Going to need a bit more tinkering then.
Well, ame, I'll stand by my board name. I usually tinker a lot more than talk. Sometimes too much, literally, and I get tired and just want some advice on how to get things to work with a little less effort, eh? benefiting from the wide experience and helpful attitudes of our brothers on this forum.Do you even tinkeratall?
I appreciate your recommendation of dosbox-x.Well, ya nerdsniped me on this one …I have some ancient documents produced in "Textra", an early 80s DOS word processor. …
...
I don't recommend OCRing dot matrix output. It usually disappoints. The emulation setup should be less than a day. If possible try dosbox-x over plain dosbox, as it's much easier to navigate. It should run on almost all of your machines.
If these files aren't super sensitive, drop one my way (scruss at scruss dot com) and I'll see what I can do.
Update: I can't get Textra 6 to convert files at all. And it's clear that different version of Textra use completely different formats. Textra 3 can convert to WordStar, which WordTsar (no really!) did a valiant job on. Alternatively, Textra 6 can use a PostScript printer driver that prints to file, and that will convert to PDF nicely.
I thought I had the images of the diskettes, but I don't any more. Pretty sure it wasn't v6, v3 sounds about right. This is what I see in one file:
Code:
00000000 ae 26 56 30 30 30 36 30 30 30 36 30 30 30 32 34 |.&V0006000600024|00000010 30 30 36 33 30 30 36 30 30 30 42 34 30 30 31 30 |0063006000B40010|00000020 30 30 30 30 42 30 30 31 35 31 41 31 46 31 34 32 |0000B00151A1F142|00000030 39 32 45 32 33 33 38 33 44 33 32 34 37 34 43 34 |92E23383D32474C4|00000040 31 35 36 35 42 35 0d 0a 30 36 35 36 41 36 30 30 |1565B5..0656A600|00000050 43 30 30 30 35 34 30 30 31 30 30 30 30 30 42 30 |C0005400100000B0|00000060 30 31 35 31 41 31 46 31 34 32 39 32 45 32 33 33 |0151A1F14292E233|00000070 38 33 44 33 32 34 37 34 43 34 31 35 36 35 42 35 |83D32474C41565B5|00000080 30 36 35 36 41 36 30 30 0d 0a 46 31 30 30 35 34 |0656A600..F10054|00000090 30 30 31 30 30 30 30 30 42 30 30 31 35 31 41 31 |00100000B00151A1|000000a0 46 31 34 32 39 32 45 32 33 33 38 33 44 33 32 34 |F14292E23383D324|000000b0 37 34 43 34 31 35 36 35 42 35 30 36 35 36 41 36 |74C41565B50656A6|000000c0 30 30 36 30 30 30 42 34 30 30 0d 0a 31 30 30 30 |006000B400..1000|000000d0 30 30 42 30 30 31 35 31 41 31 46 31 34 32 39 32 |00B00151A1F14292|000000e0 45 32 33 33 38 33 44 33 32 34 37 34 43 34 31 35 |E23383D32474C415|000000f0 36 35 42 35 30 36 35 36 41 36 30 30 36 30 30 30 |65B50656A6006000|00000100 42 34 30 30 31 30 30 30 30 30 42 30 0d 0a 30 31 |B400100000B0..01|00000110 35 31 41 31 46 31 34 32 39 32 45 32 33 33 38 33 |51A1F14292E23383|00000120 44 33 32 34 37 34 43 34 31 35 36 35 42 35 30 36 |D32474C41565B506|00000130 35 36 41 36 30 30 36 30 30 30 42 34 30 30 31 30 |56A6006000B40010|00000140 30 30 30 30 42 30 30 31 35 31 41 31 46 31 0d 0a |0000B00151A1F1..|00000150 34 32 39 32 45 32 33 33 38 33 44 33 32 34 37 34 |4292E23383D32474|00000160 43 34 31 35 36 35 42 35 30 36 35 36 41 36 30 30 |C41565B50656A600|00000170 36 30 30 30 42 34 30 30 31 30 30 30 30 30 42 30 |6000B400100000B0|00000180 30 31 35 31 41 31 46 31 34 32 39 32 45 32 33 33 |0151A1F14292E233|00000190 0d 0a 38 33 44 33 32 34 37 34 43 34 31 35 36 35 |..83D32474C41565|000001a0 42 35 30 36 35 36 41 36 30 30 36 30 30 30 42 34 |B50656A6006000B4|000001b0 30 30 31 30 30 30 30 30 42 30 30 31 35 31 41 31 |00100000B00151A1|000001c0 46 31 34 32 39 32 45 32 33 33 38 33 44 33 32 34 |F14292E23383D324|000001d0 37 34 0d 0a 43 34 31 35 36 35 42 35 30 36 35 36 |74..C41565B50656|000001e0 41 36 30 30 31 30 30 30 31 30 30 30 32 30 30 30 |A600100010002000|000001f0 33 30 30 30 33 30 30 30 31 30 30 30 32 30 30 30 |3000300010002000|00000200Yes, strings would get me the text, but there would be a lot of checking and massaging after that, perhaps worth it for a small document, or a small number of documents, but I'm at looking for something with at least the potential of being more automatic.If you cab get your Textra files onto a Pi what happens if you run the "strings" command on them?If that displays anything that looks like text the you can output it to a file:Code:
$ strings some_textra_fileWhich you can now open in your favourite text editor and massage it into shape.Code:
$ strings some_textra_file. some_textra_file.txt
That last part is a bit labour intensive but depending on how many files you have it may be quicker than messing with VM''s, DOSBox, reverse engineering the format etc.
Statistics: Posted by tinker2much — Mon Jan 08, 2024 2:34 am