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Text editors for Windows 3.1?

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First post, by zerker

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So I'm looking for something slightly better than notepad on Windows 3.1 for text editing needs. Does anyone have any recommendations and/or links where to download said software? The only possibility I'm finding right now is TextPad 3.x, and that is no longer available at the Textpad website.

I tried version 1.0 of Notepad++ in Win32s, but that was a no go.

I also checked out Crimson Edit which may have had a Win 3.1 version at one point, but the download listing on the web site doesn't go old enough to see.

Reply 1 of 22, by Davros

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Try this
16-bit NotesPad
http://can2can.biz/NotesPad/notespad_16.html
32bit Version
http://can2can.biz/NotesPad/notespad_32.html

or
Programmer’s File Editor v1.01 (16-bit version)
http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/software/pfe101.zip

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Reply 2 of 22, by zerker

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Thanks for those suggestions. I set up the Programmer's File Editor, which seems nice, but it's missing even basic indent alignment, which seems an odd omission for a programmer-focused tool. It is sort of a weird case of having a lot of features that don't seem particularly useful, while missing most of the important ones we'd expect from and editor nowadays.

The zip file for NotesPad wouldn't work for me, for whatever reason.

I also found SuperPad in the meantime (at http://stephan.win31.de/w31mm_e1.htm ), which is nice enough for what it is.

I suppose it's a bit much to expect anything with Syntax Highlighting? 😀. I know the DOS Turbo Pascal editor had it, so it is isn't unreasonable to think other applications would implement it too.

Reply 3 of 22, by kixs

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I used Boxer. Early versions are DOS only. Not sure if there was a version for win31. But there are for new Windows.

It has highligting, macros... you name it. I liked it very much. Still use new versions from time to time.

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 4 of 22, by xjas

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Is there a reason you need a Windows editor specifically (Clipboard, etc.)? I really like QEdit for DOS which should run perfectly fine under 3.1. DOS Vim supports syntax highlighting (along with the huge library of Vim plugins for any platform) and is still actively developed.

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Reply 5 of 22, by zyga64

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There was UltraEdit for Windows 3.1 http://cwk.chez.com/computer/us/ultraedit.htm

web archive direct link

However I did not try it personally.

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Reply 9 of 22, by zerker

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xjas wrote:

Is there a reason you need a Windows editor specifically (Clipboard, etc.)? I really like QEdit for DOS which should run perfectly fine under 3.1. DOS Vim supports syntax highlighting (along with the huge library of Vim plugins for any platform) and is still actively developed.

Mostly just having more than 25 rows, being able to view multiple documents, etc. However, I realize now that many Dos editors support high resolution text modes and have similar features, so they would probably be good too.

I haven't taken the time to learn VIM, but I may do so one of these days 😀

Tracking down commercial software isn't really worth it for the amount of time I'm going to use it on this machine. Same goes for registering shareware (though UltraEdit is pretty good having just tried it).

Kixs, I couldn't find a download for any older versions of Boxer on the web site.

Either way, I think I have enough now. Thanks folks

Last edited by zerker on 2016-03-17, 22:50. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 10 of 22, by brostenen

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Search for a set of floppy disks, for eighter Office 4.X or Wordperfect for Windows 3.11.
Unfortunately, I do not know were to buy old productivity software.

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Reply 11 of 22, by Caluser2000

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Looking at my old notes I used NotePads+, and still have my registration code.
Lets not forget Wordpad as well, which some with windows.

Any "works" style package word processer for windows 3.8 will do- Perfectworks, PFS Works, MS Works, or Claris Works files can be save into other formats such as RTF for text files. They have the advantage of having spread sheets and some have relational data basis as well as a drawing package.

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Reply 12 of 22, by Nematocyst

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Here is a 16-bit version of an editor dll/test app I wrote over two decades ago. It has syntax coloring, and some other nice features. It does lack word wrap, though not so important for code.

edit:
I had someone attempt to download this file using the old link. Apparently it worked (I granted him access), but I was confounded by the plethora of options required to simply host a file there. I had no clue if the settings I adjusted would work or not. As such, I'm adding the file (actually a newer .exe with the same .dll) to my own download area so you don't have to use a google account to access the file.

new link:
https://goabq.org/dl/etedit16.zip

old link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4ljhRukHKK … anowRWw3Z1VhWEE

Last edited by Nematocyst on 2023-02-12, 00:56. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 13 of 22, by Dude111

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zerker wrote:

The only possibility I'm finding right now is TextPad 3.x, and that is no longer available at the Textpad website.

Here is version 3.2.5 from thier site (32 bit)

http://web.archive.org/web/19990117003656/htt … m/download.html

Direct DL link:

http://web.archive.org/web/19990117003656/http://members.aol.com/textpad2/tpe32325.exe

Good luck buddy,i hope this works for ya!!

Reply 14 of 22, by appiah4

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I love my copy of MS Works 3 for Windows 3.x to bits for these purposes..

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Reply 15 of 22, by zerker

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Thanks, I'll give it a shot, but I haven't done much editing in DOS in a while. I sort of ended up using the Dos Navigator editor for the few things I needed; it's pretty good.

Unfortunately, Helios software doesn't provide registration for older versions any more. My attempt at a support ticket didn't go very well.

In other news, after messing with FreeBSD 1.1 on a 486 for a bit, I have finally spent the time to learn VI 😀

Reply 16 of 22, by BeginnerGuy

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zerker wrote:

Thanks, I'll give it a shot, but I haven't done much editing in DOS in a while. I sort of ended up using the Dos Navigator editor for the few things I needed; it's pretty good.

Unfortunately, Helios software doesn't provide registration for older versions any more. My attempt at a support ticket didn't go very well.

In other news, after messing with FreeBSD 1.1 on a 486 for a bit, I have finally spent the time to learn VI 😀

FreeBSD 1.1? Wow that's old, I haven't used any FreeBSD since 4.x. Did you get networking on and does pkg_add or pkg search exist on that to get you any software packages you want or are you installing from disk?

I've been looking around for a nix OS to install on my 5x86 133 when it's finished. Would like X / some basic desktop interface on it.

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 19 of 22, by zerker

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Yeah, I got networking working; I just needed to recompile the kernel to specify the correct IRQ for the NE2000-compatible card in the machine. I installed via floppies, because I was using a machine with no CD-Rom. General process was:

  • Image the three base system floppies and follow the install sequence to get a nominally functional file system.
  • Copy the pieces of the bin and kernel portion of the src distribution onto however many floppies it takes (I just cycled through two, replacing as I copied to the dest), then unpack.

After networking was set up, pkg_add was indeed supported, but I only had the set of packages that came on the install CD to install this way (transferred via FTP). I didn't dig too carefully to see if it supported internet fetching or not. Most other applications I wanted I ended up compiling from source. I grabbed a few old versions from the Debian archives http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/debi … .1/main/source/

Got X properly set up with a Cirrus logic 1 MB deal. I was running it at 800x600, but I probably could have gotten 1024 x 768 if I wanted. I was just running the built-in TDM as a display manager and starting via 'startx' rather than using X D M (spaces to prevent smiley detection 😐). This old version of X was a bit ugly to configure, but fairly lightweight on RAM once it was going. The machine only had 16 MB, and this setup fit quite nicely.

If you want more information or what have you, we should probably spin this off into its own thread. I took down a bunch of notes that might be helpful to someone, I suppose.

Here's the link for FreeBSD 1.1, for reference:
http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Ar … SD-1.1-RELEASE/

Last edited by zerker on 2017-10-26, 20:56. Edited 1 time in total.