Screen Utilities for DOS

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Some programs on this page might be better classified in other groups.


COPY AND PASTE SCREEN TEXT (w/ Mouse/Keys)


1. Mousebuf -Copy/ paste screen text.
2. MouseClip -Copy/ paste screen text; several marking modes, Win clip support
3. xPCMOUSE -Copy/ paste screen text; save to file, Win clip support, much more.
4. Dosclip -Copy/ paste screen text; copy to Win clipboard.
5. Snipper -Copy/ paste screen text; save to file.

Mousebuf, MouseClip, and xPCMOUSE are similar TSR programs that allow a user to highlight, copy, and paste text from a text mode DOS screen or application using the mouse. Dosclip and Snipper, older PCMAG TSR utilities, also copy and paste screen text- but use the cursor keys rather than a mouse. These programs tend to work best when not run in a secondary shell- like Windows. These programs have a wide variety of uses: I use them infrequently to copy text from the screen and paste into a document. Others use these programs for more advanced purposes (e.g., grabbing text in terminal programs, manipulating text in editors).

MouseClip [added 04-19-00] is a newer (2000) program that I haven't had time to play with much, but it could be the best choice for the average user because it combines a degree of versatility with ease-of-use. MouseClip uniquely permits several marking modes (word, stream, line, wrapped line, column, paragraph, definable character classes...) and can both copy to and paste from the Windows clipboard. Importantly, usage is easy to comprehend and help is always available from the command line. MOUSEBUF is an older and simpler program but has the advantage of being able to operate within programs that already have mouse support. xPCMOUSE [updated 08-29-00] was designed for a broad range of uses (e.g., terminal programs, VI / EMACS-like editors, SUNPC and LINUX DOSEMU DOS emulators, Windows clipboard support). See the comparison chart below for a small taste of XPCMOUSE's capabilities. Xpcmouse can append highlighted text to a file and it can recognize and grab e-mail addresses, URLS, or user-defined character classes. XPCMOUSE also supports cursor positioning (e.g., in mouseless editors) and emulation of arrow keys (e.g., navigate menus in programs that lack mouse support). Included in the Xpcmouse package are XPCARROW and XPCPASTE. These perform only a subset of the functions of XPCMOUSE but also use less memory.

Older freeware copy/ paste programs of interest: Dosclip avoids some of the potential conflicts associated with using a mouse. Under Windows, DOSCLIP will also transfer copied text to the Windows clipboard (useful in full screen mode). Help screen available. While Snipper can't copy to the Win clipboard, it has useful features lacking in DOSCLIP: 1) the option to send marked text to printer or a file 2) the option to quote marked text first, e.g., for use in DOS communications programs. Although Snipper is not difficult to use, you'll need to memorize the commands- the online option menu is somewhat hidden (after marking text [Alt-W, ENTER, mark] press ENTER again to get a popup menu of available options.)

------------------------------------------------------------
                       Comparison Chart
key: 
1= DOSCLIP 2= SNIPPER 3= MOUSEBUF 4= xPCMOUSE 5= MouseClip
------------------------------------------------------------
PROGRAM                  1       2        3       4        5
------------------------------------------------------------
Version............... [1.0]..[2.6] ...[0.3B]...[1.4]...[1.0]
Def. memory req (K) .... 9 ..... 4 ...... 3 ..... 4 ...... 3
Adj. mem buffer ........ n ..... n ...... y ..... y ...... y
Uninstall switch ....... y ..... n ...... y ..... y ...... y
Mouse support........... n ..... n ...... y ..... y ...... y
Dormant in mouse progs.. n ..... n ...... n ..... y ...... y
Selection modes:
 stream................. n ..... n ...... y...... y ...... y
 rectangular (column) .. y ......y .......n...... y ...... y
 line................... n ......n .......n...... ? ...... y
 paragraph.............. n ......n .......n...... ? ...... y
 words, char. classes... n ..... n .......n...... y ...... y
Cursor positioning ..... n ..... n ...... n ..... y ...... n
Copy to Win clipboard .. y ..... n ...... n ..... y ...... y
Paste from Win clip..... n ......n .......n...... ? ...... y
Quote copied text ...... n ..... y ...... n ..... n ...... n
Save/append to file .... n ..... y ...... n ..... y ...... n
Swap mouse buttons ..... n/a ... n/a .... n ..... y ...... n
Arrow key emulation .... n ..... n ...... n ... option ... n
Mouse handler settings.. n/a ... n/a .... n ..... y ...... y
------------------------------------------------------------

08-29-00: xPCMOUSE v1.4 (1998) replaces v1.3. Changes: minor fix for uninstall under Win9x.

download v11n07.zip (43K, DOSCLIP)
download snippr26.zip (18K, Snipper)
download mouseb03.zip (7K, MOUSEBUF)
download mclip100.zip (7K, MouseClip)
download xpcmou14.zip (73K, xPCMOUSE, v1.4)


SCREEN CAPTURE


1. TextCap- TSR text mode screen capture utility.

* * * *

TextCap represents an efficient method of quickly capturing single or multiple text mode screens to file(s). Handles screen sizes up to 132 columns and 50 lines. Modifiable hotkey (default is Ctrl-F9) and option to uninstall from memory. Requires about 14K RAM when resident. Captured raw files are automatically saved and named (scn0000x.txt) and must be converted to readable ASCII text using the included filter SCN2ASC.EXE. Author: Gisbert W. Selke. (1991).

USAGE:
/?........display list of available arguments; do not install 
/P<path>..Use the path given instead of the current directory. 
/K<xxxx>..Use a different hot key specified by the 4 hex digits <xxxx>
/U........Uninstall

download txtcap20.zip (18K)


2. Capture- Capture text mode screens to file (non-TSR).

* * *

Capture is a non-memory resident program that can capture a text mode screen to a file. Note that this is not a TSR, so it's use is limited to the command line or batch files. Color screens can be captured either as special VID files (viewable with Capture) or as plain text files.

Syntax:

CAPTURE [play] mode
mode is either C (for colour), M (for monochrome), or T (for plain text)

Part of Jem Berkes' DOSUTILS package. Freeware.

Download DOSUTILS from: Jem Berkes' PC Utilities site.


3. Screen Thief- Captures Text, VGA+ screens to BMP, TIFF, PCX, TXT.

* * * * * [added 12-23-98]

Add description.

Excellent program. Formerly shareware. Freeware release (v2.01 ; 9-98) , GIF support removed. Author: Villa Software. Villa Software Home Page.

download st201f.zip (38K)


4. VideoThief- Captures VGA, X-mode, SVGA screens.

unrated [added 12-97 updated 08-16-99]

"VideoThief v0.07 is a screen grabber which supports all VGA modes and all VBE 2.0 compliant SuperVGA modes, including text modes, "tweaked" VGA modes (so-called X-modes), banked VESA modes and even LFB VESA modes. Viewer writes BMP files, so you can easily export a picture you've captured. Coded in pure assembler, thus tiny." Author: Andrew Aksyonoff, Russia (1999).

08-16-99: New in v0.07 (7-99): Mainly bug fixes.

download vthf007.zip (20K)


5. TCAP- TSR logs console text input/ output to file.

(Technically not a screen capture program) See extended description.


SCREEN MODE RELATED

(08-12-00) Need to add:


SS- Toggle between 25 and 50 (43 EGA) line modes.

unrated [added 08-19-00]

SS is a quick, handy tool that toggles the screen between 25 and 50 (43 EGA) line modes. "SS makes use of the VESA standard for EGA/VGA devices, and it is built-in to your video card (It MUST be EGA or VGA). SS sets the new mode in DOS, and tells DOS to tell the video card to switch to the new mode. SS does not require ANSI.SYS to be loaded." Author: MSH Softworks, Michael S. Hooper (1996) Home Page. Suggested by H. Schwartz.

download ss.zip (8K)


Text Mode (TM)- Provides control of various text screen settings.

unrated [added 08-19-00]

Requirements: 186+, VGA.

Usage:  TM.COM <cols>[x<rows>] -m[<mode>] ,<lines>
                -c[<cols>] -r[<rows>] -f[<height|file>]
                -p[<page>] -s[<attr>] -b[<border>] -d
                -w[<height>]

cols  can be one of 40, 80 or 90
rows  ranges from 12 to 80
-m    uses BIOS to set a mode (in hexadecimal)
lines sets the scan lines to use: 1 to 4 = 200, 350, 400 or 480
-f    sets the font height (6 to 16) or loads a font from file
-p    will select a page (1 to, at most, 8)
-s    will save screen contents or clear screen to attr
-b    will set the border/frame/overscan color
-d    displays current columns, rows and font height
-w    will write all fonts or a particular height to file

Missing values will display the current value, unless -q is added.
Errorlevel is set to the last used (not the last displayed).

Additional programs are included which allow the font and screen colors to be permanently changed (use BIOS fonts, or a custom font).

Author: Jason Hood, Australia (2000). Home Page.

Get tm102.zip (45K) from Home Page.


VMODE- Display or set the current video mode and/or screen rows.

unrated [added 9-12-98 updated 04-20-00]

Call: vmode [ mode /rows  /br|/bl /N ]
             mode = 0-127   [ system default = 3 ]
             rows = 25,30,43,50 (or 2,3,4,5)
                    (Note: 30 rows = video mode 18.)
             /br|/bl = Set ANSI display for bright background or blinking
                       foreground (ANSI.SYS must be installed).
             /N = Do not clear screen when changing video mode.

Part of the author's DOSPROGS package. Also included in package are CED (text editor), DD (directory lister with color coding), and other utils.

Update 04-20-00: No changes to vmode program- other programs modified/ added to package.

Author: Les Leist (2000).

download dosprogs.zip (130K)


ForcExt- TSR forces extended text mode display (43, 50 lines).

unrated

From the docs...

"This program will force extended textmode (50 lines on VGA or 43 lines on EGA) when other programs terminate. It can also be set to force extended mode when programs change textmode through the BIOS." Uses less than 1K memory. Option to uninstall.

Usage: FORCEXT [options]
options: 
-a[-]... Enable [disable] always forcing extended mode. 
-n[-]... Enable [disable] Norwegian letters oe/OE. 
-off.... Temporarily disable program. 
-on..... Reenable program. 
-q...... Quiet. Don't show status messages. 
-u...... Uninstall if possible.

Author: Sverre H. Huseby, Norway (1994).

download frcext31.zip (17K)


MONO- TSR forces B/W display of text mode screens.

* *

I have a subpar grayscale VGA display on my old 386 laptop. Text mode programs intended for color displays often appear muddled -and I'm too lazy to change color attributes in those programs that allow customization. MONO is an old PCMag TSR utility that transforms your screen into a mono (B/W) display. Doesn't work smoothly with some programs but a hot key (alt-M) can toggle mono mode on and off. MONO does not support programs that run in a graphics mode. The /U switch uninstalls MONO from memory. "...some loss in speed must be anticipated, though the amount of degradation will vary with the type and clock speed of the system microprocessor. "

Not an elegant solution- but neither is MODE MONO.

Author: Michael J. Mefford. (1989)

download v8n06.zip (32K)


SCREEN SAVERS and related. . .


1. DimVESA- DPMS power-saving screen blanker.
2. DpmSave- DPMS power-saving screen blanker.
3. Blackout- TSR screen blanker permits background processes.
4. Metamorf- Screen saver (non-tsr) displays rotating 3D objects.
5. Acid Warp- Hallucinogenic pattern cycler (usable as non-tsr scr. saver).
6. Stary's Screen Savers- 5 non-tsr screen savers.

1.DimVESA unrated [added 09-21-99] executes the successive DPMS (Display Power Management Signaling) modes STANDBY, SUSPEND , and OFF. User sets a single delay time which applies to all modes. If DPMS is not available, the program can still blank the screen. Compatible with Win3x/9x- see docs for usage instructions under Win9x. Memory requirement: 2K. Optional interactive mode makes setting options a breeze. DimVESA is free for private use only. Authors: Alexander C. Eremeef, D. Boling and J. Prosise (1997), Sugg. by H. Schwartz.

download dimves31.zip (50K)


2. DpmSave unrated [added 09-21-99] "is a screen saver for MS-DOS that switches DPMS compatible computer monitors into power saving mode....Occupies only 512 bytes ....can load itself into upper memory" Don't attempt to use DpmSave if you're uncertain about your monitor's support of DPMS. Author: Klaus Hartnegg, Germany (1995), Sugg. by H. Schwartz.

download dpmsv13e.zip (20K)


3. Blackout. [updated 12-18-98] * * * From the docs: "Blackout (2K) has a couple of unique design features that give it capabilities that are beyond any other screen saver's: namely, the ability to co-exist with troublesome applications such as games, and the power to always fully restore the screen. Blackout also allows applications to run while the screen is blank. The program occupies very little memory and can be completely configured and uninstalled from the command-line." Free for personal use. (1998) New in v2.0: Total re-write.

Download Blackout from: Jem Berkes' PC Utilities site.


4. METAMORF: * * * * [added 9-97; updated 03-31-01] is a slick pseudo-screen saver for DOS. It runs on a 286 machine with EGA, but looks best on a fast machine with 256 color capability. Metamorf generates and rotates 3D objects composed of points of color. As a stand-alone program, Metamorf does not function as a memory resident screen saver- but like a screen saver, any keyboard or mouse input will terminate the program. v. 2.1: bug fixes, additional features. Author: Pavel Vitis (1999) Home Page.

03-31-01: v2.2 (1999) added- was not widely distributed.

download mtmrf22.exe (rar exe, 134K)


5. Acid Warp: * * * * [added 8-16-98]. Hallucinogenic "eye-candy" program displays a variety of interesting VGA patterns. To exit use CTRL-Break. Authors: Noah Spurrier and Mark Bilk (1993). My source: http://www.hyperreal.org/tools/msdos/. Also see: TOUECCANS for a large selection of similar animated programs.

download aw406.zip (26K)

Similar VGA pattern and color cycling programs which I rate better than average:


6. Stary's Screen Savers: * * * * [updated 03-25-01]. This package includes 5 non-TSR VGA screen savers with better than average effects. Key or mouse action will abort. Includes: BULGE (distortion effect, use your own pcx image)...FURNACE (average) ... FLAMES (who needs a fire place?)... STARFIELD ( starfield with directional changes)... DOTTY (3d sphere rotation- similar to Metamorf). Compiled as *.ss files for DOS Navigator, but an included utility will convert the screen savers to EXE files which can be run directly from the command line. Requires 386+, DPMI provider, and VGA. From Wojciech Dzierzanowski. New in version 1.1 (03-25-01): v1.2 (09-99) available.

Get strss12.zip (206K) from Home Page.


ASCII CHARTS, RULERS, and related.


1. CtrlAlt- TSR pops-up ASCII charts, Hex table, ANSI codes, mark/paste, more.
2. ASCIITab- TSR, mouse compatible ASCII chart.
3. T-CHAR- Non-TSR ASCII chart.
4. SIZEIT- TSR ruler with horizontal and vertical positioning.

1. CtrlAlt * * * * This may be the oldest DOS program I still use. CtrlAlt was released in 1986, but still serves a useful purpose if you're a DOS lover. Using a variety of mnemonic key combinations, you can pop up all sorts of charts from which you can paste special characters into a document. Includes ASCII, Hex, and Ansi code charts, key scan codes, line drawing characters. Can also mark and copy screen text. Includes more exotic stuff as well. Note: CtrlAlt cannot unload itself from memory. This is one program that requires a thorough reading of the documentation- there are no help screens. Authors: B. Simon and R. Wilson.

download ctrlalt.zip (53K)

2. ASCIITab unrated [added 4-28-98]: A nicely enhanced TSR ASCII chart symbol picker; especially useful in editors. Allows creation of a multiple character string on the chart's editing line (up to 255 symbols). Requires about 4.1K RAM with a default 128 character buffer. Other features:

download ascii350.zip (34K)

3. T-CHAR unrated [added 4-28-98]: A slick non-TSR ASCII chart which displays ASCII, HEX, and BIN values of selected characters. Returns all values for selected character. Author: Strathrory System Limited. (1995); Suggested by Robert Bull.

download t-char.zip (16.3K)

4. SIZEIT unrated [added 09-21-99] is an old TSR pop-up ruler that can come in handy for lots of programs (e.g., in editors determine column position, line up code or bullets, check text width for printing; in other programs quickly determine screen location of text). By default, a horizontal ruler is displayed- the up/down arrow keys allow you to position the ruler anywhere on screen. Indexed in inches or characters. Pressing the INS key will generate a second, vertical ruler (inches) which can also be positioned with the right/left arrow keys.

Notes: Hot Key: Ctrl + Alt + Right Shift (not modifiable). Requires about 4K memory. No uninstall option. Author: Douglas C. Fretz (1987). Sugg. by H. Schwartz.

download scsizeit.zip (3.5K)


OTHER


ANSI.SYS replacements/ enhancers

1. NNANSI- Fast ANSI.SYS driver replacement.

* * * * * [added 1994]

"NNANSI.COM (version 5/93) is an improved version of NANSI.SYS (version 2.2, now GPL), by Daniel Kegel, which is in turn such an improvement over ANSI.SYS that *no one* should be without one of these....Works as a device driver or uninstallable TSR." Free for non-commercial use. Author: Tom Almy (1993)

download nnans593.zip (67K)

2. Warp- Device driver speeds up displays.

* * * * * [added 06-01-99]

From the docs: "Warp is a [config.sys] device driver for speeding up standard output. Additional features include auto-pause, a shortened BIOS beep, and partial ANSI support...Warp's ANSI support is limited to clear screen, move cursor, and set color...Warp will NOT work with other ANSI drivers (like ANSI.SYS)...Warp requires a PC/XT/AT compatible and DOS 3.0 or higher. " Author: Eric Tauck (1995)

download warp231.zip (10K)

3. ANSISET- Conveniently sets colors / reassign keys using ANSI driver.

unrated [added 12-05-00].

"If you have a version of ansi.sys installed, this program conveniently sets screen colors and reassigns keys such as F1 to run programs or type text (ordinarily, to do this one must set the prompt variable, or insert somewhat complex escape key sequences in a text file, and then run that file)."

SYNTAX: ansiset option1 option2 ...

Foreground color options:
        black,  red,  green,  brown,  blue,  magenta,  cyan,  white
Background color options:
        bblack, bred, bgreen, bbrown, bblue, bmagenta, bcyan, bwhite
Other color options:
        normal, reverse, bright
Keyboard Reassignment options: form x=y where
        x = ascii code of key (for extended keys, use 0; prefix)
        y = ascii codes or strings separated by semicolons
Misc  options:
        -h, -H, -? for help
        -v, -V     for version number

Author: Venu P. Gopal (1987). Suggested by H. Schwartz.

download ansiset.zip (12.6K)


PERUSE- TSR scrollback buffer utility.

* * *

Peruse is a tsr that allows you to scroll back and forth through multiple recent screens of text. The scroll lock key functions as the hot key. Peruse is also a useful tool for some comm programs that don't have their own scrollback buffer. Peruse can uninstall itself from memory. Requires XMS or EMS memory. Authors: Bob Flanders and Michael Holmes/ PC Magazine (1994)

/En  tells PERUSE to use nK of EMS memory *
/Xn  tells PERUSE to use nK of XMS memory
/U   removes PERUSE from memory
n must be in the range 16 to 8192.

download v13n07.zip (133K)


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