The Home of Programmer's File Editor

[Last updated February 1 1999]

This is a web server running at Lancaster University in the North of England, and it's the place where you can get the latest information on PFE and the definitive latest release files.

If you're not in Europe, you may find access is better if you use one of the PFE Mirror Sites

Version 1.01 is now available

All About The Current Release So what exactly is it?

Have a look here to see if what it's all about, and whether PFE is the sort of program you want to take home and introduce your hard disk to.

Who knows - you might actually like it! You might even find it's worth the price, which is zero.

And if you're wondering what I've been doing all this while since the last version (do tell me if you find out - I've been pondering on that too) take a look at the list of changes

Better than nothing, I suppose. OK, where is it?

Well, since it's you that's asking...

The absolute latest version - with all the newest, most annoying and irritating bugs we can muster - will always be found here on this home page (mostly because I'm too lazy to upload it anywhere else)

You expect me to believe that this stuff is free?

I could get people to pay for this? Yes, it's completely free - you'll find the minimalist terms and conditions in the various readme files (you do look at readme files, don't you?) in the release ZIP archives and in the help file; but basically you can use PFE at home, at work, in the car and any improbable location of your choice without paying me a penny (or cent, if you're across the planet from where I am).

But in the unlikely circumstance that you actually think you'd like to distribute PFE with your commercial product - (no, don't laugh - it has been known to happen) - I would want to sell you a licence. Well, I do have a mortgage to pay and a computer to support.

Well OK, but it'll fall to bits in the year 2000, won't it?

I don't think so - take a look at what I believe the PFE Year 2000 position is.

Remember

PFE is FreeWare

No licence

No registration

No fee

and

No support either

Did you just say "no support"?

Well, it is free, you know!

But you're not completely alone with it. If ever you find yourself Frequently Asking a Question (like "why can't I get this thing to open any files?" or "Did I really waste my time picking up this heap of binary?") then you might like to look here here for the Frequently Given Answer. There's actually a file in the release ZIP archives containing a lot of the material (called faq.txt, in faqt) but the version here has pretty colours, faulty HTML formatting and might even get updated one rainy weekend.

And as we all get to know and love the many quirks, oddities, pathological unco-operativenesses and absolutely unusable features in a release, you'll find that the collection of Application Notes, which will at least tell you what the problems are even if they aren't actually any assistance, will grow inexorably. Who knows, maybe a helpful and cogent one will manage to slip through one day.

Contacting Me

I'm always interested in hearing from PFE users - comments, suggestions, bug-reports and even unrestrainable praise will do nicely.

Mail me at A.Phillips@lancaster.ac.uk if you feel so inclined; I do read everything that comes in, but as I actually do need to earn a living from time to time I can't promise I'll have time to reply to it all.