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Free OS2 Software Text Editors
Elvis is a good html editor, as long as you don't have many graphics to manage. It has plain text, html, and unix man page display modes. It shows html formatted, permits simple edits (moving blocks of lines etc.), and has options to show the source when the user moves the cursor over a link, etc... Its documentation is better written and clearer, and is more oriented to ordinary users, rather than programmers (although containing many complex options)... An older v1.8 of Elvis is much smaller (about 1/3 the size) than Elvis v2 or vim... it starts up quickly and takes up less memory. For beginners, it has a simple, built in text only menu that does the basic editing functions.
Authors: Steve Kirkendall (1992-2003); OS/2 port by Martin Dietze, Germany (2003-2014).
2003-10-21: v2.2_0 final.
Find more info, versions for other OSes, and links to distribution sites in Germany and Australia at Herbert's Elvis Homepage.
Authors: Keith Bostic, Bill Joy, The Regents of the University of California et al. (1992-2000).
1996-10-23: v1.79 - Last version for OS/2. Free under 'Original' BSD License. Recent versions are released under the 'Modified' BSD License.
Find nvi179b.zip (1.7MB) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
Vim is not just a powerful free editor, it is a whole anthropological phenomenon...
Vim is one of the several clones of the traditional editor vi (visual) included with virtually all Unix operating systems. Vim has a worldwide following, is ported to most operating systems (e.g., Unix, Mac, DOS, Windows, OS/2), and comes complete with a web page and several ongoing listserv discussion groups.
Ease of use: When I was a trainer I could teach people to use Unix vi, at a reasonable level in an hour (by teaching a parsimonious subset of vi commands). Vim itself comes with a hypertext-like, comprehensive documentation system, a tutor for beginners, and a hypertext-like online help system. I say "hypertext-like" because it uses a "tag" mechanism to move between links that was designed 30 odd years ago. For those who care, there is documentation that has been translated into true HTML.
The Unix version of Vim lets users define custom, pulldown menus, and some of the Vim in-crowd have developed free pull down menu systems that include all of Vim's features. But, in general, Vim (and vi) has no Mac-like menu interface, no toolbars, and no keyboard help at the top or bottom of the screen. Vim includes a window system that gets "windows" jobs done. But Vim's windows will seem simple, non-GUI, and unfamiliar to users used to the windows of X-Window, Macs, or Windows 95. In Vim, two "windows" is simply the editing screen divided into two areas by a horizontal line. All versions of Vim include full mouse support.
A major learning curve problem for vi clones is the use of three different "modes". Vi was invented for early terminals that had no function keys, "Alt" key and so on. Consequently, it used ordinary letter keys to both execute editor commands and type text. One gets into edit command "mode" by hitting one or more times. One gets back to typing mode by typing one of three commands: i (insert text), a (append text), R (replace or overtype text). The upside of this system is that letters for commands are quite mnemonic ( d = delete, r = replace, C = copy, M = move etc. etc).
The third mode came into being because, the original vi was a replacement for the earlier line editor, ex. Instead of replacing ex entirely, vi retained the ex commands, and added new full screen oriented commands "on top of it." One drops down from vi to the older ex editor in a similar way as one drops down to DOS from windows: Hit the colon (:) key in vi's command mode, and you drop down to ex, where one enters OS type commands at the screen's bottom.
Vim makes the mode easier for beginners by: 1) extending text entry mode to include quite a few basic editing operations, 2) defining a special key (control-O) that gives the illusion that one can execute most vi commands without changing modes, and 3) by indicating what mode one is in on the bottom of the screen. All in all, there is no doubt that vi is harder to learn than something like Multi-Edit for people used to the usual point and click window interfaces. But it is not anywhere near as hard to learn as popular prejudice claims.
POWER: Vim is designed to have a formidable set of features for programmers. In addition it has literally hundreds of commands, settings, and options, many of which are unique and very convenient.
A few of Vim's features:
- Immediately spell check or look up a word from a speller / dictionary of your choice.
- Formatting (center, left or right justify, etc.)
- Choice of colors for different objects (variable settings, text found during searches, ordinary text, etc.).
- Automatic completion of words, phrases and sentences that have already been typed once in the document (or that exist in a user defined dictionary or document). This is a big help to those with hand pain because of typing injuries.
- About 36 different memory buffers, each of which can be used to cut/paste a different block of text (most editors, and Windows, have only one such buffer).
- Multiple file editing where each file automatically gets a hot key that can be used instead of the whole filename, for any command. The list of files can be viewed at any time.
- Go to any filename mentioned in the current text, and edit that file (by pressing a key command).
- Extensive abbreviation and macro mechanisms.
- Prints and shows digraphs.
- Can edit binary and hex files.
- Do editing operations on many types of objects, e.g., letters, words, phrases, paragraphs, pages, text blocks, columns (it can cut and paste several columns), user defined delimiters.
- Extensive system of backups, swap files and recovery from crashes.
- Can edit very large files.
- Multi-level undo and redo.
- A system of bookmarks that saves one or many bookmarks in several files, during, and at the end of an editing session. You can thus, easily open a file and go directly to your last editing place.
- Insert any file after the cursor in the current file being edited (with one command, no cutting and pasting).
There are 3 major features that are fairly unique to the vi family:
- Search/Replace. It has, to my mind, the most powerful search and replace mechanisms available in any editor or desktop publisher. Others, like Multi-Edit try to support what they call "regular expressions". But there is no equal to the power of the original search/replace features inspired by Unix. For example, one can routinely replace one line with many lines, and manipulate strings defined only by their position in a line (e.g., whatever numbers come after the phrase, "Account Number").
- The editor/shell interface. Vi clones let you process any block of edited text through any command in your operating system (e.g., sort) and either replace the text block with the results, or append the results to the end of the text block. They also allow you to add the results of any operating command to your document, without leaving the editor.
- Auto-commands. Vim includes a feature similar to, but more powerful than Multi-Edit's file extension setup: You can define a set of commands, settings, and configurations that will be automatically applied to any file with extension, XXX, or to any particular file. You can include any command the editor or operating system is capable of, in these "auto- commands. In general, once you put a set of Vim commands inside a file, you can use this file much like a DOS batch file or Unix shell script: The file becomes a program in its own right that can process entire text files or blocks of text.
Other: Charityware. Multiple language support - Unicode, keyboard configuration (samples included), right-to-left languages (recompilation required).
Authors: Bram Moolenaar, Netherlands (2001-2019); OS/2 port by David Sanders, Paul Slootman (2005).
2005-10-16: v6.4 - Last version for OS/2.
Get files, language resources, news & info, source and more at the VIM Home Page and at the download page.
"AE is a simple text editor, designed to replace IBM's original OS/2 E.EXE. It mostly behaves the same, except for where behaviour has become annoying, irrelevant or inconsistent with other systems/programs."
Fixes these Stupid Things About E:
- "Type of file" dialog.
- EOF byte (Hex 1A, Dec 26) added at end of files
- Shift + Page up/down does not select
- Ctrl + Page up/down does something useless
- Refusal to save file if it thinks it isn't changed.
- Requirement for Extended Attribute support when saving
- No File - Exit
- Find combined with replace
- Word wrap switch is clumsy
- No shortcuts for file open etc
- No display of line, column or mode
- Task list entry does not show filename
- Vertical scrollbar blank space at end
- Silly horizontal scrollbar when wrapping
- Unix-format files converted to DOS format when saved
Limitations:
- Cannot disable status bar from the menu
- No option to insert the date and time (Windows Notepad - this editing operation cannot be undone and will insert the computer's date and time)
- Crashes when using the help features in the window list
- No asterisk added to the beginning of title if it thinks the file is modified (Windows Notepad on Windows 10 & 11)
Note: If the user is not on an OS/2 system (e.g. Win32), startup does not print the message "This is an OS/2 executable module".
Package includes source code.
Author: Aaron Lawrence (2004-2005).
2005-07-20: v1.9.8.
Find AE_1-9-8_ecs12_en_nl.zip (775.7K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"This is a simple 32-bit, configurable, multi-document, highlighting editorversion of the alpha software analysis programs which were written together with the CMS program ANALYSE in order to establish the praecognita for the CICS restructure project and may be of interest to those people who examine 370, 386 assembler, PASCAL(Ada), PL/X(PL/I, REXX), C(C++), FORTRAN etc. under OS/2 V2.0 or later.
This program will provide basic browse and edit functions for all files with arbitrarily long records, (records ≥ 256 will be split for display and rejoined when saved) as well as highlighting specified keywords for language files such as 370 & 386 Assemble, PASCAL, PL/AS, C(CPP), FORTRAN etc. ALPHA will also display the program call structure, and expand the procedure calls in a secondary window."
Author: Lionel de Lambert / IBM UK (1993-1999).
1999-09-08: v3.2. Free under IBM EWS license.
Find this utility in IBM's FTP server.
"BEAV is an editor that brings the features of a powerful full screen editor to the editing of binary files. It is the only editor that I know of that does that."
Package contains source code.
Author: Peter Reilly (1991-1993).
1993-04-02: v1.40. Free under GPL 2.0 license.
Find beav140.zip (269K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"CEDIT is an almost Norton Editor-compatible text editor for OS/2 2.x. Its purpose is not to be 100% compatible, but to closely emulate NE and deviate from it only where the author felt it necessary."
Author: Jeroen Frijters, Netherlands (1994).
1994-03-13: v1.1.
Find cedit11.zip (66.6K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"CustEPM adds an Actions menu to EPM, in a way that makes it easy for users to incorporate into their own EPM setup. It is a customized version of EPM that users who don't want to recompile the macros can use directly, that users who want to customize only by setting flags in the MYCNF.E and recompiling can incorporate, and that true hackers can start with as a base and modify to their hearts' content."
Author: Larry Margolis for IBM (1993-1999).
1999-03-26: Unnumbered release. Free under IBM EWS license.
Find this utility in IBM's FTP server.
"Editor+ is a text editor for OS/2 Presentation Manager. I wrote it especially for programmers who need a fast editor with powerful functionality and which is easy to configure. The editor is only designed for text files, do not load other files! Each line can have a length of maximum 255 chars and you can set cursor on every possible position in a line. Many functions are multithreaded: for example reading a file uses two threads and saving/searching/drop and other functions run in a separate thread."
Note: "Actually there is no online help available, but it shouldn't be a problem to use Editor+." This program only allows the use of System VIO, even if other fixed pitch fonts have been installed (e.g. System Monospaced).
Author: Christoph Bratschi, Switzerland (1997).
1997-01-09: v1.00.
Find edp100.zip (121.4K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
Package contains source code.
Author: Marco Pesenti Gritti, Italy (1996-1999).
1999-01-25: v0.40.
Find exedit040.zip (156.1K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"FED is VIO mode programmers editor. It's fast, small in size and flexible. Some FED features are listed below:
- CUA style blocks
- Full UNDO
- Stream and rectangular blocks
- Auto indent
- Conversion to upper/lower case characters/blocks with NLS support
- Bracket matching for bracket pairs
- Flexible key assignment
- Transparent with PM clipboard
- Block sort of rectangular blocks with NLS collate support
- Keyboard macro recorder/player
- REXX API
- Saving of last cursor position and other data in Extended Attributes
- Unix/DOS file formats supported
- Up to 10 user accessible JumpLists supported
- kbInit/kbDone/kbTimer/kbOpen pseudo keys
- Word wrapping
- Named pipe interface
- Optional opening of file in one instance of the editor
- Configurable smart indent for C/C++/REXX/ASM/Pascal/Perl
- Support for "flashing" matching bracket
- Syntax highlighting for C/C++/Java/REXX/TeX/HTML/ASM/Makefile/Pascal/Perl/Mail/JavaScript
- History for search strings and open files saved in main
FED.INIEA's"
Author: Sergey I. Yevtushenko, Russia (1997-2004).
2004-05-04: v0.2.31. Free under 'Simplified' BSD License.
Find fed0231s.zip (825.6K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
See also the project page for Fast Editor Lite which has the same download.
General REXX Extended Editor is a universal source generator to work with user defined code templates. A developer's tool to write, store and control code templates. It can be used to control the code sections for all programing languages. Greed consists of four independent modules:
- Greed - source Editor,
- Templates Controller - universal code controller,
- Template Editor - to edit INI and Greed FNC files,
- PM Browser - PM file viewer.
All standard Rexx functions are included.
Author: Janosch R. Kowalczyk, Germany (1997-1998).
1998-01-28: v2.23.
Find greed223.zip (1.1MB) in the Hobbes archive: dev/erxx.
Note: The program when selecting a font other than System VIO (e.g. Nimbus Sans Mono — URW Type Foundry).
Author: Alexander Wilkens, Norway (1995).
1995-12-03: Uranus. Cardware.
Find ied_uran.zip (33K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"Kon is a text editor suitable for most editing tasks, including programming, but is not intended to be a complete IDE. Instead, the focus is to be a fast and easily available editor to be used for most tasks where viewing or editing a text file (or in some cases a binary file) is involved. See of it as a supercharged replacement for notepad."
Author: Björn Andersson, Sweden (2004-2007).
2007-02-26: v2.10. Free under LGPL 3.0 license.
Downloads available in the Hobbes archive in apps/editors
- Binaries and source code - KonOS2_210.zip (14.6MB)
- Binaries, source code and installer - KonOS2_210_full_install.zip (1.5MB)
"KEd is a character-mode editor. Why, you might ask, yet another text editor for OS/2? I first became disenchanted with editors while using the Microsoft C 6.0 PWB editor for OS/2 v 1.x several years ago, and no editor really suited me. I wanted an editor with the ease of use of Qedit or the Norton Editor, but I wanted to be able to customize it. By the way, KEd is produced with Borland C++ for OS/2."
Author: Don Radick / Kudzu Software (2003).
2003-03-05: v2.07. Free under 'Simplified' BSD License.
Downloads available in the Hobbes archive in apps/editors
- Program - ked207.zip (84.4K)
- Source code - ked_src_2-07.zip (682.0K)
"LightMd Markdown Editor is a free and open source editor for Markdown with lots of features."
Features:
- Markdown formatting with keyboard shortcuts
- Syntax Highlight for Markdown
- Multi-tab support
- Customizable for comfort
- Focus Mode and Full Screen Mode for distraction free typing
- Multi-theme support
Authors: Bhavyanshu Parasher, India (2015); OS/2 port by Gianfilippo Cimmino, Italy (2016).
2015-08-12: v1.0.4. Free under GPL 3.0 license.
Find this program in the author's GitLab repository.
"ME for OS/2 is a substitute for the OS/2 System Editor E.EXE and based on the WDSibyl tEditor object, not on the OS/2 Textbox. (Aarons Editor is a Sibyl project, too, but also based on the OS/2 Textbox.)
Some features
- simply switching and converting between ANSI and OEM codepage with the IBM/WIN button
- paragraph:column is shown and is editable to go to a specific text location
- locate string edit field let you highlight expressions
- column block, optionally persistent blocks
- special features for using the command line, e.g. reading from stdin as a substitute for
MORE - showing Hard and Soft Returns
- optional extensive Wordstar keymapping
- fast reading/writing text files up to 20 MB"
Notes: The Windows version has got two FON files included. They contain the VIO OS/2 screen fonts. To install, simply drop them into the Windows font folder. (You need to have an OS/2 licence to permit install.) To make new fonts in ME visible, please delete the text file edifonts.ini.
Author: Martin Vieregg, Germany (1998-2016).
2016-10-21: v1.00β12.
Download compiled versions for Windows and OS/2 in this page and binaries for beta versions for Windows, macOS, Linux and OS/2 in this page.
Author: Gunner Prießnitz, Canada (2006).
2006-05-22: v1.0.
Find popedv1.zip (57.8K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
Full featured general purpose PM based text editor capable of handling any number of different editing tasks. The editor is programmable, remote controllable from another application (such as your own), and capable of running any OS/2 command line compatible program (such as a compiler). Many features including unlimited undo, redo, file template support, file access sharing controls for group working etc.. This version also includes a spell checker with an English language wordlist. The editor offers ease of use whether you use it in an object orientated, or program orientated fashion. With its small memory footprint you can have several editors open at the same time, even if you are low on memory. All the features you need are there, but do not impede the novice. New users will find this editor instantly familiar and friendly. Power users will find the online script programming language fast and capable. Supplied with full online operating instructions, and over thirty different example programming scripts.
Author: Peter Koller, France (1995-2003).
2003-01-18: v2.31.
Find mape231.zip (775.8K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"QE is a simple text editor modelled after IBM's OS/2 System Editor and Aaron Lawrence's AE. It is written using Qt4 and is therefore reasonably cross-platform.
The philosophy behind QE is to provide a simple tool for quickly reading and/or editing text files. It is not a programmer's editor, word processor, or document manager. As such, it doesn't provide developer features like syntax highlighting, code completion, folding, compiler integration, or anything else that could get in the user's way, clutter up the interface, or cause lengthy load times.
What it does aim to provide is the essentials for viewing and editing plain text. This includes straightforward yet flexible search and replace, a go-to-line feature, basic printing support, the ability to read text files in different encodings, and full support for displaying Unicode text."
Author: Alexander Taylor (2018-2021).
2021-02-20: v0.99β. Free under GPL 3.0 license.
Download this utility in the author's website or go to the GitHub releases for this project.
"A simple note-taking application with Wiki-style syntax and behaviour."
Features:
- Edit in plain text, view as HTML
- Easily link documents together
- Open external links in another application
- Light-weight, self-contained
Authors: Elad Lahav, Israel (2008); OS/2 port by Salvador Parra Camacho, Spain (2011).
2008-05-14: v0.4. Free under GPL 2.0 license.
Find quicky04-os2.zip (67.1K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/calc.
ZED is an easy-to-use text editor for OS/2. It is designed for editing plain text files.
Note: The program has to be installed to the hard disk drive.
Author: E. Bruce Shankle III (1995).
1995-08-30: v1.1s. Free under 'Modified' BSD License.
Find ZED_1-1s.zip (411.0K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
Escriba is a WYSIWYG word processor for the OS/2 Presentation Manager interface. It does not attempt to go head-to-head with the large professional word processors available for OS/2 PM or Windows, but rather tries to provide a more modest set of functions. Normal text formatting is provided for, plus the program has the ability to handle imbedded graphics. All installed ATM fonts are supported, in all the native formats and in a wide range of sizes. Printer support is strictly through the OS/2 PM interface, providing output on any printer supported by that interface, including FAX and plotter devices.
Package includes source code.
Author: Rick Papo (1995-1998).
1998-01-19: v0.96d. Free under GPL 2.0 license.
Find Escriba-0_96d.zip (5.5MB) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"A fullscreen, distraction-free writing program. You can customize your environment by changing the font, colors, and background image to add ambiance as you type. FocusWriter features an on-the-fly updating wordcount, optional auto-save, optional daily goals, and toolbars that hide away to allow you to focus more clearly; additionally, when you open the program your current work-in-progress will automatically load and position you at the end of your document, so that you can immediately jump back in."
Authors: Graeme Gott (2009-2021); OS/2 port by Elbert Pol, Netherlands (2010-2014).
2014-08-17: v1.5.3 - Last version for OS/2. Free under GPL 3.0 license.
Go to the FocusWriter website for downloads for recent releases, version changes and more.
LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG).
LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface. This results in world-class support for creation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equation editor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books. In addition, staples of scientific authoring such as reference list and index creation come standard. But you can also use LyX to create a letter or a novel or a theatre play or film script. A broad array of ready, well-designed document layouts are built in.
LyX is for people who want their writing to look great, right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting details, “finger painting” font attributes or futzing around with page boundaries. You just write. On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output — or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced — looks like nothing else.
Authors: Matthias Ettrich et al. (1995-2022); XFree86 ports by Arnd H. Hanses, Germany (2001) and Shigeru Miyata, Japan (1999), Qt port by Paul Smedley, Australia (2014).
2014-01-24: v2.0.7 - Last version for OS/2. Free under GPL 2.0 license.
Go to the LyX website for downloads for other OSes, screenshots, mailing lists, forum, wiki, docs and more.
Authors: Franz Schmid et al. (2001-2018); OS/2 port by Paul Smedley, Australia (2015).
2015-01-28: v1.4.5 - Last version for OS/2. Free under GPL 2.0 license.
Go to the Scribus website for downloads for other OSes, wiki, bug reports, source code and more.
"TeD is a PM ASCII editor specifically designed to type clean, well formatted TeX files in an easy and quick way."
Author: Paolo Galatola, Italy (1994).
1994-12-10: v1.0. Requires EMX.
Find ted.zip (57.5K) in the Hobbes archive: apps/editors.
"TeXstudio is an integrated writing environment for creating LaTeX documents. Our goal is to make writing LaTeX as easy and comfortable as possible. Therefore TeXstudio has numerous features like syntax-highlighting, integrated viewer, reference checking and various assistants."
Authors: Benito van der Zander, Jan Sundermeyer, Daniel Braun, Tim Hoffmann et al. (2008-2021).
2018-07-06: v2.12.10 - Last version for OS/2. Free under GPL 2.0 license.
Go to the TeXstudio website for screenshots under Windows 7, downloads for other OSes, binary snapshots, release candidates and more.
Write&Set is a full-featured wordprocessing program with hyphenation, contents creation, footnotes, index, embedding graphics and a lot of more. It is an alternative concept of word processing for people who don't like Microsoft Word-like programs and need to write long and complex documents. Word processing with Write&Set divides the job of producing a document in two parts: editing unformatted text and - later - formatting and printing. These two parts of the job are done by separate programs: WSedit is the 'editor' and WSformat the 'typesetter'. This concept simplifies word processing and enables you compiling a single document with hundreds of pages without any problems. Nevertheless, both programs are designed to work together like dialog windows in a single program.
WSedit is a Freeware editor which can be used like other editors. In addition to CUA editor commands like Ctrl-Ins for "paste marked block into clipboard", WSedit supports all Wordstar Ctrl Commands like Ctrl-KB "mark beginning of block". If you know the behaviour of Wordstar DOS, the "feeling" of WSedit will be similar. WSedit reads the file formats Wordstar 3.4 - 7, ASCII ISO and IBM codepage and works fine with very large files of several MB. WSedit is fast, stable and handles files with a length up to 20 MB. It has got a spellchecking and a translation functionality.
Package contains docs and tutorial in English & German.
Author: Martin Vieregg, Germany (2000-2016).
2016-10-21: v1.00 β12.
Download compiled versions for Windows and OS/2 in this page and binaries for beta versions for Windows, macOS, Linux and OS/2 in this page.