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                             ³ TXT2EXE.COM ³
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                         Wed  02-16-1994  14:56:45

                                Version 2.2
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     ³ACKNOWLEDGEMENT³
     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
     The hard stuff of this program is from Ethan Winer's code in
     Version 3.11 of his Crescent Software's PDQ Library.

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     ³Interesting History³
     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
      TXT2EXE.COM converts an ASCII text file into a self executable
     *.EXE file.

     Version 1.1 of TXT2EXE.COM was a "run-away" success. Posted to
     CompuServe in September 1993 on the IBMSYS Forum, it quickly became
     a "Top downloader" on that forum. Not only that, I have gotten a
     fair amount of E-Mail about TXT2EXE.COM.... which is -most- rare
     for a little QuickBASIC program like TXT2EXE.COM.

     BUT... several of you have complained that I put in a "Brag-Box"
     that displays at the end of the file. Yes... it -is- more than a
     little gaudy, taking up three lines and clearly letting you know
     that -I- did this little ditty. It looked like this:

     ÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛ
     Û     Program By:  John De Palma on CompuServe 76076,571      Û
     ÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛ

     Bam! Really catches your attention doesn't it?

     TXT2EXE.COM is the only program I know that will make an *.EXE out
     of a plain ASCII file. All the other ones are *.COM conversions
     which limit the total size of the file and are written in "C."

     TXT2COM.COM is written in plain vanilla QuickBASIC 4.5. And Ethan
     Winer is the brains behind the hard stuff.

     I asked the more than few of you who rang my E-Mail bell "Why?" you
     wanted the Brag-Box removed. The universal answer was "Because..."
     without really a good solid answer.

     So I have ASSumed that "you" want to give this program to your
     friends and business associates without them knowing you didn't do
     this programming stuff yourself. I examined my "dark side," and
     further ASSumed that "you" want to be known as a "programmer" and
     are hot to fake-out your friends. My Brag-Box really fouled up that
     dream.

     And worse... much worse, some of you guys who wanted this Brag-Box
     snuffed, may have wanted to CHARGE MONEY for the executable files
     you make with this program.

     Now that's a No-no. I retain Copyright (c) control of all this
     stuff because what simple coding I have done is my intellectual
     property -AND- I pay hard cash for the commercial libraries like
     PDQ that I use to make this stuff.

     This stuff is "LearnWare" and "TeachWare."

     Bottom line, you are free to use these "LearnWare," "TeachWare"
     programs for personal or business use as long as you:

     1.   Don't charge for them
     2.   Say you did the programming.

     Hey.... you got to give me -some- credit....!!!

     Some of you crafty type are saying, "How in the blue blazes is this
     dopey cat in Santa Monica going to know if I charge for this stuff
     in PalookaVille, Montana?"

     Well, you'd be surprised how many people download all this junk and
     sent me E-Mail about what does or (more often) what doesn't work.
     And... some of my stuff is picked up by the publishers of PC
     Magazine and distributed on disk to thousands of unsuspecting PC
     users too.

     More than once now, one of these honest folk have notified you
     crafty guys in PalookaVille that you were plagiarizing somebody
     else's hard work.

     But... after thinking about it, I can understand why you wouldn't
     want your friends to know that I did the code.... they would wonder
     about the kinds of people you "hang" with.

     ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
     ³                                                                 ³
     ³    READ THE NEXT (5) PARAGRAPHS IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE!!!!    ³
     ³                                                                 ³
     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ

          Using TXT2EXE.COM:

          1.   Compiled with a text file using MAKEFILE.COM it does
               =NOT= display a HELP Screen when run.

          2.   Executed (RUN) by itself, -does- display the HELP
               screen.

          3.   Compiled with a text file with the Help switch "/?"
               appended to the file name, as:

               README.EXE/?

               will display the HELP Screen. Clever, eh?

               Try this with the README.EXE file in this file set.

          4.   From the DOS command line typing:

               COPY TXT2EXE.COM/b + MyFile.TXT MyFile.EXE

               Will make an executable file named MyFile.EXE

          5.   Using MAKE.BAT from the DOS command line as:

               MAKE MyFile.TXT MyFile.EXE

               Will make an executable file named MyFile.EXE

     ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

     Version 2.2 of TXT2EXE.COM now senses the video hardware and
     displays in black and white on a monochrome screen or in blue and
     white on a color screen. If a VGA monitor is sensed, then a red
     border -outside- the normal viewing screen is added. I know, I
     know... gaudy.. but I like it.

     If you make a long text file that the user may =NOT= want to scroll
     to the end, put in your text file the instruction:

             ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
             º  PRESS: <Esc> twice to exit this text file!!!  º
             ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

     There... I hope EVERYBODY'S satisfied.... at least for awhile....

     John De Palma on CompuServe 76076,571