Is there a manual?

BriAnn · Post by **BriAnn** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 2:09 am

Hi. This is my first post.

Now that it's all but impossible to get a recent PC with an operating system that has a "real" version of DOS, I find that moving to XP will force me to give up PC-Write as my main text editor. I used it for everything! I use block copying a lot and barely a day goes by when I'm not recording a few macros to do all sorts of rearranging data.

I see programs like pe32, NoteTab, Semware, WinEdit, and TextPad. Call me old fashioned, but if I can reprogram another editor to make it emulate PC-Write, I'll be in heaven.

Anyway, I've looked throughout the site and done a few searches through the forums, but I can't find a manual for TextPad. Is there one? A PDF file? If not, how do users learn all of TextPad's intricacies?

Thanks!

--BriAnn

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 2:27 am

No manual, but a wealth of built in Help details.

Start with the Introducing TextPad, then click on the options at the bottom of that screen to go to Summary of Features.

In the Index:
Check on "command" then go to Command Line Parameters.
Check out "questions", long list to browse through
Check out "compatilility" to see some ways to clone other editors.
Check out "customize", another long list of useful tools to look at.

This should get you started. Hope this was helpful..........good luck,
Bob

s_reynisson · Post by **s_reynisson** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 3:29 am

Got my copy of PC-Write (v.304) from
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/msdos/editors/pc-write/

Got this dos emulator and it's windows front end from
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/information.php

Just created and saved a document in PC-Write on WinXP sp1.

This goes way back 8)

One of the early shareware pioneers was Bob Wallace who died recently at the age of 53 in California. Although employee number 9 to join Bill and co at Microsoft, heâ€™s often known as the â€œFather of Sharewareâ€� and designed and marketed PC-Write.
From http://www.cix.co.uk/~davedorn/opinion/bobwallace.htm

BriAnn · Post by **BriAnn** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 11:55 am

I am so sorry to hear that Bob passed away. He will always be one of the greats. I've been using PCW (and beta testing) since version 2.3. As a beta tester, I learned the program as well as anyone. It's an amazing piece of work that can still run rings around most word processors. Many of you probbly feel the same way about TP.

I'll give DOSbox a try, although the time is probably ripe to move on. Now, if I could only find a good substitute for Michael Mefford's Directory Magic! As you can guess, I still spend a good deal of my time in DOS. Not that I'm totally resistant to change. My browser is Firebird, my email client is Thunderbird, and I use the nightlies, even though an early TB nightly cost me big time--25 Mb of 1500+ messages.

My office machines will have to go to XP, but I'll keep my home machines at 98/SE. They're at 1 GHz with bells and whistles, so I'm not feeling impacted, yet. So...now I need a way to write a PCW emulator. While I realize this is a biased audience, should I give TP a go, or are there competitors that are better suited, given that I don't need the language features? (I wrote them all myself for PCW. Unfortunately, I use Ctrl-Q as the first key of my two-key HTML tricks. There's a bit of work for me, given how heavily TP uses Ctrl-Q.)

I guess I'll just print out the entire help file. That what two-sided copiers are for.

Thanks!

--BriAnn

jeffy · Post by **jeffy** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 12:35 pm

BriAnn · Post by **BriAnn** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 2:53 pm

Well, Jeffy, I don't know you or Bob Hansen and I admit I don't know the culture of the board which might make such a response appropriate. However, anyone who knew Bob Wallace or had the opportunity to work with him will be saddened when they hear the news of his death. When he was active, he was always available and was always receptive to ideas from workers, testers, and users. (In the end, I think that was Quicksoft's undoing, but that's another story.) However, once he dropped out, he dropped out. It's hard to believe that when you do a Google search of ("Bob Wallace" shareware), the acknowledged Father of Shareware returns a measly 610 hits. As one of those who had the pleasure of knowing him, I'll be drinking a glass in his honor tonight.

--BriAnn

jeffy · Post by **jeffy** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 5:46 pm

I missed the word "recently". I thought this person passed a while ago.

Either way, it was callous and I apologize.

BriAnn · Post by **BriAnn** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 6:33 pm

Apology accepted.

Now to register my copy and start see if I can tuen TextPad into a PC-Write look alike. It's not the money, not that I've got it to throw away, but $27 isn't exactly a huge investment. It's the time. I'd hate to spend weeks only to decide it isn't feasible. I'd pay $200 for a windows version of PC-Write without even thinking about it. Around $500 I might start to get hesitant, but even then I'd probably spring for it.

Not just on personal level, but I'd been trying to locate Bob for years for professional reasons because I *know* he must have had a Window beta squirreled away somewhere....(probably on 5-1/4" floppies!).

--BriAnn

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 10:22 pm

Hello BriAnn

You wrote:

Now, if I could only find a good substitute for Michael Mefford's Directory Magic!

Wow, still using it, one of my favorite programs.

But a few years ago I ended up switching to another utility, StS, (Stereo Shell) which became my favorite file manager tool after Directory Magic. Still use it as a DOS program. Runs in a window, or full screen.

Shareware, was about $25. 1991/92?. Supplied by M. R. E. Software.

Info re source of program.
M.R.E. Software
206 E. Jones St.
West Point, MS. 39773
========================================

Located a site that still provides it.
DOSÂ® Shareware & Freeware Abandonware:
http://home.pmt.org/~drose/aw-dos-sw-21.html

Stereo Shell 4.10 - Â© 1993 M.R.E. Software
A dual-"window" (what the author calls "stereo") DOS file manager, Stereo
Shell looks like a cross between GW-BASIC and Norton Commander. It
features function key commands for file copy, erase, move, rename, view,
edit and mark. The built-in file viewer features text/hex views, search engine
and print. Other features include subdirectory tree display accessed from the
center directory area, change drive, subdirectory create/rename/erase,
"gateway" (shell) to DOS, EGA/VGA/MCGA support, compress files (uses
external compression programs), mouse support, on-line help and more. The
registration price was US$32.

Total installed size: 254K

The screenshot on this page is black and white, but the program has brilliant colors, and are customizable. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed. I also swore by Directory Magic, but after using StS, I never looked back.

The closest thing to this in a Windows Program that I have used is PowerDesk 5, might want to look at that also. More info available at http://www.v-com.com. But PowerDesk is a true Windows program, and if you love DOS you gotta go with Stereo Shell.

Hope this was helpful.................good luck,
Bob

BriAnn · Post by **BriAnn** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 3:37 pm

I still like Directory Magic, despite having to use short filenames because it's so efficient. I'd look at StS (maybe I should; DM crawls under the XP emulator) but I'm afraid that my task is to now find Windows tools. I have no great love of DOS, but I dislike Windows because its GUI is so inefficient. It's so easier to type than navigate Explorer/My Computer tree/file structures. All I want is a Windows program that will let me type my commands instead of pointing-and-clicking. It used to be called DOS. :-)

--BriAnn

talleyrand · Post by **talleyrand** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 4:37 pm

Welcome BriAnn!

If you think textpad's too fancy, never underestimate your friend vi or the new and improved VIM. Plenty of power for those who like command line tools.

Also for command line tools, I'd suggest either Cygwin or MinGW. They both provide nice, fast tools for doing things DOS should have had.

BriAnn · Post by **BriAnn** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 12:09 am

Thanks everyone.

As much as I'd like to continue using DOS tools, it looks like XP has really made that impractical. TextPad is my new text processor. Directory Magic will be replaced by either Servant Salamander or Total Commander. (I still can't make up my mind.) I've got a new RAM disk.

I suspect it's TextPad that will take the most getting used to. I've got a chunk of the PC-Write keyboard into TP. TP has some nice features that I didn't have in PC-W, which should help ease the pain.

I've got a question about block operations, but I'll raise it in another thread after I browse through the Forums to see if it is already answered.

--BriAnn