What is PCXTODAT?

PCXTODAT is a programming utility I wrote because I felt that including PCX
files in a program was not professional.  PCXTODAT is used to unpack a PCX
graphics file for use in one of your own programs.  After running a PCX thru
PCXTODAT you are left with an unpacked binary graphic and a 768 byte palette
file in the standard RGB sequence.  This works great for sprites or full
screen graphics as long as you can live with the fact that PCXTODAT is
limited to graphics files that unpack to no more than 65,535 bytes.
This is fine for all graphics used in mode 13h (320x200x256) and sprites
used in any 256 color mode. The original PCX file is opened in read-only mode
and is not effected.

PCXTODAT is a command line tool created for MSDOS use but it can be used to
create graphics for Windows programs.  PCXTODAT requires no installation.
It can reside in the directory you are working in or in any directory that's
included in your path statement.  PCXTODAT is not a free program but it is
in no way crippled.  At a cost of only $2.00 it is hoped that you will feel
comfortable paying for it.  Feel free to distribute the program as you will
but please include this README.TXT file along with it.

To use PCXTODAT, lets assume you have a file named BIRD.PCX and you wish to
unpack it to a file of sequential bytes called BIRD.DAT and a palette file
called BIRD.PAL.  Just enter the following.

PCXTODAT BIRD.PCX BIRD.DAT BIRD.PAL <ENTER>

If you have questions about PCXTODAT, please e-mail them to me at:
beanpole@sprynet.com

If you like PCXTODAT look for other programming utilities I have written.

DATTOHEX - Converts a file to Ascii hexadecimal in a format that can be used
as an include file in an assembly language procedure.  Great for imbedding
graphics into an executable!

STRIPPCX - Strips the header and palette from a PCX file (any size).  This
allows you to use packed graphics in your program in a format that is not
recognized by graphics viewers.

DISSECT - A very small and very fast utility for chopping up a file to fit
on 1.4 meg floppies.

FILECOMP - Compares two files, byte for byte.  Good for verifying that DISSECT
did it's job properly.

KODE - Used to scramble a file of any size and type. I use it to protect
sensitive text files.  Fortunately KODE will also unscramble a scrambled file.

All of these utilities were wrote in assembly and are very small executable
files (smaller than this README.TXT file).  I have used them for some time in
my own programming and find them indispensable.

                        Keep Programming

                                  M. Thompson
