WinXs Version 4.0
Copyright (C) 1998 Mick Meaden
Software Online Limited
All Rights Reserved

Contents

WinXs v4.0 for Windows is a shareware program that provides UNIX-like tool functionality under Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT.  To run WinXs v4.0, you will need a 486-based PC (or later), at least 8mb of main memory and approximately 5.4mb of disk space to install the software.  Features of this version of WinXs include:

• Cat for Windows. Concatenates one or more files and appends them to a named output file, which is created if
  it does not already exist.
• Cksum for Windows. Calculates a cyclic redundacy check (CRC) for each input file, which it writes along with the size of the file (in bytes) to its output.
• Col for Windows. Filters reverse line-feeds and various other control characters. Optionally, this filter can
  also be used to remove backspace sequences or to convert spaces to tabs.
• Comm for Windows. Reads file1 and file2, which should be sorted alphabetically, and produces three columns of output; lines only in file1, lines only in file2, and lines common to both files.
• Compress and Uncompress. Windows version of the UNIX compress(1) and uncompress(1) commands, which are useful when downloading files from the Internet or when transferring large files to and from UNIX systems.
• Csplit. Splits a text file based on context. Sections of a named input file can be written to different output files or skipped
  based on an argument list, which consists of a series of regular expressions and line numbers that indicate the end of each input section. Any lines left in the input file after all arguments have been matched are written out as a single section to the last output file.
• Cut for Windows. The cut utility will cut bytes (-b or -c option) or character delimited fields (-f option) from each
  line of one or more input files, concatenate them and write the results to the standard output.
• Dd for Windows. The dd utility copies the specified input file to the specified output file with possible conversions, using
  specific input and output block sizes. One input block is read at a time, conversions are applied (if any), and the block is written to the output in the specified block size.
• Dos2unix and Unix2dos. Filters for converting between DOS and UNIX text file formats; that is, CR-LF (DOS) and LF (UNIX).
• Du for Windows. A Windows implementation of the UNIX du(1) command, which recursively lists the number of blocks allocated to files and directories.
• Expand for Windows. Performs the opposite function of col(1) and expands tabs to spaces.
• File Compare. A set of programs that perform various file comparisons, including binary comparisons based on the UNIX cmp(1) program, directory comparisons based on dircmp(1), and differential text file comparisons based on diff(1).
• File for Windows. This program attempts to determine the contents of a file or files by examination of the Windows registration database, a table of magic numbers uniquely identifying file types, and finally the contents of the file itself.
• Fmt for Windows. A simple text processing utility for performing modest tasks such as formatting mail messages. Text can be formatted using block, indented, crown or centered paragraphs, optionally with left and right text justification.
• Fold for Windows. Folds lines from its input files, breaking the lines to have a maximum column width (after tab and backspace processing) or a maximum number of bytes. Optionally, lines can be broken at the last blank character within the specified column or byte width.
• Grep for Windows. A pattern searching program that scans one or more text files for a specified regular expression or fixed text string. Grep uses basic regular expression pattern matching, as defined in X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4.
• Grex for Windows. Is a simple stream editor that supports various ed(1)-like editing commands. These include text matching and substitution, text deletion, line deletion, and multi-line text insertion.
• Gzip and Gunzip. Provides a Windows interface to GNU gzip(1), which is a separate DOS program that can be obtained free of charge under the terms and conditions of the GNU software license (see associated help file for further details).
• Hd for Windows. A file viewer that will display any type and size of file in hexadecimal format. Hd supports the same
  scrolling, search and text marking commands as More. It also supports printing and print previewing.
• Head and Tail. These tools display the first, middle or last part of one or more text files. The amount of text displayed (in numbers of lines) is specified via the associated dialog.
• More for Windows. A file viewer that supports more(1) functionality and file movement commands. This is a full featured Windows MDI (multi-document interface) application, with print and print previewing using pr(1), basic regular expression searching, text marking, configurable display and printer fonts, escapes to your favourite editor, rendering with or without line numbers, text or hexadecimal display, etc.. More supports File Manager drag and drop and will display files of any size, depending on virtual store availability.
• Nl for Windows. A filter that allows line numbers to be added to one or more text files. Line numbers are added on the left under the control of various options, which permit line numbers to be left or right justified and padded with either spaces or zeros. Optionally, all input lines can be numbered, or numbering can be limited to non-blank lines only.
• Paste for Windows. The paste utility concatenates the corresponding lines from its input files (-s not specified), or it concatenates successive lines from each input file (-s specified). The newline character of every line, except the line from the last input file (or the last line from each file if -s is specified), is replaced by the next character in a list of delimiter characters.
• Pax for Windows. Provides a Windows interface for the creation, reading and writing of cpio, ustar or tar portable archives. The archive formats supported by this utility are fully compatible with the extended cpio and extended ustar archive formats defined by X/Open and POSIX. Pax can be used for local, incremental archiving, or it can be used for information interchange with UNIX systems.
• Sed for Windows. A stream editor that applies an editing script to one or more input text files, overwriting the input files with the results or concatenating the output to a single named output file.  The command syntax supported by this tool is fully compatible with the stream editor command syntax defined in ISO/IEC 9945-2: 1993, Information Technology\ \-\ Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX)\ \-\ Part 2: Shell and Utilities.
• Sort for Windows. Sorts and/or merges one or more text files, either numerically or lexicographically. Options allow the sort order to be reversed, dictionary sorting, case folding, blanks or non-printing characters to be ignored, and duplicate lines to be omitted from the output.
• Split for Windows. A Windows version of the UNIX split(1) command, which breaks a file up into a specified multiple of line, byte, kilobyte or megabyte pieces. This version also provides an Unsplit facility for combining output files generated by a previous call to Split back into a single, large file.
• Strings for Windows. This utility is commonly used on UNIX systems to search object files for copyright statements, error messages, etc..  This version will scan files of any size and content, and will optionally display file offsets of located strings.
• Touch for Windows. Use this utility to set file access and modification times. This is particularly useful when used in conjunction with the incremental archiving capabilities of the Pax tool, i.e. to include or exclude specific files in incremental archives.
• Tr for Windows. Substitutes, deletes or squeezes characters from its input. This is a general purpose
  filter that can be used for such things as converting the case of characters, deleting control characters, breaking
  files up into word lists, reducing multi-character sequences to single characters, etc..
• Uuencode and Uudecode. Windows versions of the UNIX commands of the same name. Useful when downloading stuff from the Internet, or when using UNIX mail.
• Uniq for Windows. The uniq utility reads an input file comparing adjacent lines, and writes one copy of each unique line to the output.
• Wc for Windows. A Windows version of the UNIX wc(1) command, which counts the number of lines, words and bytes in one or more text files.
• Winxsdll.dll. This DLL adds an extra menu to the Windows File Manager menu bar, allowing the above WinXs programs to be initiated directly from File Manager on Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and Windows 98.
• WinXs Shell (32-bit version only). This is activated from the Folders context menu within Explorer and provides A UNIX-like directory display, plus easy access to any of the WinXs tools. The WinXs shell is also available from the context menu associated with the Start button on Taskbar.

The WinXs utilities can be accessed directly from File Manager (Windows 95/98 only), or from Explorer and the Taskbar. To use More as the default text file viewer or text file print program on your system,  run WinXs setup and check the appropriate configuration options (see setup help for further details).

In addition, this version if WinXs also includes the following command line tools: cat, cksum, cmp, col, comm, compress, cp, csplit, cut, dd, df, diff, dircmp, dos2unix, du, expand, file, find, fmt, fold, grep, head, join, ls, man, mv, nl, od, paste, pg, rm, sdiff, sed, sort, split, strings, tail, tee, touch, tr, uniq, uudecode, uuencode, unix2dos, wc, whence and xargs. These can be used either in batch files or from the Command prompt.

All WinXs commands line tools support an option -h, which causes the tool to display a brief synopsis and usage line. For more detailed information use the "man" command, which displays a reference manual page for the named command or commands (e.g., man man). Use "man -k -" to display a complete list of manual reference pages.

License

WinXs is a shareware program. It can be used for a period of up to 30 days free of charge, after which it must be removed from your system or a license fee of $30 dollars U.S. must be paid. Benefits of registration include:

• All nag screens are removed
• Free product upgrades.
• Options can be saved from More. This includes font selections, tab settings, editor preference, and window position. The last of these, window position, also affects the hd utility.
• The AddOns Organizer can be used to add, remove or edit items on the AddOns menu in the WinXs Shell (32-bit version only).
• A copy of the WinXs User Reference Manual will be sent by email. This document is distributed in Microsoft Word format and is the definitive guide to using the various WinXs utilities.

New in Version 4.0

• Removed limits on the number of files that can be selected or displayed in a single folder. This was approximately 4000 on previous versions of the product.
• Raised maximum text line length from 512 to 2048 bytes in all utilities.
• WinXs Shell. Added "Sort by extensions" and "Allow upper-case names" options.
• More. Removed the confirmation dialog when invoking the default editor.
• Cmp. Fixed a bug whereby cmp crashed if comparing directories containing more that 512 files.
• Added hot keys to all dialog boxes.
• Modified sed, grep, grex and csplit to handle arbitrarily large regular expressions.
• Diff (command line version). Added a check for binary files. If diff detects that binary files are being compared it uses cmp to perform the
  comparison. Added an open "-a" to force text file comparisons irrespective of the contents of the files being compared. Added an option "-e" that causes diff to produce its output as a sed script. When processed by sed, this script will reproduce file2 from file1.
• Col. Added an option "-t tabstop", which allows the tab width to be specified from the command line (rather than always defaulting to 8).
• Grex. Added a "Descend subdirectories" option that forces grex to apply the specified Actions to all files matching the specified file name
  pattern at or below the current directory.
• Grep. Added code to save all option settings, including search patterns, between invocations of the Windows version of Grep. Also added an option to list only the names of matching files (as per the "-l" command line option).
• More. Added coloring for overtyped and underlined text (e.g., as produced by nroff(1) on UNIX systems).
• Split. Added an option to split files in 512-byte units ("-b nb" in the command line version).

Pricing

Prices for WinXs v4.0 are banded as follows:

• Single-user:        $30
• 2 to 9 users:        $22 each
• 10 to 24 users:    $18 each
• 25 to 49 users:    $14 each
• 50 to 99 users:    $10 each
• 100+ users:        $7 each

An unlimited site-license costs $700.

You can register the product via the register.exe program included with WinXs. This method of ordering is handled by Kagi, who will accept credit card, cheque or cash orders.

Download WinXs v4.0 for Windows 95/98/NT now.

Repairs

Click below to view the list of repairs currently available for WinXs v4.0.

Repairs and goodies