Back to Front Page
global menu:
LIST by FUNCTION LIST by NAME... ...A - L ...M - Z INDIVIDUAL PAGES... ...Anti Virus Utils ...Archive Utils (2) ...Batch Utils ...Calculators, Stats ...Calendar, Clock, PIM ...Communications ...Compress, Encode, Crypt ...Dbase, Genealogy, S-sheet ...Directory Utils (2) ...Disk Utilities (2) ...File Find, Identify ...File Managers ...File Utils (2) ...Graphics (2) ...HTML Utils (2) ...Keyboard, Mouse Utils ...Menu ...Miscellaneous (2) ...Screen Utils ...Sound, CD players ...Text Editors (2) ...Text Viewers ...Text Format, Filter (2) ...Text Search, Replace ...Text Spellers, Dicts ...Other Text Utils ...WIN31 related utils NEW ADDITIONS NEWS Get TEXT ver. (zip) INTRODUCTION MORE RESOURCES FRONT PAGE
Go to page 2 for more text editors.
Summary: Multi-Edit Lite handles large files, multiple document interface, mouse compatible, multiple undo, text drag/drop. NE and EditV have mult. document interfaces but handle smaller files; NE includes an English spell checker. PEDIT easy point and click, handles files as large as avail. conventional mem., Win9x LFN support, single file editing only, English speller and thesaurus. The most "word processor-like" editor below is VDE but it is not really a GUI user's editor; handles smaller files. SLED is an excellent small (17K) editor. FTE and SETEDIT are power editors better suited to programmers, but have point and click interfaces. Vim is an excellent power editor with a steeper learning curve for GUI users (but worth the effort). Win9x LFN support: PEDIT, VIM (32-bit ver.), SETEDIT, FTE, TDE (32-bit ver.), JED, ZED, PICO.
Turbo Vision-derived editors.
This family of DOS text editors essentially derive from the same Borland programming code and share a user-friendly, text-mode multiple window interface with pulldown menus and mouse support. GUI users will likely be attracted to these editors. Most seem to be restricted to handling smaller files (<64K). There are many of these clones floating around- a few unique ones are listed here. Also see: 1) SETEDIT, a powerful programmer's editor with a Borland interface. 2) The Connect IDE includes an impressive Borland style editor.
1. NE- Editor with multiple windows, mouse support, and a spell checker.
* * * 1/2
NE is a Turbo Vision-derived editor that's a good choice as a simple ASCII word processor or EDIT.COM replacement. Although it can only load files smaller than 64K, it has an undo function and offers numerous text-formatting features. EXE size: 87k + speller 367k
Strengths
Limitations
download ne300b.zip. (370K)
2. EditV- Multiple window text editor with mouse support, smaller files.
* * * * [added 8-16-98, updated 04-03-99].
Intended primarily as a programmer's editor but doubles as a simple to use general editor. The author is still actively developing EditV, and it's getting more interesting with each update. EXE size= 211K; help file= 130K. Author: Bob Ferguson, Netherlands (1999). Suggested by Tomas Brunclik.
Some unique features:
Limitations:
04-03-99: New in v4.1 (04-99): See evhstus.txt
download editv41u.zip (180K)
OTHER TEXT EDITORS...
Multi-Edit Lite- Multi-window editor. Mouse/menu driven. Large files.
* * * * 1/2
Recommended for the Windows/MAC/GUI crowd....
Finding a freeware editor for DOS which is mouse compatible, menu driven, and handles very large files is difficult (there is EDIT that comes packaged with DOS 6.x, but it lacks important features [e.g., undo]). Nearly all the freeware, CUA compliant DOS editors are similar clones derived from the same TFileEditor object included with Borland's Turbo Vision (e.g., NE), and they won't load files bigger than 64K. A kind reader of these pages pointed me to a "lite" version of Multi-Edit on SimtelNet. The text mode, multiple window interface looks and behaves much like NE but there's much more under the skin:
Features :
Note: Frustrating quirk: The file listing in the File Open/Load dialog is sorted by the second character of the filename- not the first. Instead of scrolling the list, you can find a file more quickly by typing the first few characters of the filename.
*SHAREWARE STATUS NOTE: Multi-Edit Lite is shareware. Quote from the docs: "If you like and use Multi-Edit Lite, we request a donation of $40 (or whatever you feel is appropriate)." (my emphasis).
download melite.zip (224K)
IE- Mouse and menu driven editor handles large files.
unrated [updated 04-16-99]
A menu driven, multi ("split") window editor that handles big files. External directory browser includes some file management commands. Feature list from the docs:
Notes: Requires 386+ PC, VGA+.
04-16-99: new in v1.02 (2-99): Fixes and enhancements...see docs.
Author: Ian Gay, Canada (1999)
download ie.102.zip (160K)
VDE- Text editor designed for word processing.
* * * * 1/2 [updated 3-6-99]
"This may be the finest piece of word processing code ever written." - John Dvorak, PC Magazine (April 24 1990).
Few die-hard GUI users will probably be attracted to VDE's editing style- but anyone who's at least tried it will certainly appreciate the hard work that has been invested in the development of VDE. It is a very mature and stable product (under development since 1987) that offers many text mode word processing features. It's quite easy to use- but if you rely on a mouse to do your work, this may not be your program. Most commands are available as Word-Star key shortcuts which some people love and some people don't. Coded in assembly language, the executable file is remarkably small (75k) for the tasks this program can perform. Excellent documentation. VDE is shareware but registration is not required from individual users. Author: E. Meyer (1998); Home Page.
Text editor features:
Word processor features:
v. 1.87a (2-99): See docs for revision history.
download vde187a.zip (170K) download vde165c.zip (older version for 8086's, 163K)
Pedit- EDIT-like editor with added features, Eng. spell checker, thesaurus.
* * * * 1/2 [added 6-97; updated 11-14-98]
Overall, Pedit is one of the more versatile yet user-friendly editors listed here. Although a programmer's editor, Pedit's design also incorporates a selection of word processing features (e.g., a spell checker and thesaurus- English only). Superficially similar to MS-DOS's EDIT (pulldown menus, dialogs, mouse compatible), Pedit is vastly superior in most respects. Loads files as large as available conventional memory. EXE size= about 300K (incorporates spell checker and thesaurus). PEDIT is undergoing active development. Author: Paul Brand, Hong Kong. (1998)
Features:
New in v. 3.30 (11-98): " Enlarged pick list, permanent entries in the pick list, release of the printing agent for all Pedit users, loading of last edited file at startup."
download pedit330.zip (225K)
SMALL TEXT EDITORS.
1. Terse -Tiny text editor with search/replace, undo. 2. EzEdit -4K dual file text editor. 3. SuperTed -Tiny text editor with word wrap, file import. 4. SLED - Small text editor with big features. 5. SHHED- Small text editor, limited mouse support, dir browser. 6. E - Tiny, friendly text editor for simple word processing. 7. Tiny Editor - Small (9K) customizable multi-file text editor.
In a software age where bigger is....well, bigger, these very small editors demonstrate just what can be packed into a little bit of computer code. Included here are small editors suitable for emergency disks, computers lacking disk space/ memory, or quick, portable text editing. All of these editors have unique key commands, quirks, and surprises.
Here's a more detailed, quickly compiled feature comparison: (see key for abbreviations; revised 12-29-98):
PROGRAM=====TERSE==EZEDT==STED==E====TE==SLED==SHED Size(K) ......4.....4.....6.4...6.7..9.2..17...17 Packed(K).....nc....nc....4.2...4.5..7.0..11...11 File loading .c.....c/i...c/i...c/i..c/i..c/i..c/d Max f-size(K).65...~200...65....mem..mem..mem..mem Max columns..unlim..128....?....80...255..16K..255 Mark modes ...s.....l/c....s....l.....s...s/l...s Copy block ...y......n.....n....y.....y....y....y Move block ...y......y.....y....y.....y....y....y Undo .........y......y.....y....n.....n....n....n Find txt .....y......y.....y....y.....y....y....y Replace txt ..y......y.....y....y.....y....y....y Word wrap ....n......n.....y ...y.....y....y....n PROGRAM=====TERSE==EZEDT==STED==E====TE==SLED==SHED Reflow text ..n......n.....y....y.....y....y....n Auto-indent ..n......n.....n....o.....n....o....o Multi files...n......2.....n....n.....y....y....n Quote text ...n......n.....y....n.....y....n....n Shell to DOS .y......y.....n....y.....y....y....n Mouse supp ...n......n.....n....n.....n....n....y File history..n......n.....n....n.....n....n....y Online Hlp ...y......n.....y....y.....y....y....y Configure ....n......n.....n....y.....y....y....y Rating .......4......4.....3....3.....4....4....3
Key and notes:
Shareware info: Terse is shareware, free for individual use. SLED is now a freeware program- but was originally fee-ware. Most FTP sites still carry the old zip with the shareware documentation. The author later modified the documentation to indicate freeware status, but the new zip has not been widely distributed. Thanks to Yves Bellefeuille for the link to the freeware "version" on the author's site.
[ Go to Top | Front Page ]
© 1994-1999. Rich Green