Also see View.

 HTML converters are listed in HTML Utilities.

Advanced, broad function text processing programs like LM, SED, or AWK can perform most of the specialized tasks described in this section, but those listed below may be better suited to the casual user or may include special options not available in other tools.

If you're looking for a converter that also handles MAC text, see NLX in the Penta Text Tools, or REMOVE, or FIXTEXT.

RUM — Converts a file between UNIX and DOS text formats.

unrated

[added 1998-04-04]

Simple, reliable, and user-friendly. No wildcard support. Can ouput to same or different filename.

Enter RUM with no parameters, to go to interactive mode. From command line or batch:

Usage:    RUM [/u | /?] [source [output]]
  
Options:  [source]  Input file
          [output]  Output file. If not specified, [source] will be replaced.
          /u        Translate an MS-DOS text file to Unix format
                    If not specified, translate Unix to MS-DOS format.
          /?        Help screen

RUM will ask for confirmation before overwriting an existing file.

Author: Jack Lee / C-Tech Inc. (1993). Suggested by Marianna Van Erp.

1993-11-14: v1.0.

Download rum10.zip (10K).

FLIP — Converts file(s) between UNIX and DOS text formats.

unrated

[added 1998-04-04, updated 2006-03-14]

FLIP accepts wildcards and offers some specialized options (e.g., convert binaries, no time stamp modification of output files). Outputs to same filename.

   Usage:  flip -umhvtsbz file ...

   One of -u, -m, or -h is required; others are optional. See user manual.

   -u   convert to **IX format (CR LF => LF, lone CR or LF unchanged,
        trailing control Z removed, embedded control Z unchanged)
   -m   convert to MS-DOS format (lone LF => CR LF, lone CR unchanged)
   -h   give this help message
   -v   be verbose, print filenames as they are processed
   -t   touch files (don't preserve timestamps)
   -s   strip high bit
   -b   convert binary files too (else binary files are left unchanged)
   -z   truncate file at first control Z encountered

   May be invoked as "toix" (same as "flip -u") or "toms" (same as "flip -m").

Author: Rahul Dhesi (1989). Originally featured on Yves Bellefeuille's freeware list.

1989-07-21: v1.0a.

Download flip1exe.zip (15K).

ux2dos & dos2ux — Convert Unix format text < > DOS format (mixed formats handled).

* * * *

[added 2004-10-03]

dos2ux replaces carriage-return/newline pairs by newlines in DOS format text files to conform to UNIX requirements. Existing isolated newlines are left intact, so that no changes are made to a file which is already in UNIX format.

ux2dos adds carriage returns to isolated newlines (linefeeds) in UNIX format text files to conform to DOS requirements. Existing carriage-return/newline pairs are left intact, so that no changes are made to a file which is already in DOS format.

Access and modification time stamps of the files are preserved.

Author: Nelson H. F. Beebe (1989).

Download ux2dos.zip (22K).

For a good beginner's intro to the desktop publishing package TeX, see Scott Nesbitt's article TeX: The DTP Alternative.

AntiWord — Displays MS Word files, and converts to plain text, PostScript, PDF.

unrated

[added 2001-10-14, updated 2005-12-09]

AntiWord displays documents created by Microsoft Word v2, or v6 and later. It also converts from Word format to plain text, PostScript (see Ghostscript) or PDF. "A Word document can now be saved as 'formatted' text. That means with things like *bold* to show bold text, /italics/ to show italics and _undeline_ to show underlined text are added to the plain text". Use as a filter. 16- and 32-bit DOS versions available – 32-bit version is a DJGPP build, requires 80386+ and a DOS Protected Mode Interface (CWSDPMI, or other). Also available for RISC OS, Linux, Unix (with sources), BeOS, OS/2, Mac OS/X, Amiga. Freeware under GNU General Public License.

Usage: antiword [switches] wordfile1 [wordfile2 ...]

Switches: [-f|-t|-a papersize|-p papersize|-x dtd]
          [-m mapping][-w #][-i #][-Ls]

          -f formatted text output
          -t text output (default)
          -a <paper size name> Adobe PDF output
          -p <paper size name> PostScript output paper size like:
             a4, letter or legal
          -x <dtd> XML output like: db (DocBook)
          -m <mapping> character mapping file
          -w <width> in characters of text output
          -i <level> image level (PostScript only)
          -L use landscape mode (PostScript only)
          -s Show hidden (by Word) text

Limitations: "Many images are not shown yet. Some of the images that are shown, are shown in the wrong place. PostScript output is only available in ISO 8859-1 and ISO 8859-2.."

Notes: The DOS version expects its mapping files in %HOME%\ANTIWORD if HOME is set, or in C:\ANTIWORD\ if HOME is not set (mapping files are distributed in the \RESOUR~1 directory of the zipfile – place them in C:\ANTIWORD after unzipping).

Author: Adri van Os, Netherlands (2005). Suggested by Robert Bull.

2005-10-21: v0.37.

Antiword page "...best viewed with your monitor switched on."

catdoc — Converts / extracts text from Word, Excel or PowerPoint files.

Author: Victor Wagner, Russia (2006).

2006-02-25: v0.94.2.

Download catdoc-0.94.2.zip (361K).

Get more info, history & updates at the catdoc & xls2csv page.

Also see the author's DOS utilities.

HelpDeco — Converts Win 3.x/95 HLP files to RTF format.

* * * *

This DOS program is a Windows 3.x/95 *.HLP file decompiler. It's useful to the non-programmer because it has an option  /r  that converts HLP files to RTF format, which can be further converted to plain text (by word processors) or to HTML (e.g., see Martha). Also included: SPLITMRB and ZAPRES, image processors. A large program (237K), but fast. Documentation bilingual (German/English); may be difficult to follow.

will recreate all source files (RTF, HPJ, MVP, BMP, WMF, SHG, MRB,...) from all Windows 3.x/'95 .HLP help files and most .MVB multi media viewer titles. Load the resulting RTF file into WinWord to view and print, or modify the topics of the help file and rebuild it using the appropriate help compiler (HC30, HC31, HCP, HCW, HCRTF, WMVC, MMVC, MVC, not included, available at Microsoft). The rebuilt helpfile will not be identical, but should behave like the original, even in respect to inter-HLP-file links. All text, formatting, hypertext links, pictures, macros etc. will be conserved...It will run as a 16 bit application from MS-DOS command line and as a 32 bit application from Windows 95/NT command line.

Author: Manfred Winterhoff, Germany (1997).

1997-01-28: v2.1.

Get more info and external support utils at the HelpDeco page.

WP2LaTeX — Converts WordPerfect 3.x-8.x, HTML, RTF & other document files to LaTeX.

unrated

[updated 2006-08-21]

WP2LaTeX is a program, which is designed to translate WordPerfect documents into LaTeX 2.09 and LaTeX 2.0e. The current version is able to cope with Macintosh WordPerfect 3.x, WP 4.x; WP 5.x and WP 6.x documents. (WP 7.x & 8.x have same binary file format as WP6 so no additional conversion module is necessary.) WP2LaTeX is NOT a text processor and converted documents will require a LaTeX document processor.

It is possible to convert a lot of features in the current version for example: Headers, Tables, Equations, Centered+Right+Left text, a lot of extended characters (greek, math, cyrilic, accented) and of course a normal text.

Other: Now also converts from abiword, Accent, MTEFF, OLE Stream, HTML, RTF, Text602 and WORD formats. Accepts Unicode character input. TIPA font support. Program messages in choice of English / Czech / German. Download package contains executables for DOS16, DOS32 (DJGPP build), OS/2, Linux, Win32. Source code also included.

Author: Jaroslav Fojtik, Czech Republic (2006). Suggested by Scott Nesbitt.

2006-06-25: v3.29.

Download wp2latex-3.29.zip (3.1MB).

Online User's Guide.

Visit the WP2LaTeX Homepage for more info, latest and older versions, and support utilities.

XRAY — Extract plain text from binary files.

* * *

Use XRAY to show text contained in EXEs, DLLs, etc. It can also be used as a crude means of getting plain text from any word processor file, although formatting is lost in the process. Requires DOS 2.0+, 64K memory. Source code (Modula-2) included.

Author: Scott McIntosh (1990).

1990-04-11: v1.05.

Download xray105.zip (7.5K).

Also see the similar program, ReadText, available at author's page; and X (eXtract byte sequences) in File Utils - 2.

Also see the text converter AntiWord, above.

Here is a list of links, to PostScript and PDF documents by Adobe and others.

a2ps (Any to PostScript) — Generates PostScript from ASCII, dvi, and other file formats.

* * * * *

[added 2005-12-09]

a2ps builds PostScript documents by adding formatting codes to a source text. Output may be sent directly to a PostScript printer, or to a file which can be viewed (and more) with Ghostscript. This is a large, complex program, but setting it up and learning it will pay off – if you need PostScript docs, you will be very happy with a2ps. Ported from Unix, 32-bit DJGPP build, requires 80386+ and a DOS Protected Mode Interface (CWSDPMI or other).

The format used is nice and compact: normally two pages on each physical page, borders surrounding pages, headers with useful information (page number, printing date, file name or supplied header), line numbering, pretty-printing, symbol substitution etc. This is very useful for making archive listings of programs or just to check your code in the bus. Actually a2ps is kind of bootstrapped: its sources are frequently printed with a2ps :).

While at the origin its name was derived from "ASCII to PostScript", today we like to think of it as "Any to PostScript". Indeed, a2ps supports delegations, i.e., you can safely use a2ps to print DVI, PostScript, LaTeX, JPEG etc., even compressed.

A short list of features of a2ps might look like this:

• Customizable through various configuration files
• Powerful escapes to define the headers, table of contents etc. the way you want
• Variables to push even further the customizability in a comfortable manner
• Open approach of encodings
• Excellent support of the Latin 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 encodings, thanks to Ogonkify
• Fully customizable output style: fonts, background and foreground colors, line numbering style etc.
• Possibility to delegate the processing of some files to other filters
• Many contributions, e.g., pretty-print diffs, print reference cards of programs, sanitize broken PostScript files, print Duplex on Simplex printers etc.
• And finally, the ability to pretty-print sources written in quite a few various languages

a2ps [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Convert FILE(s) or standard input to PostScript.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
Long options marked with * require a yes/no argument, corresponding
short options stand for 'yes'.

Tasks:
  --version        display version
  --help           display this help
  --guess          report guessed types of FILES
  --which          report the full path of library files named FILES
  --glob           report the full path of library files matching FILES
  --list=defaults  display default settings and parameters
  --list=TOPIC     detailed list on TOPIC (delegations, encodings, features,
                   variables, media, ppd, printers, prologues, style-sheets,
                   user-options)

After having performed the task, exit successfully.  Detailed lists may
provide additional help on specific features.

Global:
  -q, --quiet, --silent      be really quiet
  -v, --verbose[=LEVEL]      set verbosity on, or to LEVEL
  -=, --user-option=OPTION   use the user defined shortcut OPTION
      --debug                enable debugging features
  -D, --define=KEY[:VALUE]   unset variable KEY or set to VALUE
  -M, --medium=NAME      use output medium NAME
  -r, --landscape        print in landscape mode
  -R, --portrait         print in portrait mode
      --columns=NUM      number of columns per sheet
      --rows=NUM         number of rows per sheet
      --major=DIRECTION  first fill (DIRECTION=) rows, or columns
  -1, -2, ..., -9        predefined font sizes and layouts for 1.. 9 virtuals
  -A, --file-align=MODE  align separate files according to MODE (fill, rank
                         page, sheet, or a number)
  -j, --borders*         print borders around columns
      --margin[=NUM]     define an interior margin of size NUM

The options -1.. -9 affect several primitive parameters to set up
predefined layouts with 80 columns. Therefore the order matters: '-R
-f40 -2' is equivalent to '-2'. To modify the layout, use '-2Rf40', or
compose primitive options ('--columns', '--font-size' etc.).

      --line-numbers=NUM     precede each NUM lines with its line number
  -C                         alias for --line-numbers=5
  -f, --font-size=SIZE       use font SIZE (float) for the body text
  -L, --lines-per-page=NUM   scale the font to print NUM lines per virtual
  -l, --chars-per-line=NUM   scale the font to print NUM columns per virtual
  -m, --catman               process FILE as a man page (same as -L66)
  -T, --tabsize=NUM          set tabulator size to NUM
  --non-printable-format=FMT specify how non-printable chars are printed

Headings:
  -B, --no-header        no page headers at all
  -b, --header[=TEXT]    set page header
  -u, --underlay[=TEXT]  print TEXT under every page
  --center-title[=TEXT]  set page title to TITLE
  --left-title[=TEXT]    set left and right page title to TEXT
  --right-title[=TEXT]
  --left-footer[=TEXT]   set sheet footers to TEXT
  --footer[=TEXT]
  --right-footer[=TEXT]

The TEXTs may use special escapes.

  -a, --pages[=RANGE]        select the pages to print
  -c, --truncate-lines*      cut long lines
  -i, --interpret*           interpret tab, bs and ff chars
      --end-of-line=TYPE     specify the eol char (TYPE: r, n, nr, rn, any)
  -X, --encoding=NAME        use input encoding NAME
  -t, --title=NAME           set the name of the job
      --stdin=NAME           set the name of the input file stdin
      --print-anyway*        force binary printing
  -Z, --delegate*            delegate files to another application
      --toc[=TEXT]           generate a table of content

When delegations are enabled, a2ps may use other applications to handle
the processing of files that should not be printed as raw information,
e.g., HTML PostScript, PDF etc.

  -E, --pretty-print[=LANG]  enable pretty-printing (set style to LANG)
  --highlight-level=LEVEL    set pretty printing highlight LEVEL
                             LEVEL can be none, normal or heavy
  -g                         alias for --highlight-level=heavy
  --strip-level=NUM          level of comments stripping
  -o, --output=FILE          leave output to file FILE.  If FILE is '-',
                             leave output to stdout.
  --version-control=WORD     override the usual version control
  --suffix=SUFFIX            override the usual backup suffix
  -P, --printer=NAME         send output to printer NAME
  -d                         send output to the default printer
      --prologue=FILE        include FILE.pro as PostScript prologue
      --ppd[=KEY]            automatic PPD selection or set to KEY
  -n, --copies=NUM           print NUM copies of each page
  -s, --sides=MODE           set the duplex MODE ('1' or 'simplex',
                             '2' or 'duplex', 'tumble')
  -S, --setpagedevice=K[:V]  pass a page device definition to output
      --statusdict=K[:[:]V]  pass a statusdict definition to the output
  -k, --page-prefeed         enable page prefeed
  -K, --no-page-prefeed      disable page prefeed

Authors: Miguel Santana & Akim Demaille, France (2001).

2001-01-16: v4.13 for DOS. Free under GNU General Public License.

Get more info and versions for other OSes at La GNU a2ps home page. Note that the DOS version info and download link are old (v4.12) – use our link.

Adobe's PostScript pages.

PSUtils (PostScript utilities) — Process PostScript documents.

* * * * *

[added 2005-12-09, updated 2006-08-21]

This is a collection of programs and scripts that adjust formatting of PostScript documents, or prepare other formats for further processing. Some of the tasks can be performed in a2ps, but for small jobs, these utils are faster. Also, the PSUtils will do a few things that a2ps does not. Final output can be viewed in Ghostscript (next item) or sent to a PostScript printer. Scripts require installation of their languages – click the links in the script names to see what they are.

Program executables
psbook		Rearranges pages into signatures
psselect		Selects pages and page ranges
pstops		Performs general page rearrangement and selection
psnup		Put multiple pages per physical sheet of paper
psresize		Alter document paper size
epsffit		Fits an EPSF file to a given bounding box
Scripts
getafm (sh)		Outputs PostScript to retrieve AFM file from printer
showchar (sh)		Outputs PostScript to draw a character with metric info
fixdlsrps (perl)		Filter to fix DviLaser/PS output so that PSUtils works
fixfmps (perl)		Filter to fix framemaker documents so that psselect etc. work
fixmacps (perl)		Filter to fix Macintosh documents with saner version of md
fixpsditps (perl)		Filter to fix Transcript psdit documents to work with PSUtils
fixpspps (perl)		Filter to fix PSPrint PostScript so that psselect etc. work
fixscribeps (perl)		Filter to fix Scribe PostScript so that psselect etc. work
fixtpps (perl)		Filter to fix Troff Tpscript documents
fixwfwps (perl)		Filter to fix Word for Windows documents for PSUtils
fixwpps (perl)		Filter to fix WordPerfect documents for PSUtils
fixwwps (perl)		Filter to fix Windows Write documents for PSUtils
extractres (perl)		Filter to extract resources from PostScript files
includeres (perl)		Filter to include resources into PostScript files
psmerge (perl)		Hack script to merge multiple PostScript files

Available for DOS and in two different versions for the Win32 command line. The DOS EXEs are 32-bit DJGPP programs, requiring 80386+ and a DOS Protected Mode Interface (CWSDPMI or other).

Authors: PSUtils and WinNT compilation by Angus J. C. Duggan (AJCD), Scotland (1991-1997). Win9x/NT/2K/XP compilation by the GnuWin32 project (2005), based on Debian/GNU/Linux version 1.17-17 by Rob Browning (2002).

Get more detailed info on components at Angus J. C. Duggan's PSUtils page. GnuWin32 version info and help can be found at the PsUtils for Windows page, and the latest files are always at the project's PSUtils download page.

Ghostscript — Views and prints PostScript and PDF files.

* * * * *

[added 2005-12-09, updated 2006-08-21]

Ghostscript reads PostScript and PDF files, processes them, and sends formatted output to the screen, to a file, or to a non-PostScript printer. The DOS version is a 32-bit program, requires 80386+ and DOS extender (DOS/4GW, in binaries package). Also available for OS/2, Win3.x (with Win32s installed), Win9x/NT/2K/XP and WinXP64.

• An interpreter for the PostScript (TM) language, with the ability to convert PostScript language files to many raster formats, view them on displays, and print them on printers that don't have PostScript language capability built in;
• An interpreter for Portable Document Format (PDF) files, with the same abilities;
• The ability to convert PostScript language files to PDF (with some limitations) and vice versa; and
• A set of C procedures (the Ghostscript library) that implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive operations in the PostScript language.

Usage: gs [switches] [file1.ps file2.ps ...]
Most frequently used switches: (you can use # in place of =)
 -dNOPAUSE           no pause after page
 -q                  'quiet', fewer messages
 -g<width>x<height>  page size in pixels
 -r<res>             pixels/inch resolution
 -sDEVICE=<devname>  select device
 -dBATCH  exit after last file
 -sOutputFile=<file> select output file: - for stdout,
                     |command for pipe, embed %d or %ld for page #

Input formats: PostScript PostScriptLevel1 PostScriptLevel2 PDF
Available devices:
   vga ega svga16 atiw tseng tvga deskjet djet500 laserjet ljetplus ljet2p
   ljet3 ljet4 cdeskjet cdjcolor cdjmono cdj550 pj pjxl pjxl300 uniprint
   epson eps9high ibmpro bj10e bj200 bjc600 bjc800 pcxmono pcxgray pcx16
   pcx256 pcx24b pcxcmyk tiffcrle tiffg3 tiffg32d tiffg4 tifflzw tiffpack
   bmpmono bmp16 bmp256 bmp16m tiff12nc tiff24nc psmono psgray bit bitrgb
   bitcmyk jpeg jpeggray pdfwrite nullpage

Input formats: PostScript PostScriptLevel1 PostScriptLevel2 PostScriptLevel3 PDF
Default output device: display
Available devices:
   bbox bit bitcmyk bitrgb bj10e bj200 bjc600 bjc800 bmp16 bmp16m bmp256
   bmp32b bmpgray bmpmono bmpsep1 bmpsep8 cdeskjet cdj550 cdjcolor cdjmono
   declj250 deskjet devicen display djet500 djet500c eps9high eps9mid epson
   epsonc epswrite ibmpro ijs jetp3852 jpeg jpegcmyk jpeggray laserjet lbp8
   lj250 ljet2p ljet3 ljet3d ljet4 ljet4d ljetplus m8510 mswindll mswinpr2
   necp6 nullpage pbm pbmraw pcx16 pcx24b pcx256 pcxcmyk pcxgray pcxmono
   pdfwrite pgm pgmraw pgnm pgnmraw pj pjxl pjxl300 pkmraw png16 png16m
   png256 pngalpha pnggray pngmono pnm pnmraw ppm ppmraw ps2write psdcmyk
   psdrgb psmono pswrite pxlcolor pxlmono r4081 spotcmyk st800 stcolor
   t4693d2 t4693d4 t4693d8 tek4696 tiff12nc tiff24nc tiff32nc tiffcrle
   tiffg3 tiffg32d tiffg4 tiffgray tifflzw tiffpack tiffsep uniprint

Other: Windows version has two EXEs, one for the console, and one for use under the GUI (but it looks like a command line box).

Originally published by Aladdin Enterprises. Now maintained by artofcode LLC and Artifex Software Inc. (2006), and released under Aladdin Free Public License (AFPL).

Compilations for other OSes, support utils, docs, etc., are available, as well as GSview, a graphical shell for Ghostscript for OS/2 or Windows. Go to the Ghostscript, Ghostview and GSview Home Page for info, and to one of the Mirror Sites for Ghostscript for downloads. Binaries and source code for current, some older, and developer versions are also available at the File List page at SourceForge.

PSX — Converts PostScript documents to plain text.

*

[updated 2005-03-11]

PSX is a small (16K) and simple command line PostScript document-to-text converter that I found somewhere on a BBS. It does a very inconsistent job of translation (sometimes good, sometimes very poor) — but if you just want to browse the contents of a PostScript text file you downloaded off the Net, this program may suffice as a disk-saving alternative to Ghostscript. The main eye-sores resulting from conversion are loss of paragraph formatting and some split words. PSX is donationware. I suspect you won't find the latest version anywhere on the Net except here.

syntax: PSX [PostScriptfile] [textfile] [/option]

Both the input (PostScript) and output (text) file names may be
optionally entered at the command line. If no text file name is
specified PSX creates an ASCII file using the same name as the
PostScript file, but with ".TXT" as the DOS filename extension.
If no PostScript filename is specified, PSX will ask for one.
options:  /HELP (or /?) displays this text
          /WIDTH=n (n is a number between 40 and 132 controlling output)

Author: Frank Brown (1992-95).

1995-08-11: v1.02e.

Download psx102e.zip (15K).

Text2PDF — Converts text files to PDF.

unrated

[added 1998-12-08, updated 2005-03-02]

Text2PDF is a small (20K), versatile utility that converts a plain ASCII file to a 7-bit, clean Adobe PDF (v1.1) file from any input file. It reads from standard input or a named file, and writes the PDF file to standard output.

Limitations: You cannot produce hypertext links, either to bookmarks, within the file, or to external content. You cannot add styles to headings or body elements, nor does the program reformat bullets and numbered lists. Text is formatted as is. You will probably have to tweak your text files to ensure that the word wrapping is correct.

text2pdf [options] [filename]

  Options:

  -h		show this message
  -f<font>	use PostScript <font> (must be in standard 14, default: Courier)
  -I		use ISOLatin1Encoding
  -s<size>	use font at given pointsize (default 10)
  -v<dist>	use given line spacing (default 12 points)
  -l<lines>	lines per page (default 60, determined automatically
                if unspecified)
  -c<chars>	maximum characters per line (default 80)
  -t<spaces>	spaces per tab character (default 8)
  -F		ignore formfeed characters (^L)
  -A4		use A4 paper (default Letter)
  -A3		use A3 paper (default Letter)
  -x<width>	independent paper width in points
  -y<height>	independent paper height in points
  -2		format in 2 columns
  -L		landscape mode

Author: Phil Smith (1996). Suggestion & notes by Scott Nesbitt.

1996-10-11: v1.1.

Download text2pdf.zip (12K).

Go to the text2pdf page, and to the PDF Corner, for versions for Windows and Unixes, and other related materials.

Xpdf — Toolkit for extracting text / information / images from PDF files.

* * * *

[added 2000-02-09, updated 2006-08-21]

A suite of command line tools that extract data from Adobe PDF files.

Pdftotext		Converts PDF files to plain text. If text file is '-', the text is sent to stdout.
Pdfinfo		Prints the contents of the 'Info' dictionary (plus some other useful information).
Pdftops		Reads a PDF file and writes a printable PostScript file. If PS file is '-', the content is sent to stdout.
Pdfimages		Saves images from a PDF file as Portable Pixmap (PPM), Portable Bitmap (PBM), or JPEG files.

Remarks: Programs are 32-bit DJGPP compilations, require 80386+, DOS Protected Mode Interface (CWSDPMI or other), and FPU (80387 or 80486+). File names and zip archive directory names do not all conform to DOS 8+3 conventions. Possible special requirement: gzip in path (see Foo Labs' gzip not found). These programs may not be well-suited to low resource hardware. Also available for Win32, Linux, OS/2, and other OSes. Language support files (Arabic, Chinese simplified & traditional, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Latin2, Thai, Turkish) and source also available. Free under GNU General Public License.

Author: Derek B. Noonburg / Foo Labs (2006). Added on tip by Bob Williams (Surv-PC forum).

2006-02-08: v3.01pl2.

Download xpdf-3.01pl2-dos6.zip (1.6MB).

Xpdf pages at Foo Labs.

Get latest version info, compilations for other OSes, language support files, and more, from the Download page.

Acrobat Reader — Adobe's PDF file reader.

* * *

[updated 2005-12-09]

Why use an old DOS version of Acrobat? Good question. You probably shouldn't. It seems to do fine with old PDF files, or simple ones such as tax forms but it does not support many of the latest enhancements. Hint: The "bitmap" printing option is useful if you lack the fonts required by a given document.

Requirements: DOS 3.30+, 80386 (80486 better), 2MB RAM (4MB better), 5MB disk space, VGA, and maybe some disk "acrobatics" if you're short on disk space – the 2.5MB zip below contains a 2.5MB self-extracting EXE, which must be run to unpack the install files (2.5MB total), and then you must run the installer EXE.

Author: Adobe Systems (1993).

Download Acrodos.zip (2.5MB).
Or get these two files and unzip them to diskettes:
AdobeAcrobatDos1.zip and AdobeAcrobatDos2.zip (1.4MB each).

Also see Ghostscript, up this page.

Adobe's Acrobat pages.

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©2004-2006, Short.Stop.