I hate MS like pure poison, but....

[Rolfe]

Well, I had to ditch Notepad because it has a file-size limit that won't take a long-ish book chapter. I was using it to create html pages, but had to upgrade. It also lacks many useful features like drag and drop. Tabs is good, too, and a search function.

You don't have to use any fancy formatting in WordPerfect if you don't want to. All these programmes do have useful editing features to make life simpler though.

Rolfe.

 

[Rat]

Well, I had to ditch Notepad because it has a file-size limit that won't take a long-ish book chapter. I was using it to create html pages, but had to upgrade. It also lacks many useful features like drag and drop. Tabs is good, too, and a search function.

You don't have to use any fancy formatting in WordPerfect if you don't want to. All these programmes do have useful editing features to make life simpler though.

Rolfe.

As far as I recall, Notepad doesn't exactly have a size limit, but it slows to a crawl when you go above a particular size, because of the way it addresses memory. I still use it to copy text into and back out in order to strip formatting, but I use Notepad++ for more serious purposes. It is still a text editor, but it can do lots of other things if you want it to, and it can handle files of any size you're likely to need. It obviously does syntax highlighting for html and has tabs and everything else you'd expect.

 

[Blue Mountain]

There are a couple of good free editors out there:

Editor | Wikipedia Article | HomePage | Comments
ConTEXT | ConTEXT | http://www.contexteditor.org/ | The text editor I prefer
Notepad++ | Notepad++ | http://www.notepad-plus-plus.org/ | Appears to be geared toward programmers

 

[Rolfe]

As far as I recall, Notepad doesn't exactly have a size limit, but it slows to a crawl when you go above a particular size, because of the way it addresses memory. I still use it to copy text into and back out in order to strip formatting, but I use Notepad++ for more serious purposes. It is still a text editor, but it can do lots of other things if you want it to, and it can handle files of any size you're likely to need. It obviously does syntax highlighting for html and has tabs and everything else you'd expect.

It does actually seem to have a limit - or it did in 1997, and as far as I know it hasn't been improved since.

I actually use Editpad, even though the author has stopped supporting it, just because I've used it a lot and it does everything I want. I have Notepad++ on my computer, but I never use it. Maybe some day....

Rolfe.

 

[Rat]

It did in 1997 if you were using the home versions of Windows (95/98/ME). The size limit exists in other versions of Windows (NT4/2000/XP/etc), but you're really not likely to reach it, since I think it's at least a couple of gig.

I used to use EditPad many years ago, and it was very good at the time. N++ really is very nice, and is still updated, but I guess if you're comfortable with what you've got, that's fine. I'm not sure the is geared specifically towards programmers, but does cater very well for them, but also web designers and various others, since it is greatly extensible with plugins if you need them. I think the only plugin I've ever needed is the export one that allows me to export with syntax highlighting.

 

[arthwollipot]

As far as I recall, Notepad doesn't exactly have a size limit, but it slows to a crawl when you go above a particular size, because of the way it addresses memory. I still use it to copy text into and back out in order to strip formatting, but I use Notepad++ for more serious purposes. It is still a text editor, but it can do lots of other things if you want it to, and it can handle files of any size you're likely to need. It obviously does syntax highlighting for html and has tabs and everything else you'd expect.

Yep, it does have a size limit, and I'm pretty sure the source code for Notepad hasn't changed since 1995. I know about the size limit because when I worked IT support, I once had a furious guy complain at me because it wouldn't handle large files. I checked directly with Microsoft, who confirmed that there was a limit. I can't remember how big it is now - it was years ago - but it wasn't that huge.

The suggested alternative is to use WordPad, which is also installed by default on all windows machines.

 

[Rat]

Grr. Perhaps gone a little off topic, but I'm beginning to be gripped by "Someone is wrong on the internet". I said in my last post that it does still have a limit, but you're pretty unlikely to reach it for most purposes. Notepad in Windows 95 used the EDIT class from DOS, and thus did indeed have a fairly small limit. That was never an issue in the NT branch of Windows. So whether the source code has changed or not, the kernel it's running on has. That was using a library from a 16-bit OS to open files.

Besides which, if the source code hasn't changed, how is it I can now change the display font, or use keyboard shortcuts? FIXEDSYS was all you could use in Windows 9x if I remember correctly.

But of course, none of this is necessary. I've just gone to Notepad and opened a 500MB file. It was very slow to open, but it opened. To double-check, I'm now going to open it on an XP machine, and I'll let you know if it fails.

 

[Rolfe]

The limit in 1997 wasn't hard to reach. I was editing a series of novels and hand-knitting the chapters into html code at the time. The author broke Notepad after half a dozen chapters or so. That's when I got Editpad and fell in love with it. I cleaned Notepad from my computer then, and have done that with every computer since (I still use it on my office computer though, because IT won't let me change it. It's a bummer.) So I've never tried Notepad with the bigger chapter files since 1997.

What Rat says sounds eminently reasonable to me.

Rolfe.

 

[Rat]

Yes, the limit on Windows 95 seems to have been something daft like 40 or 50k. Fine for some very trivial things, but not for anything serious. In those days I also used Editpad almost exclusively, so I never really ran into Notepad's limitations often, and I was using NT at home from about 98 onwards, so then the limitations were no longer there.

 

[Blue Mountain]

My big beef with Notepad is that it recognizes only DOS/Windows CR+LF line endings. If I create a file on Linux, which uses only LF line endings, and open it in Notepad the entire file is displayed as one long line. Every other editor out there, including Wordpad, will recognize the Linux/Unix line endings and display the file properly. When saving, some editors will preserve the line endings and others will convert them to CR+LF, and most can be configured so you get to choose what it does.

 

[DrDave]

My big beef with Notepad is that it recognizes only DOS/Windows CR+LF line endings. If I create a file on Linux, which uses only LF line endings, and open it in Notepad the entire file is displayed as one long line. Every other editor out there, including Wordpad, will recognize the Linux/Unix line endings and display the file properly. When saving, some editors will preserve the line endings and others will convert them to CR+LF, and most can be configured so you get to choose what it does.

You could always fix your incorrect () files http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix2dos

 

[Rat]

And if I remember correctly, old Mac-based text files (pre-OSX) just used CR, so they would also not display correctly, but for a slightly different reason. But yes, Notepad is purely intended, I think, to be used as a notepad, for taking quick notes and the like; its advantage there is that it's extremely quick. For anything serious, as I say, I'd recommend N++. That said, today I needed to change some text in 55 files (the same text in each) and convert each from little-endian to big-endian Unicode; the former was easily done, the latter not.

 

[Soapy Sam]

While what Rolfe is up to clearly requires more, most everyday communications that are not simple email could be easily and rapidly written with any text editor. I just get pretty annoyed by receiving two-page WORD files as email attachments which contain a corporate logo, a header and footer , a whole magazine of bullet points and about two paragraphs of actual informative text.

 

[Blue Mountain]

You could always fix your incorrect () files http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix2dos

Unix was there first, so it's DOS/Windows that does it wrong (maybe it's a holdover from CP/M and/or teletype systems?) Unix2dos will do the trick, but typically it's not installed on the Windows computer where I need to do the conversion (a suitable Linux system being unavailable at the time.)

And if I remember correctly, old Mac-based text files (pre-OSX) just used CR, so they would also not display correctly, but for a slightly different reason.

I suspect you'd see only one line ... as Notepad reads in the file it returns the cursor to the start of the line every time it sees a CR.

One place where the Windows CR+LF convention interferes with Linux is when you're reading configuration files. Suppose a person creates a config file on Windows that has a line like:

image_file_name = myimage.png

then tries to run a Linux program that uses that config file. The program might see the file name as "myimage.png<CR>" and throw an error because it can't find it. That can be frustrating to sort out because doing a directory listing shows "myimage.png" as existing.

That said, today I needed to change some text in 55 files (the same text in each) and convert each from little-endian to big-endian Unicode; the former was easily done, the latter not.

Would the following work?

dd if=infile.txt conv=swab | sed 's/from_text/to_text/g' >outfile.txt

Wrap something similar to that in a 'for do ... done' loop and you can process all the files in one go. (Try doing THAT in Windows!)

 

[Rat]

Would the following work?

dd if=infile.txt conv=swab | sed 's/from_text/to_text/g' >outfile.txt

Wrap something similar to that in a 'for do ... done' loop and you can process all the files in one go. (Try doing THAT in Windows!)

I've no idea. I'm pretty sure you could do the same thing in PowerShell, but I never really learned that either. With 55 files, it was just small enough a job that opening them all in N++, then going Convert/Save/Close 55 times was quicker than thinking "Is there a quicker way of doing this" and then implementing such a thing. That said, since it's entirely possible that next week I'll be converting them all to UTF-8, I may yet regret it.

 

[catsmate]

My difficulty at the moment is the notes pages. The content of the actual slides is obviously only a framework supporting the presentation. Given as a live presentation it would have me explaining a lot of stuff on top of the slides, and even some places where elements fly in during the explanation.

However, I may not be able to do it as a live gig at all, and in any case the audience would be limited. I need to be able to present the text as well as the slides online, for people to access as and when they want to. I could try recording it in audio format in real time, but in a way it would be more useful to use the notes field for that.

PowerPoint itself is very good in that way. You can just look at the slides if you want to, or you can open up the notes field and read the detailed explanation. Libre Office isn't playing that game. The position of the notes pages is bizarre, and anyway they're showing up blank.

I've been using printouts from PowerPoint with the notes pages, which are very good as hard copy - slides at the top, and then the programme formats the notes to fit on the rest of the A4 page. That would be excellent as a PDF, but I don't know a way to save in that format.

Actually, I suppose my problem is two-fold. One is working on the presentation at home, without PowerPoint on my computer. To be honest Libre Office isn't cutting it - it's no better than what I was doing, which was just typing into WordPerfect, then swiping that off a memory stick into PowerPoint at work. The other is figuring out how anyone might access the finished presentation once I put it online.

If nearly everyone has the real PowerPoint on their computers, the latter solves itself, really. I'm coming to the conclusion I need to get PowerPoint itself on my own computer though.

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive way of doing that?

Rolfe.

Rolfe,

you mentioned that you were involved in HE teaching. You may be eligible to get software from pugh.co.uk. They currently have Office 2010 for £47.50. Not über cheap, but still a massive discount.

Their eligibility page is here. Might be worth dropping them an email.

I just noticed this. Rolfe if you're a staff member at a university or similar institution you're probably covered by their Volume License Agreement; check with your IT/IS department and they may be able to provide installation media and a license for a home PC used for work purposes.
Otherwise try the Educational License Programme.

 

[Rat]

Unix was there first, so it's DOS/Windows that does it wrong (maybe it's a holdover from CP/M and/or teletype systems?)

Wikipedia sez that TOPS-10 and RT-11 both used CR/LF, and reading the history, it does seem to be largely trying to keep compatible with Teletype, and subsequent things being compatible with them, and so on.

 

[Rolfe]

I've no idea. I'm pretty sure you could do the same thing in PowerShell, but I never really learned that either. With 55 files, it was just small enough a job that opening them all in N++, then going Convert/Save/Close 55 times was quicker than thinking "Is there a quicker way of doing this" and then implementing such a thing. That said, since it's entirely possible that next week I'll be converting them all to UTF-8, I may yet regret it.

Is this something different from opening all the files in tabs in Editpad, then doing a "search and replace" on all open files? That little facility saved my bacon lots of times.

Rolfe.

 

[Rolfe]

While what Rolfe is up to clearly requires more, most everyday communications that are not simple email could be easily and rapidly written with any text editor. I just get pretty annoyed by receiving two-page WORD files as email attachments which contain a corporate logo, a header and footer , a whole magazine of bullet points and about two paragraphs of actual informative text.

Now THAT I agree with in spades. I get these emails that just say "see attached" and I think, well tell me why I want to click on that, anyway. Or maybe you could put something in the email subject line that might give me a clue what this email is actually about?

Attachments should be for documents that are required in the format of the attachment, not for the basic text of the body of the email.

A nicely laid-out letter without unnecessary frills always makes a good impression though, and a decent word processor makes that much easier to achieve. Talking about something you're going to print out and put a stamp on, that is.

Rolfe.

 

[Rolfe]

I just noticed this. Rolfe if you're a staff member at a university or similar institution you're probably covered by their Volume License Agreement; check with your IT/IS department and they may be able to provide installation media and a license for a home PC used for work purposes.
Otherwise try the Educational License Programme.

I might try that, but I have a feeling the response might be that I have access to everything I need through my internet connection to the Thin Client desktop. That's how I completed the presentation at home, without my own copy of PowerPoint.

I'm still waiting for a response to my request for Microsoft Producer on my local office desktop.

Rolfe.