Read-A-Matic

File Format
Name	Read-A-Matic
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Executable envelopes Read-A-Matic
Released	1994

Read-A-Matic is a menu-driven DOS utility for converting a text file to an EXE file that, when executed, displays a text in a full-screen viewer. It was developed by Michael L. Wester.

Discussion

The executable part of a generated file is pre-compressed with PKLITE.

When a generated file has finished executing, it may print a message implying it was made by something named "README.EXE".

Identification

Files made by a given version start with the bytes in the included RAM.OVL file.

Only v1.0 has been found, though there was probably also a registered version of it.

Software

• Read-A-Matic v1.0

Sample files

• DKCARE20.ZIP → DISK.EXE (self-extracting ZIP) → README.EXE
• Value-Ware Software Sharewares → DESPAIR/README.EXE