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Companion CD-ROM: utils/textpad directory

The utils/textpad directory contains TextPad, a useful text editor for Microsoft Windows.

The main reason you would want to install TextPad is that it allows you to edit Unix-style text files. You may be aware that there are three main types of text files, all incompatible with each other: DOS-style, Unix-style and Mac-style text files. If you don’t know this, the following paragraphs should serve as a brief explanation.

Text files are simply files containing sequences of printable characters. These sequences of characters are broken up into lines by using End Of Line (EOL) characters. Now the rub: traditionally, every operating system had its own definition for these EOL characters. These days, essentially three definitions have survived: DOS-style EOL characters (a code 13 character called CR, immediately followed by a code 10 character called LF), Unix-style EOL (a single code 10 character) and Apple Macintosh-style EOL (a single code 13 character). Microsoft Windows follows the old DOS-style definition, while all Linux, Unix and Unix-like systems follow the Unix-style definition.

All of this would not be that big an issue if it were not for the fact that the Cygwin Unix emulator is a Unix emulator, and therefore uses the Unix-style EOL characters. This is because all Unix programs, including the GNU Tools, require this type of EOL character.

This raises a problem, however: what text editor will you use to write your ARM assembly language programs, and so on? You cannot use the ones provided with Microsoft Windows (such as Notepad), since they cannot handle the Unix-style EOL definition. And you don’t want to use vi (shudder!). The solution is to use a text editor that can handle Unix-style text files. And one text editor that can do that in particular is TextPad.

Using TextPad

Once you install TextPad (and assuming you have already installed the Cygwin Unix Emulator), you can use TextPad from within Cygwin by typing:

This will open filename in the TextPad text editor, allowing you to edit that file. When saving the file (especially if the file is a new one), make sure that you use File » Save As, selecting Unix as the file format.

Directory Contents

CD-ROM Root Directory

utils: Various useful utility programs

textpad: TextPad Text Editor   This is the current directory

README.html: The file you are currently reading

install.html: Installation and uninstallation instructions

txpeng462.exe: TextPad v4.6.2 for Microsoft Windows

Licensing

Please note that TextPad comes with its own licence agreement. You will need to read and accept this licence before you can successfully install the software.

You can download the latest version of TextPad from the TextPad Web site. If you particularly like TextPad, you can purchase it from the same site.