Not exactly similar, this text editor and writing tool can do several things;
and it (may still) runs free. I have a version of it.
• Text Wrangler: powerful general purpose text editor...
http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
The original Text Edit, part of the System's original apps package, is more
integrated with the original system installation; and should not be missing.
However, you can choose to have another similar app as default to open
or work with similar types of files.
And for more office-like apps, there's a 'free running' donation-ware suite:
• Neo Office:
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Text Edit version 1.4 from about 2005 (or so) should be what OS X 10.4.11
would have included in the installer and then on the computer in question.
The app is about 8.5MB, and may require the installer to place it correctly.
You may look into the OS X 10.4.x Install DVD for Tiger and use Pacifist
utility to look for and see if you can find the package in there, and extract
it via Pacifist; then install Text Edit from the desktop via this utility. It will
work in a demo mode, so you don't have to buy it, to try it out. It works.
• CharlesSoft - Pacifist:
http://www.charlessoft.com/
There is no reason why the original TextEdit would not be in Tiger 10.4.
Unless some files were corrupted at a point during installation process.
Good luck & happy computing! 🙂