XyWrite Utilities

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DOS XyWrite virtualization solutions:
vDosPlus XyWrite installers
JUST RELEASED vDosPlus XyWrite 4 Service Pack (version 5.03) and vDosPlus XyWrite Update (version 5.02). Mainly due to Ghostscript 9.55 printing and PDF creation and preview, this version requires Windows 7 or later for full functionality. However, viewing and editing are fully supported with Windows 2000 or later.
These two new installers (2022-12-16) provide a new level of possibilities for the use of XyWrite-family DOS programs. The XyWrite 4 Service Pack is a XyWrite user community driven effort to enhance the functionality of XyWrite 4. New features include better foreign-character support with new Special character and Accents menus and consistent PCL and Ghostscript print output. Thanks to special screen fonts and Ghostscript print files, XyWrite 4 can now show and print several CPs. Both CP437 and CP850 are fully supported and even entirely new supplemental code pages (CP775, CP852, CP857 and CP866X) can be used out-of-the-box using the version 5.03 installer. This means that Baltic languages like Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian (CP775); Central European languages like Bosnian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene (CP852); Turkish (CP857); and finally even many Cyrillic languages like Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian (CP866X) can be used for viewing, editing and printing text in DOS XyWrite 4. The XyWrite Update can be used to install XyWrite 3+, Nota Bene 3, XyWrite 4, and Signature. For XyWrite 4, there is the possibility to do a semi-manual install as opposed to the automatic installs version 5.03 Service Pack makes. Signature has a mini-Service Pack with better Ghostscript printing and special-character input facilities for CP850 than before. XyWrite 3+ and Nota Bene 3 rely on previously developed PCL printing solutions (as in version 5.01). There are DOSBox-X add-ons for the Service Pack and for the Update. They can be installed as an option when running the installers or downloaded separately: DOSBox-X for XyWrite Service Pack and DOSBox-X for XyWrite Update. DOSBox-X for XyWrite Update supports running Nota Bene 4.5 which is not possible with vDosPlus. There is even a developer toolbox for making Ghostscript print files for entirely new CPs. These are the tools that were used for building support and width tables for the new XyWrite 4 Ghostscript 9.55 print files.

PREVIOUS EDITION vDosPlus XyWrite installer Centennial Edition (version 5.01 based on vDosPlus Summer '17 build 2017.10.17 by Wengier Wu). This installer supports Windows 2000 or later.
vDosPlus is a premier virtual runtime environment for running non-gaming DOS applications under modern 64-bit as well as 32-bit Windows. The vDosPlus XyWrite installer bridges the gap between DOS XyWrite or NotaBene and the Windows environment. You supply your copy of DOS XyWrite or NB in a folder on your Windows computer and the installer takes care of the rest. The solution has advanced display support (scalable window size, crisp TrueType-based fonts, mouse wheel scrolling, transparency, etc.), bidirectional clipboard support, and print preview of XyWrite output as PDFs that can be printed on any Windows printer. The installer contains ready-to-use XyWrite/NB printer files for Letter and A4 paper sizes. Thanks to vDosPlus, using any DOS word processor is again possible. If you are not into XyWrite, vDosPlus can even run WordPerfect, WordStar, or even the Y2K-crippled MS-Word 5.0. Please note that this installer is only for DOS XyWrite-based products including XyWrite 3+ and 4, NotaBene 3 or later, and IBM/XyQuest Signature. There is even a separate documentation package for vDosPlus XyWrite version 5.01 to supplement a Mac installation which the installer does not support. This package has all the help documents, supplied XyWrite print files, and icons without the executables. No support for installing on a Mac is provided. You can use the vDosPlus Mac system provided by Edward Mendelson to install XyWrite.

vDosPlus
For more information about vDosPlus, see Wengier Wu's vDosPlus site at www.vdosplus.org.
A recent alternative build of vDosPlus by Edward Mendelson.

vDos
For more information about vDos, see Jos Schaars' vDos site.

vDosWP
For more information about a vDos-based system for WordPerfect, see Edward Mendelson's vDosWP page.

DOSBox-X
NEW DOSBox-X is an open-source DOS emulator for running DOS games and applications.
DOS-based Windows such as Windows 3.x and Windows 9x are officially supported.
Reportedly, a faster way to run XyWrite. Several host platforms are supported (see details on GitHub):
Windows (XP or higher, 32-bit and 64-bit), Linux (with X11, 32-bit and 64-bit), Mac OS X (Sierra 10.12 or higher, 64-bit)

Win31DOSBox
A virtual environment for running Windows 3.1x on 64-bit Windows by Edward Mendelson: Win31DOSBox
An easy way to run Windows 3.1 programs. Automated installation: you just supply the installation files of a Win 3.1x version which uses the Latin alphabet and run the installer.
Clipboard and printer support and easy access to your files via the host system. A real breakthrough for running legacy Windows 3.1x programs. Highly recommended.

OTVDM/WINEVDM
A seamless, albeit experimental, way to run 16-bit Windows programs.
16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows by otya128: GitHub stable version
Introduction to the OTVDM solution by Edward Mendelson: A method for running 16-bit Windows programs
DIRECT DOWNLOADS  OTVDM installer by Edward Mendelson
XyWin installer for OTVDM by Edward Mendelson
PrintFilePrinter (a utility to convert printfiles (PRN, PS) to PDF) by Edward Mendelson

Older vDosXy installers
NEW DOWNLOADS Updated installers for GitHub vDosXy3 by catastrophicanomaly:
vDosXy 1.01 installer (aka version 2014-12-16)
vDosXy 1.11 installer (aka version 2015-04-24)
N.B. These may be of interest to some Xy3+ or NB3 users. The updated installers have new printer drivers.

CHANGED Alternate download locations for the vDos XyWrite installers (US) and XyWrite 4 customization files:  XyWWWeb and Mirror of XyWWWeb at ammaze.net

Other XyWrite downloads:
NEW DOWNLOAD XyWrite 4 Manuals Archive A complete set of XyWrite 4 manuals in PDF format.

UPDATED Compile A utility to make XyWrite 3+ or NB 3 XPL programs more readable. Added sample files (cut&paste and defining) which illustrate its use.

UPDATED DOWNLOAD XyWrite Keyboard file documentor v.2 Two Windows programs for managing XyWrite keyboard files.
Makes planning, documenting and printing Xy and NB keyboard files easier. Widely compatible with different versions.

DOWNLOAD Clip.exe Copy from and to the clipboard by Dave Navarro, Jr.

Using EditPad syntax coloring for editing XyWrite text
NEW DOWNLOAD Installing EditPadPro8 or EditPadLite8 syntax coloring and color palettes for use with XyWrite.
EditPadPro8 and EditPadLite8 support XyWrite text files. See how the XyWrite scheme looks in standard view and white on black.

Corel Ventura 10 support files
NEW DOWNLOADS Corel Ventura 10 cheatsheet and Corel Ventura 10 ANSI character set.
NEW DOWNLOAD EditPad syntax coloring schme for Ventura ANSI text files (export on save option).

Microsoft Word 5.5 installation helper
NEW vDosPlus Word 5.5 installer (version 1.01) streamlines the installation of the freely available MS Word 5.5. This installer supports two code pages, namely CP437 (IBM ASCII) and CP850 (Latin-1), both on screen and when printing to PDFs. The printer solution has scalable PCL typefaces. Hard copy printing is accomplished via preview PDF output which can be printed on any installed Windows printer. You can select American or British spelling and thesaurus files at install time with your chosen code page. Keyboard shortcut macros are supplied to make Word 5.5 easier to use as the shortcuts used natively by Word are obsolete. This legacy Word installer uses the same technology as my vDosPlus XyWrite installers.

CVT Avant Prime and Stellar keyboard support files
UPDATED DOWNLOAD Support documents and programs for CVT Prime and Stellar keyboards as they were left behind by the now defunct company.
Now with DIY maintenance instructions.

VirtualPC how-tos and downloads:

DOWNLOAD FROM MS SITE Virtual PC 2004 SP1

DOWNLOAD FROM CNET.COM  Virtual PC 2007 SP1 (64-bit)

DOWNLOAD DOS Additions Installing MS Virtual PC 2004-2007 Virtual Machine Additions for MS-DOS.
Includes installation instructions and a modified DOSADD.BAT compatible with MS-DOS.

DOWNLOAD Blank virtual floppy disks for Virtual PC 2007. Use the virtual machine to fill it with data.
Very useful for setting up virtual installation floppies for DOS applications that demand a set of floppies.

What is Integrated Mode in Windows Virtual PC by Ben Armstrong

Running Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7

Making the Transition from VirtualPC to VirtualBox (for Win 8 users)

Virtual PC Guy's Blog by Ben Armstrong, Virtualization Program Manager at Microsoft:

Installing DOS additions under VPC 2007 (for plain DOS or Win 3.1x)

Setting up a Virtual PC DOS Application by Ben Armstrong

The unofficial list of which OSes work and which don't in Microsoft Virtual PC 2004

Windows Virtual PC - Wikipedia

Virtual disk tools:

7-Zip
Extracts contents of unmounted Virtual PC VHD and VFD files.

ImgBurn
Makes ISO images of existing data CDs or DVDs or from content of a disk folder.
Great for inputting large amounts of data into a virtual machine.

Virtual Floppy for Windows
Mounts, manages and creates Virtual PC virtual floppy disks (VFDs) on 32-bit Windows.

Convert IMG to ZIP
Lets you convert online IMG floppy images into zip files for viewing the contents without mounting the images using a virtual machine.

Comments and suggestions: lexitec@lexitec.fi