.prn to .txt conversion = ?

Hi All

I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me what tools one may use to
convert MS dos .prn files whoses contents is all text to .txt files so that
these files may be used in my linux box and I may through the Windows box
out.

Thanks
Frank

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Re: .prn to .txt conversion = ?

I have been able to view .prn files as postscript (.ps) using gv. Now, I
do not know if .prn files are really .ps files always, but you can give
that a shot. If it is a postscript file, ps2ascii or pstotext should
extract text from your file.

-K


On Sun, 28 Mar 2004, at 5:32pm, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:

> Hi All
>
> I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me what tools one may
> use to convert MS dos .prn files whoses contents is all text to .txt
> files so that these files may be used in my linux box and I may through
> the Windows box out.
>
> Thanks
> Frank
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
>

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Re: .prn to .txt conversion = ?

At 05:32 PM 3/28/2004 -0500, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:
>Hi All
>
>I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me what tools one may
>use to
>convert MS dos .prn files whoses contents is all text to .txt files so that
>these files may be used in my linux box and I may through the Windows box
>out.


When you say "the content is all text", can you be a bit more exact? (I
haven't used DOS for years and I cannot recall what the.prn extension
signifies.)

If this is some sort of ASCII file, then it may be the case that all you
need to do is convert the EOL characters from the DOS standard (ASCII 13)
to the Unix/Linux standard (ASCII 10). The tool to do that has several
names; on my (Debian) system, it is called dos2unix. Or, depending on the
details of the file structure, you may have to do some extra reformatting.
(If you have a short sample you can provide, feel free to send it to me
offlist and I'll see what I can see.)

If this is some sort of graphics image file, you will need some sort of
specialized converter. Karthik's response was an example of this, but only
an example.



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Re: .prn to .txt conversion = ?

Ray Olszewski wrote:

> At 05:32 PM 3/28/2004 -0500, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:

> When you say "the content is all text", can you be a bit more exact? (I
> haven't used DOS for years and I cannot recall what the.prn extension
> signifies.)

A .prn file is generated when the "print to file" option is
used. It's contents depend solely on the printer driver -
could be text, could be PostScript, could be HPGL, could be
lots of other completely useless things.

--
-jdr-

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Re: .prn to .txt conversion = ?

On Tuesday 30 March 2004 08:24, Jim Reimer wrote:
> Ray Olszewski wrote:
> > At 05:32 PM 3/28/2004 -0500, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:
> >
> > When you say "the content is all text", can you be a bit more exact? (I
> > haven't used DOS for years and I cannot recall what the.prn extension
> > signifies.)
>
> A .prn file is generated when the "print to file" option is
> used. It's contents depend solely on the printer driver -
> could be text, could be PostScript, could be HPGL, could be
> lots of other completely useless things.
Hi All

Thanks for the help.

As far the above I was referring to was that the original file being exported
was all text.

But in all fairness I solved the print to file issue.

In Win 98 if one set printer to generic and type to generic/text Only with
continuous paper one will receive a continuous output of text in text format
in a file named .prn which can then be renamed .txt

BUT! For me this really does not do what I need although it is the best that
can be done by this method.

What I really need is a method of reading a .nfo file with unknown format most
probably encrypted. Although I am certain there are people on this list who
can open this file I do not believe that this list [or any for that matter
list] can help me with this as I most probably would not understand what was
being said.

Thus thanks for the help again.

Frank




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Re: .prn to .txt conversion = ?

At 10:09 AM 3/30/2004 -0500, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:
>On Tuesday 30 March 2004 08:24, Jim Reimer wrote:
> > Ray Olszewski wrote:
> > > At 05:32 PM 3/28/2004 -0500, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:
> > >
> > > When you say "the content is all text", can you be a bit more exact? (I
> > > haven't used DOS for years and I cannot recall what the.prn extension
> > > signifies.)
> >
> > A .prn file is generated when the "print to file" option is
> > used. It's contents depend solely on the printer driver -
> > could be text, could be PostScript, could be HPGL, could be
> > lots of other completely useless things.
>Hi All
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>As far the above I was referring to was that the original file being exported
>was all text.
>
>But in all fairness I solved the print to file issue.
>
>In Win 98 if one set printer to generic and type to generic/text Only with
>continuous paper one will receive a continuous output of text in text format
>in a file named .prn which can then be renamed .txt
>
>BUT! For me this really does not do what I need although it is the best that
>can be done by this method.
>
>What I really need is a method of reading a .nfo file with unknown format
>most
>probably encrypted. Although I am certain there are people on this list who
>can open this file I do not believe that this list [or any for that matter
>list] can help me with this as I most probably would not understand what was
>being said.

In one sense, there is no general method of reading "a .nfo file with
unknown format most probably encrypted". Even if your question is really
about how to break an unknown encryption format, there are really only
techniques and strategies, not general methods that always work (if there
were, we probably wouldn't even all it encrypted).

In a different sense, perhaps a trivial one, you can "read" such a file
with the hexdump utility or similar commands. Some test editors have
hex-display option. Also remember the "strings" command, in case the file
really isn't encrypted, just in a proprietary format. In some cases
(non-encrypted ones, though), these programs can server to get the info you
need out of the file.

If you do want help here, the best way to start is by telling us what you
know about the software that created the file. And perhaps provide a sample
to examine.



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