Text converter application needed.

[FireKracker]

I have been apporached by a collegue who has numerous files created on an Olivetti word processor. Unfortuantely they don't have their WP anymore. They have asked me if there is any way of retreiving these files. Luckly the files are on a floppy disk which is read by my PC.

What I am looking for is a (free if possible) program that will convert the Olivetti word processed files into a viewable source e.g txt, RTF etc.

The files created have an extension of *.IWP I have found a utility that can convert them, however it's not free. Just wondering if you lot have any ideas?

Can of 'Jolt' cola to the first positive answer back!!

[OldMan-V4.1]

Many of those vintage word processors used the standard codes at that time

here's how I would proceed.

1. Check a site (there are many) that describe what kind of file an, IWP or LWP is used for. Obviously Olivetti used it but who else ..?

(The site I checked says it's a Wang word processor file )

http://www.convert-extensions.com/format/IWP-Wang-Text-File.html

At this point if you find it's a word type that a certain software suite , LOTUS, or
WORDSTAR, ... used then you can endevor to find a conversion utility that handles
WORDSTAR or LOTUS files.


2. You can also search for a text conversion utility .. many of the old programs
like WORDSTAR , and many I can't remember used the same control codes to
make paragraphs and capital and underlines. So many converters will do a
basic job of hacking out the file to a poitn where you can read it.

3. It's possible that the text is readable without converting anything. You'll see
ASCII text and between it there will be various characters that you can simply ignore.

In the case of 3. simply drag the file on to NOTEPAD. < = this program opens
files as ascii text and thus won't do anything but read it as ASCII ( a 7 bit code used to make the alphabet) Edit out the unreadable stuff and save the rest as a text file.

BE SURE TO KEEP A BACKUP : )

If you would like to send me a file I'll be glad to have a look at it.

send it to

ajajaj at rediffmail dot com
with the heading of
OLDVERSION - HELP ME