This file contains a digest of genealogical software reviews that have appeared in the ROOTS-L news list from June 12, 1990 through September 20, 1990. ROOTS-L contains articles copied from the soc.roots news group. ROOTS-L articles are archived on the North Dakota Higher Education Network (HECN) host, Internet: LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu BITNET: LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 UUCP: ...!uunet!plains!vm1.nodak.edu!listserv and may be obtained via LISTSERV or anonymous ftp from the ROOTS-L.LOG* files of the ROOTS-L directory. Vic Abell, abe@mace.cc.purdue.edu, January 11, 1991 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 14:27:42 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: HBLADM1@UCONNVM.BITNET Subject: Brother's Keeper The following announcement may be of interest I suspect the files may also be obtained thru LISTSERV@RPIECS on Bitnet. --- George Waller, Univ. of Conn. ******************************************************************* From: Keith Petersen Subject: Recent msdos uploads to SIMTEL20 The following files have been recently uploaded to SIMTEL20: NOTE: Type B is Binary; Type A is ASCII Filename Type Length Date Description ============================================== Directory PD1: BK45BD1.ZIP B 200935 900512 Brother's Keeper (v4.5B) Family History, 1of3 BK45BD2.ZIP B 326317 900512 Brother's Keeper (v4.5B) Family History, 2of3 BK45BD3.ZIP B 208568 900512 Brother's Keeper (v4.5B) Family History, 3of3 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 17 Jul 90 15:16:01 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Resent-From: Roots-L List Operations Comments: Originally-From: lars@spectrum.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) From: Roots-L List Operations Subject: Re: Family Tree computer forms ************** From the soc.roots USENET/Netnews Group *************** NOTE: From soc.roots. Please be sure to reply to the original sender and NOT the forwarder. Thanks! Alf (current forwarder) ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- In article <3534@sol.oakhill.UUCP> joej@oakhill.UUCP (Joe Jelemensky) writes: >Recently I went to Vienna, ... >I did the same for the American branch. He also promised to send >me a copy of the family records (Austria, Hungary, and Czech) for >the family back to 1671. > >I'd like to put all of this information together in some kind of >data base in order to make it easier to update in the future, and >also make it easier to trace certain ancestors. I would also >like to print out family trees and reports from the data base. > >Does anyone out there know of any specific software available >for this purpose? Preferably, I would like something that runs >on a Macintosh. Time for the usual plug for PERSONAL ANCESTRAL FILE for the MacIntosh. Published by the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (better known as the Mormons). About $40, including: - The FAMILY RECORDS database program - The "Research Data Filer" program - A terminal emulator program that can do XMODEM file transfers - Comprehensive documentation (manuals) for all of the above This is probably the top of the line on the MAC side. Besides, it uses the "industry standard" GEDCOM data interchange format, so if you ever decide to move on to another program, you can take your database with you. (I have already received records in GEDCOM format from people using other systems). I can never remember the 800-number for ordering, but the support number is 801-240-2584; they will be happy to tell you the 800 number. My brother-in-law jokes that this is the ultimate in Shareware: The Mormons give you the software almost for free, all they want in return is your ancestors :-). -- / Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer CMC Rockwell lars@CMC.COM ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 90 07:51:48 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Jan White 921-7159 X5021 Subject: software Hi genealogy lovers, I am sending to the list instead of the inquirer because others may be interested. I have Family Tree Maker, which is a wonderful software. It has fields for loads of data, plus it prints charts, trees, lists, even photo trees. I paid $39 for it at Software House in Dallas, Tx. You can change fields if there is information you are not collecting and need them for information you are collecting that there aren't specific fields for. I haven't had it too long, so I am just scratching the surface, but I think it is a very good piece of software. You get some parchment computer paper with it, and can order more. Check it out. Happy hunting, Jan White PER0231A AT TCUAVM Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Tx. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 90 11:09:10 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Jan White 921-7159 X5021 Subject: Additional info on Family Tree Maker Hi, Oops!!!!! I didn't tell you everything about Family Tree Maker. It is DOS software (if there is a MAC version, I don't know it). It requires 640 K, and comes with loads of documentation and both size disks. If there are other questions, let me know. Jan ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 18 Jul 90 16:14:42 LCL Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Patricia.A.Crossett@MAC.DARTMOUTH.EDU Subject: Re: software Hi, My first note to the list. We have a MacIntosh and use the Personal Ancestral File Software which we purchased from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Salt Lake City. Their address is: Salt Lake Distribution Center 1999 West 1700 South Salt Lake City, UT 84104 We purchased it for $35.00 two years ago. They may have an upgrade. It can be used with Mac's, Apple //e, //c and MS-DOS computers. They accept MC and VISA for phone orders at 1-800-247-3892. They have an information line to answer questions about equipment requirements, etc. 1-801-240-2584. This is a good piece of software which allows you to link individuals and families together as well as to store info about those individuals and families. Information can be printed out in family group format as well as in pedigree charts. Very exciting. To me, at least. Good luck in your software search. Pattie Crossett crossett@mac.dartmouth.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 20 Jul 90 11:38:31 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Jan White 921-7159 X5021 Subject: FTM - Software House Hi, I meant to respond before now. The address for Software House is: Software House Inc - Dallas 15060 Marsh Lane Dallas, Texas 75234 Phone (214) 484-8500 Family Tree Maker comes from Banner Blue P.O. Box 7856 Fremont, CA. 94537-9902 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Aug 90 21:34:18 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@PSUVM From: Theodore John Swift Subject: Re: Information on Roots abe@MACE.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Vic Abell) writes: >The company name may be Quinsept and the program Roots III. There >are some reviews of it available via the ROOTS-L list server at >VM1.NoDak.EDU.... Yes, the reviews are there, but Roots III is published by Commsoft in Mountain View, CA, and is only available for Compatibles. Quinsept is back east, and publishes Family Roots, another genealogical program, available for the Apple II, IBM Compatibles (I think), and the Mac. I don't have prices for Roots III, but a glance in the phone book finds Commsoft at 2257 Old Middlefield Wy Mountain View, CA (no zip, natch) (415) 967-1900. -- ------------ We boast of being immigrants...when we no longer are subject to the immegrant's ordeal, after we have become certifiable natives... -Meg Greenfield, Ted Swift !well!tswift "The Immigrant Mystique" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Aug 90 12:21:22 GMT Reply-To: Joe Smith Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@PSUVM From: Joe Smith Subject: Genealology programs for the Amiga? What software is there for doing family trees on the Amiga computer? I currently have "Your Family Tree" version 1.2 (waiting for 2.0) and would like to hear about anything else. One feature of YFT 1.2 that is noticibly lacking is the ability to import/export the data in a format compatible with other programs. -- Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: jms@tardis.tymnet.com or jms@gemini.tymnet.com BT Tymnet Tech Services | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms PO Box 49019, MS-C51 | BIX: smithjoe | 12 PDP-10s still running! "POPJ P," San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | humorous dislaimer: "My Amiga speaks for me." ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Aug 90 08:05:22 EDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Holt Anderson Subject: Re: Information on Roots In-Reply-To: In article you write: >I am looking for information on a software package call "Roots". >I believe the package is from a company called Comsoft, but I am >not sure. Could anyone on the list provide me information on this >software package? Commsoft 2257 Old Middlefield Way Mountain View, CA 94043 800/327-6687 (in CA call 415/967-1900) I'm a Roots User since 1987 and can recommend it for VERY serious genealogists. The LDS version is about $200 cheaper and som people swear by it. Good luck. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 8 Sep 90 20:10:35 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: Info: Genealogical Research System Today I visited the: "Automated Archives" Genealogical Research System (GRS) at the 11th Annual Hispanic Genealogical Conference Fountain Plaza Hotel. San Antonio Texas My main reason for attending was to see the software and CD-ROM hardware used by: Genealogical Research System (GRS) The system can be used with all IBM Compatible personal Computer Systems and IBM PS2 machines. There is already a scheduled release for Macintosh machines and those for other systems will be scheduled as time and funding permits. Mr. Jay Potter, Owner, was demonstrating the software, and he said they have a staff of 9 programmers. They already have indexes to approx 3,000,000 marriages for the Southern States and it will be on 5 separate CD's. They are reading in the infomation with a OCR scanner and the OCR disks will cost $169.00 each. An Introductory Disk is available now, and it has 78 different sources of data. They were showing it on a 4mhz XT compatible and it was plenty fast with the CD-ROM speed. Associate Membership: $50.00 per year, which includes several benefits, and they are sending me a ASCII file with all the info - which will be made available as a LISTSERV file in the GENEALOG area when I get it. Address: Automated Archives, 1382 West Center, Orem, Utah 84058 Phones: (801) 226-6066 and PLEASE NOTE ---> 800-748-4425 ----------------------------------------------------------- The system has the capability to search for any word or multiple words on the CD, but below, we were searching for: POTTER (and) HANNAH (being within 5 words of each another in the text on CD-ROM) The would HIGHLIGHT the name on screen when found, I have put a <<== to show it (in this text file for ROOTS-L). ---------------------------------- Screen #2176: Abrid-vol.1 CHAPIN, Henry Kent, b Niles, Mich., Aug. 7, 1879 10-William Mead (qv); 9-John (1634-99), m Hannah Potter; <<============ 8-John (ca. 1658-1693), m Ruth Hardey; 7-Nathan (ca. 1691-1777); 6-Capt. Job (ca. 1735-1819); 5-Job (1761-1832), soldier War 1812, m Ruth Hib- bard; 4-Henry H. (1797-1842), m Mary Paine (1796-1892); 3-Sarah Ann (1820-84), m 1838, Henry H. Coolidge (1805-84). 2-Son of Charles Augustus Chapin (1845-1913), pres. Ind. & Mich. Electric Co., realtor, Chi- cago, m 1874, Emily M. Coolidge (qv for mater- nal line). M Jan. 8, 1907, Elizabeth Crandall, b Kansas City, Mo., Mar. 3, 1884; dau. of Chester D. Crandall, of Chicago; issue (all b Chicago): 1-Henry /end of screen/ If you are still reading - there must be some interest in the system. I have also uploaded a file GRSINFO1 and it is 18K bytes which will show several other searches and many, many surnames. It may be received by sending the following one-line command to LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU GET GENEALOG GRSINFO1 Thanks, and I did enjoy seeing the system. Cliff Manis Standard Disclaimer: We are not associated with anyone. (PERIOD). (.) Send a msg to: LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU for genealogical information GET GENEALOG HELPFILE (as the first of line in text of msg) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 11 Sep 90 18:45:13 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: UUENCODE & UUDECODE SRC Since several people have asked ! ! ! I have uploaded uudecode.c and uuencode.c to the GENEALOG files area. These are the same 'C' source code which is available on SIMTEL20 archives, and will be available here if wanted. You may get them with the following command to LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU GET GENEALOG UUDECODE GET GENEALOG UUENCODE and good luck.. cliff ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Sep 90 08:59:00 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Mike Lawler - Kingston, Ont. - (8-544-2041)" Subject: RECONSTRUCTING UUDECODED FILES Regarding Kevin Himmelberger's note about being unable to reconstruct files sent to him in several parts. I have received many large files from the SIMTEL archives in LISTSERV and had the same problem initially in being able to reconstruct them. The problem appeared to be due to the files being garbled during the mailing across BITNET. To correct the problem, I now use two programs which are available from SIMTEL which firstly preprocess the reconstructed file (and removing trailing spaces or somesuch thing) followed by a fast little UUDecoder called QUUDCD. Having removed the mail headers and reconstructing the files with a text editor, use PREPROC.EXE followed by QUUDCD.COM . This prepares your file for deArchiving, or unZipping as the case may be. Both files are available by requesting the following from SIMTEL in the following directory ... PD1:QUX3_90.ARC Just include the line /PDGET MAIL PD1:QUX3_90.ARC UUENCODE in your note to LISTSERV to get it. Hope this helps. Mike Lawler DuPont Canada Inc. Kingston, Ontario, Canada ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Sep 90 09:10:00 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Jene Atkinson, Jr. - UW Oshkosh" Subject: RE: decoding downloaded files > >Yesterday I successfully downloaded the Family Genealogy >Program (FT115.ARC) from LISTSERV. It came in 8 parts. >Unfortunately, after joining the 8 parts together as instructed >and downloading them, I have not been able to un-decode them. >I am probably using the wrong program, or something else equally >obvious. Perhaps someone could help me out, please. > >Many thanks, >Kevin Himmmelberger >Ohio State University Kevin, When I get files on to the our VAX, I have to run the CONVERT utility on the file to remove carriage control, then I download the files to the PC. In login.com : $ FIX :== "CONVERT/FDL=PD" PD.FDL : TITLE "To add carriage control attribute" IDENT "10-Oct-1988 15:33:20 VAX-11 FDL Editor" RECORD CARRIAGE_CONTROL NONE at DCL : FIX filename * jr ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Sep 90 11:10:11 PDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Rick Clements Subject: Re: decoding downloaded files In-Reply-To: ---- In article you write: >Yesterday I successfully downloaded the Family Genealogy >Program (FT115.ARC) from LISTSERV. It came in 8 parts. >Unfortunately, after joining the 8 parts together as instructed >and downloading them, I have not been able to un-decode them. >I am probably using the wrong program, or something else equally >obvious. Perhaps someone could help me out, please. The files with a .arc (or some with a .ark) extention need to be run though unarc, pkunark or pkunpak. They were the standard archiving (and compressing) program on the net until the PC news group became moderated by the author or the zoo archive programs. BTW, zip is the third archiving "standard". Rick Clements (RickC@pogo.WV.TEK.COM) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Sep 90 11:24:41 PDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Rick Clements Subject: Re: Genealogy Programs on SIMTEL20 In-Reply-To: <9009101145.AAulrik15890@ulrik.uio.no> ---- In article <9009101145.AAulrik15890@ulrik.uio.no> you write: >I think also Genealogy on Display is available from the PC-BLUE area >on SIMTEL20. Can't remember which volume, though .... All the genealogy programs listed on the net are for the PC or Mac. I had given up finding any that I could run on my C128 until I found some in the CP/M section of SIMTEL20. The following files are on SIMTEL20 under PD:: FMLYTRE2.LBR (It's in BASIC, so I can't use it) FT-CPM.ARK (This looks like the one I might use.) TTGEN10C.LBR (Formats Tiny T???) If anyone has other programs (C64, C128 or CP/M) I would like to hear about them. Rick Clements (RickC@pogo.WV.TEK.COM) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Sep 90 23:13:32 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: Starter HELP for uudecodeing >> Subject: v07inf01: Starter kit, v1.5 (part 01/01) >> Summary: How to use these postings UseNet CBIP Starter's Kit This kit contains what you will need to begin downloading files from comp.binaries.ibm.pc. This kit contains: 1) Instructions 2) BASIC source to create UUDECODE.COM 3) DEBUG script to create UUDECODE.COM 4) C source for UUDECODE 5) LOOZ 2.12, ZOO extractor, in uuencoded form You will need: 1) GW-BASIC or DEBUG (from MS-DOS) 2) File editor The above referenced file was on comp.binaries.ibm.pc about a month ago and I believe it will help several of those needing information about uudecoding and help with un-arcing files. Several people have sent me email about this and here it is for your use. You may get the file by sending the following line to: LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU GET GENEALOG STARTER Good luck..cliff ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 13:48:00 EDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Tom White Subject: Re: Zapped by Zip A zipped file refers to a file using PKZIP to archive (or compress) and PKUNZIP to decompress. It is available on most bulletin boards to down- load. It is not public, but it is shareware. The latest version I have seen is called PKZ110.EXE. It is a self-extracting file about 150K in size. The company name and address is PKWARE, INC. 7545 N. Port Washington Rd. Suite 205 Glendale, Wi. 53217 (VOICE - 9-5 CST) 414-352-3670 (Bulletin Board) 414-352-7176 Tom White University of Richmond WHITE@URVAX PS. If you need more info, my number is 804-289-8975 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 12:35:54 PDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: lane@ELWOOD.ENET.DEC.COM Subject: Zapped twice by zip! >Subj: Re: Zapped by Zip > >A zipped file refers to a file using PKZIP to archive (or compress) and >PKUNZIP to decompress. It is available on most bulletin boards to down- >load. It is not public, but it is shareware. The latest version I have >seen is called PKZ110.EXE. ... > >Tom White First, Thanks to Tom White for his prompt response. Second, I would like to request that people remember that the readers of roots-l use all sorts of operating systems and machines - not just MS-DOS or whatever it's called. As far as I am able to determine, PKZIP is not available to Unix or VAX/VMS users and as long as it is distributed as a .EXE, it never will be. The fact that this utility is shareware only complicates the issue. Many companies have serious concerns or outright prohibitions about users installing shareware on their systems. Why not use .ARC files? Everybody has software to unscramble the stuff. In many cases, the compression/uuencode bit produces a file of the same approximate size as the original material. Why not just leave it alone if it's text? Most people can detect garbles if they occur (BTW, I can't remember the last time I saw a garbled network message). Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe..... Mickey. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 18 Sep 90 22:55:00 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Craig M. Todd, Sr. VAX Analyst/Consultant, ACR, x4038" Subject: uudecode & simtel if you examine the index files carefully you will most often find that simtel provides one program that will allow you to fully prepare the others that you need to complete your mission. it usually involves a little manipulation but if it was easy... ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 19 Sep 90 08:47:00 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Mike Lawler - Kingston, Ont. - (8-544-2041)" Subject: UUDECODING FILES Roots-L Readers, My apologies for the confusion following my last note, as evidenced by: > Finally there comes a note that at last provides the answer. > It happens that Simtel has a fast little uudecoder called quudcd. > We can use that along with prepro.exe, and our downloaded (and edited) > uuencoded files will be ready. Great! Now the note tells us how > to get these files. We get them. We then learn that we need a > uudecoder before we can unarchive them. Before I could even use the above, I received a Basic version of the UUDECODE program from SIMTEL, which was sent in ASCII format, and thus did not require Uuencoding. Using UUDECODE initially, I was then able to start receiving other SIMTEL files if my memory serves me correctly. It can be obtained by sending the following note to LISTSERV: /PDGET MAIL PD1:UUDECODE.BAS TRANSLATE The Translate option above directs Listserv to send the Ascii file as such. Again, sorry for the confusion. Mike Lawler DuPont Canada Inc. Kingston, Ontario, Canada ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 20 Sep 90 16:45:01 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: Genealogical Rcsh Demo Automated Archives Genealogical Research Systems (GRS) Today I did receive a DEMO of the CD-ROM archives from GRS. It does look very impressive and here is some info for those wanting to take a look, or even possibly getting your own demo. To keep my involvement to a minimum - I will just send ROOTS-L this 15k file. Sorry to bother those with no interest in this but ... here it is ! ! I have no involvement with this company, I am thinking about it, after seeing this DEMO. ..Cliff.. ------------------ GRS DEMO Installation Guide Automated Archives Genealogical Research System (GRS) represents the latest breakthrough in computerized research for genealogical and historical material. The installation of the software is very easy if you follow the instructions. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to call our TOLL FREE number: 1 (800) 748-4425 SYSTEM MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: An IBM XT Compatible Machine with at least 640 K RAM can be used to run the program. If other computer programs have previously loaded extensive Resident Ram programs that utilize quite a bit of memory, even when they are not running, it may be necessary to remove these programs to allow GRSDEMO to run. The program will work directly from a floppy drive, but will load and run faster if loaded on a hard disk. The program will make references to the CD. In the demo version a DATA floppy disk will be used to simulate the CD. For 5.25 inch format the demo comes on two disks, one program disk and one data disk. For 3.5 inch versions the program and the data are on one disk. GRSDEMO is copyright protected and the exclusive property of Automated Archives. You may make as many backup copies for your own use as you desire. INSTALLATION: The configuration file 'CONFIG.SYS' which is contained in your ROOT directory needs to contain the entry, FILES=20. Type this file, to determine the contents, by using the DOS command: TYPE CONFIG.SYS You may edit the file, with any standard ASCII text editor such as EDLIN. You may use a word processor if you can save the file out as an ASCII text file. If you intend on using the software from a harddisk, simply copy all the files from the Program Disk to a directory such as GRS, on your harddisk. It is usually best if you create a subdirectory to store your work files. This subdirectory can be called 'WORK'. See your DOS manual for instructions on creating sub-directories and copying files. Change your current default drive to the location where your program is located. For example if you are running the program from your harddisk in the C:\GRS directory, type: CD C:\GRS Start the program up by typing 'GRSDEMO'. The first time that you use the program, you will be required to complete a simple setup. This will allow you to change various program settings. PROGRAM SETTINGS: (a) Color Setup If you have a monochrome screen, the program will detect this and not allow color changes. If you wish to change the color settings for your color monitor you may do so with this option. (b) Path selection You will see a prompt in the middle of the lower section of the screen, asking you to enter the path where the CD is located. You should enter the drive letter of you floppy drive that will be simulating a CD READER (usually A:\). Note: The actual drive letter depends on how your system is configured and where you have placed the data. The next prompt will ask you for the location of your work files. If you created a special directory for them, enter the complete path name to the directory. Note: if you are unable to run the 'GRSDEMO' program, you may have entered an invalid path. This may prevent you from continuing. You may delete the setup file ('GRS.CTL') and start over. RUNNING THE PROGRAM: The first basic rule is that when you press the 'Enter' key, the program will process the commands that are highlighted. The 'Esc' key will back you up to your last state. You should see a message appear, that instructs you that system is 'Loading the CD'. When this completes a new screen appears (The Initial Screen). This screen gives you four options: Summary Search Data Search Load the CD Change Setup These options are activated by selecting the desired options by 'moving the bar' over the desired option and selecting return. Note the bar actually stays in the same position, and the list moves underneath. Lets cover the options from the bottom up. "Change Setup" is the option used for the changing colors and setting up directory paths. "Load the CD" is used when you wish to change CD disks. After inserting your new disks, run this option. "Data Search" is the most common way in which the program will be used. This is a search of the actual text that has been specified for searching. "Summary Search" is used to get a quick overview of what information is available. Some CD databases will contain "Summary Records". These record contain short descriptions of the material in each of the books on the disks. In addition to the description there is a Surname list from that book. Both the Summary and the Data searches run the same way. When you start up the search you will be given a choice as to how you want the results of the searches displayed. On the data Search, this will be 'alphabetically' or by 'category'. The 'alphabetical' will display a two window system. The first window is an alphabetical listing of all books on the CD. The second window will show screen numbers. Screen numbers are like pages of the book, except they are reflect complete display pages of text. Before a search is executed, the screen number list will show all the screens that are available. Automated Archives has devised a simple method to show a large amount of data on a single screen, through the use of multiple windows. These windows are side by side, with a highlight bar running from one window to the next. The information displayed in a given window is dependent upon the information in the window to the left of it. For example the screen numbers shown in the 'alpha search' belong to the item that is highlighted from the book- category screen. If you change the highlighted item in the book- category screen then the screen numbers will change to reflect the new book-category. In the 'Category Search' there are three windows. First the 'Category', second the 'Book' and third the 'Screen number' Moving around the windows is really quite easy. There is always one window designated as 'active'. This is the window with the double line border around the outside edge. Use the left and right keys to choose which window is active. Notice as you push the left and right keys the active window changes. The data within the active window is scrolled by using the up,down, pgup, pgdn, home and end keys. Don't be too surprised when you initially scroll up and down in the book-category window if you don't see any changes, because all the books will have at least 12 screens of data. To see the total number of screens in a book, first move the book you are interested in under the highlight bar and then change the active window to the 'Scr #' window. Press the 'end' key. The list will reposition with the last screen number of the highlighted book in the highlight bar. In the 'Category Search' the reaction is quite a bit more visible. With the 'Category' window active, if you scroll up and down, you will see both the book list and the screen numbers change. Again, the information of the 'Book' window is controlled by the item under the highlight of the 'Category' window. Another feature with the window system is the selection process. A selected item is something that will be searched on. This is very useful if you wish to manually limit the items that you are interested in. Next to the title 'Book' on the upper part of the screen you will see '(Selected = 76)'. This indicates the number of books (in this case 76) that have been selected for searching. Initially, all books are selected. To select a book, scroll the book you are interested in under the highlight bar and then press the 'space' bar. The color of the item will change and the number of items selected will update. (All the items selected and no items selected will have the same number - which is all the items). You can use this to limit your searching to a particular category of materials. In the production CD's there can be dozens of categories. If, for example, you are only interested in marriage records, you could limit your search to only that category by selecting that single category. Note that when you select a category, all the books within that category are selected, when you 'unselect' the category (by pressing the space bar one more time with the category under the highlight) all the books under that category are unselected. Whenever you press the 'Enter' key, the computer will preform a search on all the books that are selected. SEARCHING: Every word of the text is indexed! That means you are not limited to any particular item like a name or date, but you can even search on occupations or anything you can conceive of. Yes you can even search on the word 'the' and find every occurrence of it. I'm not quite sure how that would benefit your genealogical research, but if you really want it, no problem. The more often a word occurs, the longer the processing time will take. If you do search on a common word or name, it will take a little while to load all the information into the program. The Search Screen is very simple to use. You can enter up to eight separate search expressions for the computer to find at a single time. In genealogy a search expression is comprised of things you know, such as the name or dates or locations. The computer is trying to find information that can be displayed on a single screen. For example, if we type in "POTTER JOHN", the computer will look for all the places that both the words "POTTER" and the word "JOHN" occur close enough to be displayed on a single screen. Those words do not have to be in any particular order, just close. This way you can find references that mention the last name in one sentence and the first name in another. However, this will allow matches to occur that do not specifically belong to "John Potter". For example if a paragraph mentioned "Mary Potter" and "John Smith" then a match would occur. This can be quickly dismissed by the operator when the match is displayed. Each of the eight search lines represents a separate search. If on the first line you entered "John Smith" and on the second line you put "Mary Potter" you would get matches or either JOHN SMITH or MARY POTTER but you would not get entries of JOHN POTTER. On a single entry line you can enter up to 256 characters. This means that you could enter "JOHN SMITH California Blacksmith" and it would only return matches that had all four words within them. The search ignores case differences, so you can type the search in either upper or lower case, or a mixture, it doesn't matter. After you have entered all your desired search expressions, press the 'Enter' key and the search will begin. A window will come up and will tell you that a search is in progress. When the Search is done, it will tell you. Another window will then come up, that say 'Processing Books'. This section of the program takes, the results of the search, and figures out how many occurrences, occurs in each individual book. When the process is complete, it will instruct you how many total occurrences were found, in how many books. A special note: If you search on very common names or words, you could have thousands of potential matches. The program will drop out of the conversion process when over a 1000 matches occurs. Most of the time, this is an indication, the you probably will want to narrow your search, by making it more restrictive. It may be that you really do want to process every occurrence of the word 'the'. If more than 1000 matches occur. A special screen will be brought up, that tells you of the interruption. You will be given a choice of either continuing the full load, or looking at the list of matches. To continue the full loading process, press the 'F6' key. The processes will continue, until all the books are processed. This may take quite a while, but it may be necessary to find your specific ancestor. After the Books have been processed, Press any key and you will be brought back to a screen that shows the books and the categories again. This will be just like, what you saw before, except that the categories, books and screen numbers, now will only reflect those items that matched your search expression. For example you may find that instead of four categories, you now have only one category showing, with a smaller number of books within that category. Also the text records may skip over large blocks of numbers. The screen numbers reflect only those screens that contain words from your search expression. There are two separate ways to view a particular record. You may move the 'Active' window to the Scr # and scroll up and down till you get the desired text number under the highlight bar. You may 'Select' the item by pressing the space bar, and the item will be brought up. If you wish to see the first screen #, that is already highlighted, you may simply hit the 'F5' key without moving the active window. You are now viewing the full text from the original record. The words that you searched on are Highlighted within the text displayed. You now may move around within the text, by using the PgUp, PgDn, Up arrow, Down arrow. If the text is wider that the display screen, you may use the left and right arrows to position the text. The Pageup and Pagedown keys will take you to the previous page in the original book. If you are at the top of a book, it will take you to the last page of the previous selected book. There are two ways to see the next occurrence of your search expression. You can press either the 'N' or '+' keys to see the next item within your book, or 'P' or '-' to see the previous item. This is fine for checking every possibility. If you see that a particular books contains matches, but they do not match, you may press the 'ESC' key and that will take you back to the book list. You may then move the next book you wish to check under the highlight bar and then press 'F5' again, and you will be moved to that book. If you used a category type display, you can skip over whole sections of books that don't meet your needs. If you see that there are areas that you are not interested in, you can select the items, that affect you, and do the search again. Each subsequent search, will be further restricted by the new search that you are doing. You can keep on doing this until you either have no hits or just exactly the group of records you really want. By pressing the 'Esc' key you can return to the results of the previous search. With this introduction, you will be able to do find out many interesting facts that may relate to your ancestors. The INTRODUCTION DISK is intended for demonstration only. It does not contain near the amount of material that is contained on our standard CD-ROM products. We hope that this system will facilitate your search for your ancestors and provide many enjoyable hours of discovering your hidden heritage. /the end/