Best lightweight word processor for MS-DOS 3.3?

[TH2002]

I am curious as to what you guys think is the best lightweight word processor that runs on MS-DOS 3.3. Since this was before MS-DOS shipped with EDIT built in and I have some older 286 and earlier-based systems without hard disks, which ones would fit on a 1.44mb floppy disk?

[pearce_jj]

Obviously the MS-Word and Wordperfect of similar age would be contenders. For something a little left-field, Tandy's DeskMate had 'Text' which although rudimentary did have support for fonts and possibly embedded graphics from the 'Draw' app?

[krebizfan]

WordStar is the classic for floppy disk usage able to handle larger files and fonts in a limited fashion. Laplink made a small word processor designed for floppy disk laptops so could be perfect. MS-Word and WordPerfect would require earlier versions; the 1988 or later versions would be a tight fit on a single 1.44 MB floppy and a second floppy would be needed for data.

What features are you looking for? Spell checker will fit on a floppy; print preview and other graphical features likely require a hard disk.

[TH2002]

What features are you looking for?

The most important feature for me would be the ability to save to a format that can be read by newer programs (such as Office 97 on Windows 95) and have the formatting remain intact. Spell checker would also be nice, other less important features would be support for fonts and embedded graphics.

[Agent Orange]

MultiMate is a very 'light' WP and you can run it off of two 3.5" floppies. Here's a link:

https://winworldpc.com/product/multimate/32x

[krebizfan]

Word 97 includes import routines for WordStar 3.3 - 7, MS Word 3 - 6, WordPerfect 5 and 6; and RFT-DCA which can be exported by Display Write, Multimate, and a number of other word processors.

I would suggest as options Word 3, Letter Perfect (cut down WordPerfect), or one of the menu equipped WordStar clones. Wordstar 5 was Micropro's first version with drop down menus but it will be a tight squeeze on a floppy.

[Chuck(G)]

Depends on the features. If what you want is a text mode editor with things such as word wrap, etc., there were lots.

Multi-Edit, Qedit, PC-Write... The first versions of MS Word would run from a 360K floppy.

[ldkraemer]

Qedit is my preference.

QEDIT21.ZIP


Larry

[maxtherabbit]

qedit is my favorite text editor as well, not exactly word processing though

[TH2002]

For various reasons I opted to go with QEdit - works even better than anticipated! I can even write a word document on my T3100e/40 and directly read it on my OptiPlex 170L XP desktop and vice versa.

I may give some of the other programs a try at some point. Thank you for your suggestions!