TXT2EXE (P. Fischer-Haaser)

File Format
Name	TXT2EXE (P. Fischer-Haaser)
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Executable envelopes TXT2EXE (P. Fischer-Haaser)
Released	≤1992

This article covers a confusing collection of executable text utilities for DOS, developed by P. Fischer-Haaser. Generally speaking, the utilities convert a text file to an excutable file that, when executed, displays the text in some way. The flagship utility seems to be TXT2EXE.

Most of the information about the software is in German. TXT2EXE 4.01 also supports English and Spanish languages, for both the interface, and the generated files.

Discussion

Known utilities:

• TXT2EXE
• "TXT2EXEO (o)" (TXT2EXEO.EXE)
• "TXT2EXE (s)" (TXT2EXES.EXE)
• TXT2C&P (TXT2CP.EXE or TXT2C&P.EXE)
• TXT2FILE
• TXT2LIST
• TXT2EXE-Kommunikations-Area (T2EICA.EXE)
• "T2E", later "T2E PD" (open source) ({T2EPD.EXE or T2E.EXE} + T2BR.EXE)
• "T2E" (closed source) (T2E.EXE)
• T2C (T2C.EXE)
• µ-TEXT-TO-COM (T2CX.EXE)

Some of the executable modules are pre-compressed with TINYPROG, others with LZEXE.

Identification

Identification of files made by these utilities could be a difficult problem in general. Here are some observations.

Unfortunately, some of the properties of generated files are shared by non-generated files made by the same author, so false positives are likely.

Some v4.x EXE files have signature bytes 'p' 'f' 'h' 0x00 at offset 28.

Some EXE files from earlier versions have bytes 57 9a 51 50 at offset 28. It's unclear if this is a signature, or what.

Some EXE files have a copyright string in the "overlay" segment (refer to MS-DOS EXE#Special file positions).

Some COM files have distinctive "created using" text near the start of the file.

Some files contain an identifying string like "[PFH94]".

EXE files made by T2E PD start with the bytes in the T2BR.EXE file.

Software

• TXT2EXE:
  • v3.34: Pegasus 2.0 → pegasus/anwend_2/txt2exe.zip
  • v3.49: Pegasus 2.0 → pegasus/textutil/txt2exe.zip
  • v3.55: Best of German Only 1 → ANWENDER/TXT2EXE/*
  • v3.68: HAREWARE HIT-MIX Vol. 6 → 04/154/TXT2EXE_.EXE
  • v4.00: Frankfurt 3 → TOOLS/TXT2EXE.ZIP
  • v4.01 (~1994-05-09): DIE Karstadt Shareware → PROGRAMM/TOP4/TOP4031.ZIP
  • v4.01 (~1994-07-10): Chip Special Survival Kit → 01tools/txt2exe/_txt2exe.exe

Sample files

• Plex CD Vol. 2 → d_demos/as_chart.zip/README.ARJ → README.EXE (v2.x?)
• Frankfurt 3 → daten/vidpro3.zip → README.EXE (v3.x)
• Frankfurt 3 → bildung/numerus.zip → README.EXE (v3.x)
• Frankfurt 3 → business/buchdas.zip → BUCHDAS.LZH → README.EXE (v3.x)
• TRNSMAIL.ZIP → TRNSMAIL.EXE (v4.01β)