GTXT and MakeScroll
GTXT (or whatever it's called) is a utility that converts a text file to an executable file that displays the text in a pager. It was developed by Eric Gans. The original version is for CP/M; later a DOS version was released. The executable format is the ".com" format for the relevant platform.
Both versions imply that their name is "GTXT", and their version number is 1.1, but seem to go out of their way to not state it clearly.
There is also a DOS version that names itself MakeScroll. The files it creates are the same as GTXT.
(The possibility that MakeScroll is not an authorized release should be considered. There's no clear evidence, but it's slightly suspicious.)
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Format details
The source format is not an arbitrary text file. It uses "%", "^", and "~" as special characters.
Note: GTXT and MakeScroll rely on peculiarities of the MS-DOS "COPY" command in text mode, which are not implemented by all modern DOS emulators.
Identification
DOS: Generated files start with the first 188 of the 189 bytes in the GTXT.000 or MS.DAT file. For example, the text "GTXT1.1 EGans 05/08/86" appears at offset 105.
CP/M: Unconfirmed, but presumably, files start with at least some of the bytes in the GTXT.000 file. Text "GTXT1.1 EG06/18/85" appears at offset 107.
Software
- EGUTIL53.LBR - Collection that includes the CP/M GTXT files (1985-06-18?)
- gtxt.zip - GTXT MS-DOS version (1986-05-08?)
- makescr.zip - MakeScroll
- MAKESCR.ZIP - MakeScroll (newer package with some different files)
- Deark
Sample files
- CONSOL21.ZIP → *.COM
- nickl_11.zip → NICKLOGO.COM
- CONGINFO.ZIP → README.COM
- dexvert samples — document/gtxt
