste functions - including the CUA CTRLx,c,v are disabled. If wordwrap is set as a default via the INI file, it locks up Notepad. As for the more powerful SemWare product, SemWare assures me that it can be configured for CUA, but I have to look into it some more. Since SemWare's editor is a current shareware product, it makes one wonder why they have not adopted the common user interface (CUA) standard. Stay tuned...
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Possibly the end of this thread. It's TSEJr . . by a nose! This shareware program meets all my specs and is HIGHLY configurable via a QCONFIG utility and an editable keystroke definition file QCONFIG.DAT. I got it set up nicely for my Toshiba T1100Plus monochrome LCD display and mouse. Also has a nice right click mouse menu. But it is still not as close to Windows Notepad as Notepad for DOS is. I'm hoping someone fixes the bug in Notepad before my 30 day trial of TSEJr runs out.:)
Thanks to all who participated on this thread!
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If I get around to it, I'll see if VDE can be made mousable. I'm 99% sure everything else: color, CTRLxcv etc, can be configured to suit.
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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Hi McAmax,
Mc> This shareware program meets all my specs...
Just before the thread dies... 1st of all, it's a
nice event to read that you've got something and i
am growing curious about what it is: i'm thinking
of "CUA Marking" and maybe a few more CUA goodies.MC> I got it set up nicely for my Toshiba T1100...
MC> ...still not as close to Windows Notepad as
Mc> Notepad for DOS is.Would you mind posting the custom QConfig.DAT file
which you're using to get closer to what you need?I'm a bit curious about the CUA features, i guess;
it might very well suit my taste enough to want to
have CUA myself. I evaluated no other text editor
since, say, maybe ten, perhaps twelve years ago as
QEdit v3 (now called TSE Jr v4.0 ) was released in
1994, as i recall. My favourite text editor suits
me well for BBS use but i don't post on BBSes very
often these days... For me, cut & paste shortcuts
were the main heritage which i got from uisng CUA.I'd like to see more of what CUA support is about!
Salutations,Michel Samson
a/s Bicéphale
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The QCONFIG.DAT file is too large to post. I will send it to you by email. Anyway, the customization was merely to use ^X, ^C, ^V for cut, copy and paste respectively, and to select monochrome display when running QCONFIG.exe. Perhaps my adaptation of the CUA (common user access) standard was fairly minimal. But clearly, this program is highly configurable, so you may be able to make other changes to your liking.
Notepad for DOS is also customizable via an editable INI file, but picking colors to use for menus, titles, text, etc, on a monochrome monitor is tricky. I used trial and error until I got it right.
A good history of the CTRLx,c,v keymapping is here: http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/rre/msg00158.html
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