TXT2COM (Keith P. Graham)


 * See TXT2COM for other things with that name.

TXT2COM is a DOS utility that converts a text file to a COM file that, when executed, displays the text in a full-screen viewer. It was developed by Keith P. Graham.

To recover the original text file, run the .COM file in a DOS environment, then press the 'T' key.

Later versions include TXT2RES and/or TXT2PAS, special-purpose variants of the software.

Later versions support special features enabled by markup syntax in the source document.

Identification
COM files produced by all known versions of TXT2COM have the ASCII string "" somewhere near the beginning of the file. It's at:
 * offset 3 for v1.0-v1.1
 * offset 5 for v2.0 through at least v2.3 (It's probably not hard to identify the specific version, but that's not investigated here.)
 * offset 14 for at least v2.06 and v2.10

Note: Versions 1.1 through 2.1 all produce files containing the version number "1.1".

If the string is at offset 3, the first 3 bytes of the file are:
 * for TXT2COM v1.0
 * for TXT2COM v1.1
 * for TXT2RES.COM from TXT2COM v2.0 and some later versions

Files produced by TXT2RES/v2.06 have "" at offset 3.

Files produced by TXT2PAS/v2.06 have "" at offset 3.

Software
''Some version numbers are guessed, with help from the change log in the README.COM file. The size in bytes of the TXT2COM.COM file is listed for clarification.''


 * TXT2COM
 * v1.0?: - size=3757, 1987-06-19
 * v1.1?: [] - size=3775, 1987-07-21?
 * v2.0?: [] - size=3938, 1987-07-26?
 * v2.1?: [] - size=4356, 1987-08-30
 * v2.2 (a.k.a. v2.02): [] - size=4380, 1987-11-01
 * v2.3 (a.k.a. v2.03): [] - size=5173, 1987-11-12
 * v2.04 exists, but hasn't been located.
 * v2.06: [] - size=7772, 1988-08-26
 * v2.09 exists, but hasn't been located.
 * v2.10: []] - size=8525, 1993-07-27

Sample files

 * The README.COM file included with most versions of the software
 * → CATALOG.COM

Links

 * A forum comment by the author