This file contains a digest of genealogical software reviews that have appeared in the ROOTS-L news list from July 9, 1991 through December 19, 1991. 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 19, 1992 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1991 10:58:28 -0400 Reply-To: aa581@cleveland.Freenet.Edu Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Sandra Rozhon Subject: Re: PAF Sub-Directories > >I recently installed PAF (IBM, version 2.2) on my hard disk. I have just >finished one of my husband's lines. Before I begin mine and his other line, >I would like to create a sub-directory for each line. I suppose it's almost >a now or never situation. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to do it. If anyone >can give me directions, I'd appreciate it greatly. Unless you believe such >information would be of general interest, please respond privately. Again, >all advice is appreciated. > >Dorothy Boyd-RushFac_DBOY@JMUVAX1 >FAC_DBOYDRUS@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU > > Dorothy -- I wondered about this situation, too and found that there is a menu item in PAF that allows you to temporarily change the source directory for your data file. Look at page 1-82 of your manual where it explains the System Utilities (which is selection "A" on the main menu). You'll note that the utility menu item #4 allows for temporary changes to the configuration. Just be sure that you have created a subdirectory for your family before trying this out. I don't think PAF will create one for you. Hope this answers your question. Sandy -- |~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~| | O | From: Sandra Rozhon aa581@cleveland.freenet.edu | O | | | Genealogy SIG (go roots) Free-Net: (216)/368-3888 | | | O | Wordprocessing SIG (go wp) telnet via: 129.22.8.75 | O | ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1991 16:00:24 GMT Reply-To: Tristan Davies Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Tristan Davies Subject: Geneology Programs, Part 2 As regular readers may remember, about 6 weeks ago I posted a message asking for advice on good geneology programs for the Mac. The initial set of responses, summarized and posted a couple of weeks ago, was overwhelmingly in favor of Personal Ancestral File. However, since that summary was posted, I've heard from several people (and thanks to you all!) who think that despite its higher cost (about $90 vs. $35), the Reunion program was decidedly better. For those of you following this topic, I decided a sort of update post was in order. The advantages of Reunion seem to be its ease of use (it's based on HyperCard) and the high quality of its graphics, charts, and tables. Personal Ancestral File seems to suffer from some awkwardness in the interface, as well as some Mormon-specific features which are difficult to disable. So there's the summary, part 2. Once again, let me mention that I have an allegedly complete list of geneology programs for _all_ computers which was e-mailed to me. This list does _not_ rate programs; it's just a list. E-mail inquiries are welcome. Tristan Davies e-mail: tbd@neuro.duke.edu Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center "grblb blabt unt mipt speeb!! oot piffoo blaboo..." -- Opus ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1991 02:38:02 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Raphael Finkel Subject: Personal Dorot: IBM PC software for Jewish Genealogy I just got this announcement from Dorot: the Jewish Genealogy Center in Tel Aviv, Israel. Here is a brief excerpt: The program is called "Personal Dorot" (Dorot means "generations" in Hebrew). Cost: $99.95+$5.00 postage Address: The Douglas E. Goldman Jewish Genealogy Center POB 39359, Tel Aviv 61392, Israel The cost includes a free service: They will include your genealogy in their collection of Jewish genealogy if you provide it in their format on disks created by this program. Usually, there is a $1/name fee, but they waive in this case. Works on IBM-compatible PCs. Available in 5-1/4 or 3-1/2" diskettes Needs 640K memory, 2 floppies or a hard disk Works on CGA, EGA< VGA and Hercules monitors Works with all Epson, IBM, HP Laserjet compatible printers Modules family file: up to 3600 family members, each with a "card" family chart: displays relationships; graphic access to family file. family tree: prints up to 9 generations and 150 members including connecting branches printouts: alphabetical lists and charts and such Has on-line help screens Allows scanning by names (no need to remember serial numbers) Includes GEDCOM utility for transfer of data to and from other GEDCOM- compatible programs. Disclaimer: I have not tried this software. I have not spoken to anyone who has. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1991 08:19:14 EST Reply-To: cotrssm@SEA04VM.NAVSEA.NAVY.MIL Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Scott (nmi) Mattes" Subject: Re: Geneology Programs, Part 2 On Thu, 11 Jul 1991 16:00:24 GMT, Tristan Davies said: > >......... some text deleted ......... > >The advantages of Reunion seem to be its ease of use (it's based on >HyperCard) and the high quality of its graphics, charts, and tables. >Personal Ancestral File seems to suffer from some awkwardness in the >interface, as well as some Mormon-specific features which are >difficult to disable. > While never having used the MAC version of PAF I think it is quite easy to disable the 'mormon-specific' features. For data entry they don't appear as separate screens so you could just not fill them in and for the reports all you have to do is configure it once to not print those fields. IMO. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1991 12:53:00 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Ed Mertes Subject: Re: RE: Geneology Programs, Part 2 >why not post the "complete list of gen. progs for all computers"? For anyone who who can use list-server commands there already exists a set of Frequently Answered Questions which address the question of Software to use for Computerized Genealogists. FAQ 201 covers IBM FAQ 202 covers Commodore FAQ 203 covers Atari FAQ 204 covers Amiga FAQ 205 covers RadioShack FAQ 206 covers Apple/Mac I got the IBM version today for a co-worker to pass on to a friend. The information was dated May 1990 but I think it would still be usefull for a beginner trying to find out what programs are (were) available. For more information on requesting these files or getting an index listing see any of Cliff Manis' GENEALOG messages. Good hunting, Ed --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Mertes 7746 Suffolk Ave. St. Louis, MO 63119 (314) 647-8847 mertes@stl-07sima.army.mil mertes@st-louis-emh2.army.mil Researching: MERTES DREILING JACCOD GIRARD GRAF DEPAUL/DIPAULO REINACHER PLOESSER/PLAZIER CANTER --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1991 17:57:58 CDT Reply-To: cmanis@csoftec.csf.com Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: Genealogy on SIMTEL Lots of GENEALOGY programs and files are available on SIMTEL20. If you do not understand how to access the files from SIMTEL, then you may request the "ASIMTEL" file from GENEALOG, using the following syntax: GET GENEALOG ASIMTEL I downloaded this new listing today. The following files are in the directory on SIMTEL20. Directory/File Bytes Description -------------------- ---------- ----------------------------------------------- PD1:MSDOS.GENEALOGY BK45CD1.ZIP 335149 Brother's Keeper (v4.5C) Family History BK45CD2.ZIP 326193 Brother's Keeper (v4.5C) Family History BK45CD3.ZIP 230923 Brother's Keeper (v4.5C) Family History BKINDX.ZIP 71168 Indexing util for Brother's Keeper (Genealogy) CENSUS20.ZIP 177872 Genealogy: EZCensus - 1880/90 census database CHART.ZIP 44094 Creates 11 generation pedigree charts CRD301.ZIP 284874 Cemetery Research Database CRDLT11.ZIP 293543 Cemetery Research Database for Laptops Ver 1.1 DESCEN21.ZIP 25344 Genealogy: Expanded descendant chart for PAF FHS1.ARC 167398 FHS (Family History System) FHS2.ARC 258733 FHS (Family History System) FT119D.ZIP 177063 'Family Ties' Genealogy program (ver 1.19d) FTP119A.ZIP 137894 Genealogy:FamilyTree Print utl for Family Ties GBBS9104.ZIP 27392 Worldwide Genealogical BBS listing - Apr 1991 GED2T9.ZIP 73472 Genealogy:Create Tiny Tafels from GEDCOM files GENKIT15.ZIP 61486 A toolkit for Genealogists MYFMLY20.ZIP 233349 My Family Genealogy program NAMED119.ZIP 81497 Genealogy: Name Dropper - search message files NAMEV201.ZIP 109068 Genealogy: Name View v2.01 - used with NAMED PAFP21.ZIP 132096 Genealogy: Family Tree Print utility program SDIPRT94.ZIP 105281 Read/print/convert SS Death Index GED Files SLEKT02.ZIP 127275 Norwegian language Genealogy program Good luck... Cliff Cliff Manis K4ZTF Manis/Manes Family History Searching: MANIS MANES MANESS MANAS WHITEHORN CANTER BIRD CORBETT USMAIL: P. O. Box 33937, San Antonio, Texas 78265-3937 BITNET: cmanis%csoftec.csf.com@VM1.NoDak.EDU Caretaker of GENEALOG INTERNET: cmanis@csoftec.csf.com GEnie: A.Manis FIDONET: Cliff.Manis@f607.n387.z1.fidonet.org Standard Disclaimer: We are not associated with anyone. (PERIOD). (.) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1991 12:23:00 PDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: LYNX@WHITMAN.BITNET Subject: PAF and LDS Going to the LDS has paid off. I was able to link up with a genealogy that someone wrote that connected with a maternal link in my family tree. It tells of one of the daughters marrying my great great grandfather and lists a page of their offspring, which lists my father as "young son". I called about obtaining a copy of PAF for the mac. I asked if there was a limit to how many generations can be entered, and they said no. They said there is a limit of 65,000 or so entries. I then asked about the limit of children, and he said it would have to get up to 40. There are quite a few discs, but as long as I put them all on the hard drive I should not have a difficult time. The price was $35 with a $2.00 phone fee and local sales tax. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1991 17:29:49 EDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Jeffrey G. Jewell" Subject: Need computer program In-Reply-To: note of 07/22/91 17:13 I use a nice shareware program called "Brother's Keeper" that is very easy to use, makes nice documents and is supported by its programmer on "Genie." I believe it has the capacity for 15,000 names on a hard drive............ Lots of room. I'm sure there are alot of other very worthly programs but I thought that I would memtion that one. Jeff Jewell University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky JGJEWE01@ULKYVM ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1991 21:26:36 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: wipke@SECS.UCSC.EDU Subject: ROOTS III ""June 1991"" update ? "COMMSOFT is really on the move!" said their brochure. Get your order in early and be among the first to receive yours. Order in by May 28, update not received by July 22. Call the 800 32-ROOTS number and you can not speak to anyone, independent of time of day or day of week. Your number will be taken and a service representative will call back "real soon". Three calls spaced a week apart have netted ZERO call backs. FLAME HIGHER The current phone message at 800 32-ROOTS now says they are suffering some delays and are processing orders 5-6 weeks from time of receipt. That still doesn't explain how an order send the day the brochure arrived can not have been shipped before COMMSOFT moved to Windsor CA from Mountain View. To announce an update at the time of an office move seems to add confusion where none was needed. SIMMER I had recommended COMMSOFT to a number of people based on their prompt response by phone to questions. I find it very frustrating that one can not obtain any service from the company now, even after sending them a check up front. Perhaps this is another vaporware announcement and the company is hiding behind an answering machine as a shielf from angry mislead customers? I have checked with the bank and they have not cashed my check, so it is not yet possible to put this in the SCAM category or anything other than misrepresentation in advertising or poor business planning. You can voice your complaint to COMMSOFT at 800-32-ROOTS or (707) 838-4300, at least several times. The answering machine never tires of your calls and has now stopped promising anyone will ever respond to your call. Its enough to make one begin considering another alternative, suggestions from previous ROOTS III users who switched?? :-(( [Anyone else ordered this update and received zilch?] ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1991 17:52:04 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Raphael Finkel Subject: Re: Program that stores and prints family trees I have built a package for Unix. This package is available by anonymous ftp from f.ms.uky.edu: pub/unix/genealogy.6.91.tar.Z It requires a database package, qddb, also available by anonymous ftp from f.ms.uky.edu: pub/unix/qddb-1.9.3.tar.Z. Here is a demo of what the family database program can do. First, it can show how two people are related. The results of a query: o Michael Stewart Hendel o Selma Goldstein o Harry Goldstein o Max [Mordechai] Goldstein o Sidney [Shmuel Joseph] Goldstein o Beth Leah [Batya Leah] Goldstein | Raphael Ari Finkel o Miriam Dorothy Posner o Esther Greenfield (Panjemansky) o Abraham Greenfield | Goldie Rubin o Judy Levy | Sherman Prager That is, from Michael to Sherman you have to go via mother, father, brother, son, daughter, husband, mother, mother, brother, wife, daughter (by another marriage), husband. The second example is to show all the ancestors of an individual. I show it for myself: Raphael Ari Finkel f Asher Joseph Finkel f Morris [Moshe] Finkel (Finkelstein) f Rachmiel Finkelstein f Joseph Finkelstein m Chaya Rivka Cemberkowicz f _____ Cemberkowicz m Raisel Brocha _____ m Henrietta (Etta) Israelson f (Rabbi) Sholem (Asherman) Israelson f Asher Asherman m Rose Schlesinger f Joseph Schlesinger m Miriam Dorothy Posner f Jacob Israel Posner f Abram (Pevsner, Poisner) Posner m Clara Hershberg m Esther Greenfield (Panjemansky) f Moses Leon Panjemansky (Greenfield) f Israel (Gebulitzer) Panjemansky m Rachel Anna Elgin f Pesach Elgin m Zelda Budilkes Here, f means father (not female!), m mother. As you see, missing names are printed by a reasonable convention. I store Hebrew names in a separate field, printed by [this format]. The next example is to show all descendents of an individual. For this example, I have turned up the verbosity. o Beth Leah [Batya Leah] Goldstein b1/29/1955 Lexington/KY/USA/1986/2942 Montavesta Dr/(606) 266-0206 | (7/31/1984) Raphael Ari Finkel b6/13/1951 Chicago/IL/USA/1951 Madison/WI/USA/1976 Lexington/KY 40502-3004/USA/1986/2942 Montavesta Dr/(606) 266-0206 o Penina Finkel [Penina Shoshan] Goldstein b4/6/1986 Lexington/KY/USA/1986 o Asher Goldstein [Asher Shmaya] Finkel b12/22/1989 Lexington/KY/USA/1989 When I am generating a large listing from several ultimate ancestors, I can suppress details that have already been seen earlier. For example, my father and his subtree appears in lots of charts. When showing a descendent tree, I show other marriages off the main tree by a convention that looks like this: o Abraham Greenfield | Belle Latensky vvvvv start other marriage of Belle Latensky | _____ _____ o Charlotte _____ | Al Komsky o _____ [female] o _____ [female] ^^^^^ end other marriage of Belle Latensky | Goldie Rubin vvvvv start other marriage of Goldie Rubin | _____ Levy o Judy Levy | Sherman Prager o Michael Prager ^^^^^ end other marriage of Goldie Rubin That is, my great-uncle Abe married twice, each time to a woman with children from a previous marriage. I now have entered more than 1490 names. The package continues to get improvements (I just added the ability to generate an index. It can also list anniversary/births in order. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1991 08:27:16 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Ed Mertes Subject: Family Ties - Brother's Keeper Conversion > Does anyone have, or know of, a program to convert a "FAMILY TIES" > database into a "BROTHERS KEEPER" database? I have a rather large There is a Family Tie Utility to create a GEDCOM file which can then be converted by Brother's Keeper's BKGEDCOM for input to Brother's Keeper. Look in FTP119A.ZIP on SIMTEL20 for the Family Ties GEDCOM program. Ed --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Mertes 7746 Suffolk Ave. St. Louis, MO 63119 (314) 647-8847 mertes@stl-07sima.army.mil mertes@st-louis-emh2.army.mil Researching: MERTES DREILING JACCOD GIRARD GRAF DEPAUL/DIPAULO REINACHER PLOESSER/PLAZIER CANTER --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 Aug 1991 00:11:00 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Bert Nelson Subject: Genealogical FTP sites Genealogical FTP Sites I was doing some goofing around and came across a couple of FTP sites that some of you might be interested in. I believe the first one has already been mentioned in the past, however repeating the information won't hurt anyone. If you have specific questions about these two sites please send your queries directly to me via E-mail. My address is bnelson@cc.weber.edu. FTP site #1 -- site name: ftp.nau.edu (134.114.64.24) -- directory: /geo/genealogy -- summary: genealogical research outlines This site is at Northern Arizonia University (I think) and it has a compressed copy of genealogical research guides for most of the states and even the United States. Each file name is abbreviated so to get the new york outline you would have to get the "ny.Z" file. To uncompress them use the uncompress command. NOTE: The uncompress command will only work for those of you who are on UNIX systems. FTP site #2 -- site name: wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) -- directory: mirrors/msdos/genealogy -- summary: ms dos programs General Disclaimer: I don't have a PC myself, so I cannot say if these programs will or will not work and I have not checked to see if some of these programs are available via GENEALOG. To Log in just use FTP. And go to the directory /mirrors/msdos/genealogy. The site address is below. If you don't know if you have FTP on your system talk to your system adminstrator. This is a FTP archive site. The software is copied from various sites. The following is a list of IBM PC programs that are in zip format. NOTE: This list was created on Sat, 20 Jul 91 00:25:28 MDT. Some files may have been added or deleted since that date. For a current list log into the system and do a directory. NOTE: Type B is Binary; Type A is ASCII Directory /mirrors/msdos/genealogy Filename Type Length Date Description ============================================== BK45CD1.ZIP B 335149 910126 Brother's Keeper (v4.5C) Family History, 1of3 BK45CD2.ZIP B 326193 910126 Brother's Keeper (v4.5C) Family History, 2of3 BK45CD3.ZIP B 230923 910126 Brother's Keeper (v4.5C) Family History, 3of3 BKINDX.ZIP B 71168 910207 Indexing util for Brother's Keeper (Genealogy) CENSUS20.ZIP B 177872 910507 Genealogy: EZCensus - 1880/90 census database CHART.ZIP B 44094 910429 Creates 11 generation pedigree charts, Ver 1.0 CRD301.ZIP B 284874 910507 Cemetery Research Database, Ver 3.01 CRDLT11.ZIP B 293543 910507 Cemetery Research Database for Laptops Ver 1.1 DESCEN21.ZIP B 25344 910505 Genealogy: Expanded descendant chart for PAF FHS1.ARC B 167398 890627 FHS (Family History System), part 1 of 2 FHS2.ARC B 258733 890627 FHS (Family History System), part 2 of 2 FT119D.ZIP B 177063 910512 'Family Ties' Genealogy program (ver 1.19d) FTP119A.ZIP B 137894 910512 Genealogy:FamilyTree Print utl for Family Ties GBBS9104.ZIP B 27392 910507 Worldwide Genealogical BBS listing - Apr 1991 GED2T9.ZIP B 73472 901107 Genealogy:Create Tiny Tafels from GEDCOM files GENKIT15.ZIP B 61486 901118 A toolkit for Genealogists MYFMLY20.ZIP B 233349 910507 My Family Genealogy program, Ver 2.0 NAMED119.ZIP B 81497 910507 Genealogy: Name Dropper - search message files NAMEV201.ZIP B 109068 910507 Genealogy: Name View v2.01 - used with NAMED PAFP21.ZIP B 132096 910504 Genealogy: Family Tree Print utility program SDIPRT94.ZIP B 105281 910507 Read/print/convert SS Death Index GED Files SLEKT02.ZIP B 127275 901128 Norwegian language Genealogy program ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1991 16:36:24 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Ed Mertes Subject: PAFablty.zip I have uploaded the following file to SIMTEL20: pd1: Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: All about GEDCOM Today, I saw a copy of the "The GEDCOM Standard" by LDS, dated August 1989. All the GEDCOM tags are defined in the 90 page pamphlet. Those who are interested in the article which cost $5.00, should request additional information from LDS. Their address is: Data Administration, Projects and Planning Division Family History Department, 3T Church Office Building 50 East North Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84150 Telephone: (801) 240-5227 This is really a nice document and it it the official guidelines about GEDCOM. Good luck.. Cliff Manis ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1991 14:30:00 EDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: MAJ LARRY REED Subject: re: PAF error message E L E C T R O N I C M A I L (DDN Host Address: GW1.HANSCOM.AF.MIL) Date: 06-Aug-1991 14:30 From: Maj Lawrence A. Reed Username: REEDL Dept: ESD/TNU-2 Tel No: (617) 377-7221 TO: _WINS% ( _DDN[ROOTS-L@VM1.NODAK.EDU] ) Subject: re: PAF error message The message "not enough environment space" is not in the PAF book because it is a DOS operating system message. If after referring to your DOS book you still have questions about what to do (which is likely because the DOS manuals have to date been very poorly written in the area of environment and active command space) then contact a DOS guru (like cliff - or is he UNIX?) who will tell you what to add to your config.sys file to correct this problem. Sometimes a stacks= statement will fix this, other times it requires a different command area - it is system unique and will require some one on one with you, either via e-mail or phone - phone with your local DOS wizard is best. Another time you might see the same error message is if your path= statement in your autoexec file is very long or if you have some fancy cursor stuff in your prompt= statement. I posted this here for the benefit of those like me who had to struggle to figure out what was wrong when we also saw this error message (though haven't seen it in PAF). Larry Reed reedl@gw1.hanscom.af.mil ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1991 23:36:26 +0200 Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Alf Christophersen Subject: Re: re: PAF error message In-Reply-To: <9108061853.AAulrik22332@ulrik.uio.no> The out of environment space could be prevented with adding a /E: in the config.sys file at the SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM line. It should look like e.g. SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /E:800 That would make environment 800 chars long. It don't affect the path line though. That size will still be that small:-( Alf Christophersen Roots-L List owner ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1991 12:39:00 MST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Bert Nelson Subject: Optical Disk Technology Since optical disk technology has permeated the genealogy scene I thought it appropriate to post this article that tells a little about the technology in a way that's not confusing or overly technical. Much of the discussion during the article is how it applies to the military, however the examples still give insight on how much space the technology saves vs. other popular magnetic media. Optical Disk Technology By LCDR David J. Lind What makes optical systems so special? Unlike magnetic products, the optical laser system stores data as submicroscopic pits or spots in the reflective surface of a disc. In order to read the disc, a low-power laser, shining a pinpoint of light less than one millionth of a meter wide, bounces off the pattern of shiny and dull patches, which is, in turn, converted into a digital signal of ones and zeros and read by the optical head of an optical disc drive. This new technology has promise throughout DoD, but a little education will make your selection of which type of product is best for your command much easier. Presently there are three distinct categories of optical-record- ing products: prerecorded, write-once and erasable. Of the three, prerecorded has made a significant impact on the public market, while write-once and erasable have only made a minor impact. Optical-recording uses a high-power laser, which forms small pits in the reflective surface of an optical disc. A typical pit is approximately the size of a bacterium: 0.5 by 2.0 microns (millionths of a meter). A pit represents data from two to many bits depending on the length, or run, of the pit. The raised and reflective surface between two adjacent, nonreflective pits is called a land and can also vary in its representation of data from two to many bits. In CD-ROM coding, the transition from pit to land or land to pit, is used to signify the change of the binary digit from zero to one, or one to zero. Two or more like bits are represented by the distance, or run, between transitions. The series of lands and grooves is ultimately interpreted as ones and zeros and thus a wide variety of digitally encoded information can be stored on a disc. When reading an optical disc, a low-power laser senses the presence or absence of the lands and grooves by means of reflected light energy. The small laser beam used to read back data is reflected from the lands and scattered by the pits. Of the prerecorded discs, the CD Audio is by far the most common and is widely accepted. The other variety of prerecorded discs is the CD-ROM which draws heavily on its predecessor, the CD-Audio disc, for format, acceptance and established production and manufacturing facilities. In fact, CD-ROM is currently the only form of optical-recording that has an established standard. The CD-ROM, like the CD-Audio disc, is 4.72 inches (120 mm) in diame- ter and contains digital information only on one side. Its uses are primarily in the area of document and database distribution and permanent archiving of vast amounts of information. The recording format is a spiral groove approximately three miles long with a capacity of 650 MB. The tracking is maintained via the constant linear velocity (CLV) technique which requires variation of the disc rotation speed based on the distance of the read head from the center of the disc. In order to accomplish this, the rotational speed of the disc must vary, decreasing as the head moves from the inner tracks toward the outer perimeter. The range is approximately 500 to 200 rpm for a CD-ROM disc drive. The other type of recording format is the constant angular velocity (CAV) technique, which allows for faster access times. Constant angular velocity is a technique that spins a disc at a constant speed, resulting in the inner disc tracks passing the read/write head more slowly than the outer tracks. This results in numerous tracks forming concentric circles, with the storage density being the greatest on the inner track. The WORM (Write Once Read Many) optical disc uses this technique, while the erasable disc, often called the WMRM (Write Many Read Many) disc is still experimenting with both techniques without a clear winner yet identified. CD-ROM (Compact Disc - Read Only Memory). Some call the union of optical storage devices and microcomputers the marriage of the century. If so, CD-ROM is the marriage partner that promises an effective means of storing and retrieving vast amounts of digital information, as well as preserving material and information. The immense storage capacity and the ease and speed with which it can be accessed and retrieved, also make it the perfect distribution medium. The CD-ROM disc often contains a very large and sophisti- cated index which permits access to the information via Boolean logic statements and other means. This, combined with the power and capabilities of today's microcomputer, allows retrieval of a requested word or phrase, in literally hundreds of thousands of pages of textual information, - all in less than one second. Once retrieved, the manipulation of the data and the rapid transfer to other mediums is a simple task. WORM (Write Once Read Many). Optical laser technology has also branched into the write once technology. Discs in this area come in a variety of sizes and an even broader variety of formats. The lack of standards has caused the market, or application, to falter in all but a few specific areas. The systems are usually sold as entire packages, and are often not capable of being integrated with other hardware or networks. The discs, most often, are 5 1/4 inch and are contained in a plastic case, with a slide window, very similar to the 3.5 inch floppy disks. The disc drives come either as separate units or as built-in drives fitting into one of the standard floppy drive slots on an IBM or compatible computer. The discs are two sided and can contain from 200-650 MB of data per side. The blank discs cost from $20-$100 each and generally use the constant angular velocity (CAV) tracking technique. The drives range in cost from $2,000-$6,000 and are only able to read one side of the disc, forcing the operator to manually flip the disc to read the oppo- site side. The discs are most often preformatted so, unlike magnetic media, there is no formatting or initialization process prior to writing to the disc. The acceptability of this technology is limited because no single standard exists. Even if discs are the same form factor (e.g. 5 1/4") they are nearly always unable to be read in a different optical drive. The future of the write once technology appears to be limited. Much of the demand for write once will be redirected to a more effective and reusable (erasable) media when it becomes widely available. Write once technology may continue to serve fields of law, accounting and other areas where an unalterable audit trail is mandatory. Magnetic media hasn't suited this purpose well and hasn't been accepted as evidence in the courts of law because of the ability to change the data without any trace of having al- tered the information. WMRM (Write Many Read Many), or Erasable Discs. Today there are three main types of erasable optical media being developed: Magneto-Optic (MO) (occasionally referred to as Thermo-Magneto- Optic (TMO)), Phase Change (PC) and Dye/Polymer (DP). Of the three erasable technologies, only the magneto-optic is mature enough to warrant discussion. The Magneto-Optic (MO) recording system stores information on the disc in the form of vertically oriented magnetic domains. Like most other optical drives, recording is a thermal process. In this case, an intense laser beam heats a small region of the magneto-optical active layer in the presence of a magnetic field. The heating decreases the coercivity of the active layer so that the external magnetic field can reorient the field of the heated region. Upon cooling, a stable magnetic domain is formed. The recorded domains are read back by a low-power scanning laser beam and an optical system capable of sensing small changes in the polarization of the scanning beam caused by the magnetic domains. This media has no true overwrite capability. Therefore, it must complete an erase cycle before a write cycle is possible. There is, however, some possibility that a disc can be erased as a whole by subjecting it to a large magnetic field while it's heated. One of the main benefits of the optical laser technology is that it's unaffected by magnetic fields of any size or by electromagnetic pulses (EMP). This benefit is at least partially lost in any erasable media that involves magnetic fields. There- fore, certain applications may be forced to continue to use CD- ROM and WORM technology which is purely optical and remains unaffected by any magnetic interference. Where do we go from here? It was less than a decade ago that Philips invented the compact audio disc and only two years ago that it truly became a product of wide consumer use. The ultimate answer for the future seems to be the perfect erasable optical disc, although in today's marketplace, erasable discs are still too few and too expensive. The quest for the perfect erasable medium - with all the benefits of huge amounts of data storage, combined with unlimited erasability, is being pursued by numerous companies. Maybe the video camera of tomorrow will use an optical disc. The future, I am sure, will contain optical discs of all three types, loaded with text and images, graphics and sound, and even color video. The world of the multi- media optical disc is exciting. However, it's a giant step from the prima donna world of the prototypes and demos, to the user's home or office. Even with such a huge storage capacity, there are still some applications where even the optical laser disc is too restric- tive. In such cases, the difficulty can be overcome by using a device which can store many terabytes of data. This device is very similar to the familiar jukeboxes in the cafes of years ago. It's capable of storing multiple CD-ROMs and accessing them quickly by mechanical means. Once retrieved, either single or multiple disc drives read the data. These devices are called optical jukeboxes. Similar options are available today, by buying a stack of 7 or 14 CD-ROM drives where each drive can access a single CD-ROM, and the entire stack can be connected to a single microcomputer or a network server. There are even disc jockeys or CD-ROM changers that allow six discs, storing a total of more than three giga- bytes, to be accessed from a single drive. Currently CD-ROM is the only type of non-audio optical laser technology that has an established standard - ISO 9660. This ensures that the physical media itself, and the directory and file structure format of a disc, is standardized. This means that all CD-ROM drive manufacturers have agreed on what a sector is and how to address it. With CD-ROMs, as with CD-Audio discs, sectors and files are located using a time sequencing technique. An example of this would be a specific piece of information located on the disc at minute 47, second 13, sector 4 (47:13:4). With this information, you can read the data. At this level discs are interchangeable from the one drive to another. With such an established standard, we can safely press ahead into areas previously unfamiliar or unstable. This preserves, and indeed ensures, that our procurements can be competitive. Prior to the acceptance of the standard, a CD-ROM mastered by one company couldn't necessarily be expected to work with another company's hardware or software. With careful system specifications calling out the established standards, sometimes even the defacto ones, you can reasonably expect to purchase a single CD-ROM disc drive that will read numerous discs from a wide variety of sources, or the inverse, where any disc can be read on any disc drive. Also, production, and use, of a generic variety of retrieval software is possible in the optical laser disc arena much as it is in the DOS arena. One key factor in choosing CD-ROM as the media of choice is its ability to reduce costs associated with information storage and retrieval. CD-ROM discs often cost less than $2 each. Another reason for using CD-ROM is its extremely reliable error correc- tion, accomplished by means of the error detection code (EDC) and the error correction code (ECC). Error detection codes used in CD-ROM have non-detection probabilities below 10 to the 25th power. This means you can expect a single undetected wrong bit in two quadrillion CD-ROM discs. In optical storage and retrieval, the nature of the information and the frequency of update, must be evaluated to ensure the correct medium for the task is chosen. Certainly the capabilities of CD-ROM or other optical laser media are impressive, yet, they aren't necessarily the panacea for all information problems. Today's information distribution focuses on the use of paper, micrographics, microfiche, aperture cards or telecommunications - all of which are expensive compared to CD-ROM. Optical storage densities are significant when one considers a CD-ROM's ability to find the proverbial needle in a haystack almost instantaneous- ly. Given an average page of textual information, a single CD-ROM weighing approximately one ounce can hold over 650 megabytes of information, the equivalent of 270,000 paper pages whose total weight equals 1.42 tons! These statistics get even more stagger- ing when you consider that one personal computer with a stack of eight networked CD-ROM drives can access up to two million text pages (over five billion bytes of information) of data, consti- tuting a potential weight in paper of 11.34 tons! Herein may lie the most significant benefit for DoD - space and weight. CD-ROM can store vast quantities of information with significantly reduced space and weight requirements. An example would be the space required for the documentation associated with the F-16 aircraft, - 250 feet of documentation for a 47 foot aircraft! Another example is the large volume of paper involved with the production of the Naval Ships' Technical Manuals which are used by nearly every Navy command. There's over 30 million pages out there somewhere, with more changes in the mail. In addition to space and weight savings, the relative cost per MB is lower in nearly all cases. The optical laser disc in the CD-ROM format can be introduced in nearly all DoD areas with only minimal additional hardware. With the Desktop III Contract, they are now available for only $363. This ease of introduction can be accomplished primarily due to the extensive purchase of IBM PCs or compatibles by the government - approximately 400,000 Zenith 248s. Even dual CD-ROM drives cost as little as $834. Drives can be used as a stand alone external unit or as an internal drive that fits into one of the 5 1/4" drive slots in a PC. There are even some half-height models available. The opportunities of the technology are quickly being experi- mented with and often realized. According to William J. Hooton, Director of Optical Digital Storage Systems for the National Archives and Records Administration, "Federal agencies are lead- ing the way in the innovative use of optical storage techniques. Interest (in optical systems) in the federal market is very, very high. Most agencies have some type of project." The IRS has a project called Files Archival Image Storage and Retrieval which is estimated to result in annual storage cost savings of approximately $36 million. Although CD-ROM appears to be an ideal medium for information storage, not everyone is ready to jump on the CD-ROM bandwagon. There are some who are reluctant to commit themselves to optical discs for permanent storage of historical documents. According to the National Research Council's report, Preservation of Histori- cal Records, "the rapid pace of change in hardware and software technology suggests that it may be impossible to read the histor- ical records in the centuries to come. Although present advan- tages appear to be overwhelming, such long term archives could potentially be forced to commit themselves to an expensive file conversion process every 10 to 20 years." The technology works, and almost any kind of digital information is a candidate for conversion to optical disc. However, a couple of questions remain that only you can answer: - "Does it work in our environment?" and "Will it meet our needs?" Armed with the facts about this new technology, we can now make the appropriate choices for the Department of Defense, today and tomorrow. About the Author: LCDR Lind is the Head of the Base Communica- tions Systems Branch at the new Naval Computer and Telecommunica- tions Command in Washington, DC. His telephone number is (202) 282-2503. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1991 10:06:12 CDT Reply-To: cmanis@csoftec.csf.com Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: Re: Exchanging Roots III and PAF data Ray and others: > From: Ray Roux > Subject: Exchanging Roots III and PAF data > My wife is using the PAF genealogy program and I have a cousin that is > using Roots III. We would like to be able to share data. > I know that with PAF you can use a GEDCOM file to import/export > data, does Roots III have the ability to import/export GEDCOM files? YES, the GEDCOM file is designed to do that purpose. It is very easy with good documentation in both PAF and Roots III. It would only take least than 10 minutes on each program, even if you had 2000 people in the data. Any program such as PAF, Brother's Keeper, Roots and many others which allow the user to save the data in the GEDCOM (format) may then be restored as used on the other programs. The GEDCOM file is saved as an ASCII file in a specific format which is called "The GEDCOM Standard". Good luck. Cliff -- Cliff Manis K4ZTF Manis/Manes Family History Searching: MANIS MANES MANESS MANAS WHITEHORN CANTER BIRD CORBETT USMAIL: P. O. Box 33937, San Antonio, Texas 78265-3937 BITNET: cmanis%csoftec.csf.com@VM1.NoDak.EDU Caretaker of GENEALOG INTERNET: cmanis@csoftec.csf.com GEnie: A.Manis FIDONET: Cliff.Manis@p2.f607.n387.z1.fidonet.org "Where am I ? , I'm in a phone booth at the corner of Walk and Don't Walk." Standard Disclaimer: We are not associated with anyone. (PERIOD). (.) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1991 09:29:59 PDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Karen Isaacson Subject: Re: Exchanging Roots III and PAF data In-Reply-To: Your message of Sun, 11 Aug 91 10:06:12 CDT. <9108111528.AA04862@rand.org> >> does Roots III have the ability to import/export GEDCOM files? > YES, the GEDCOM file is designed to do that purpose. It is very easy with > good documentation in both PAF and Roots III. However, "standard" Roots III does NOT have the capability to do GEDCOM. You have to buy an additional progarm (also available from Commsoft, but I don't remember the name of it), that costs on the order of $50. THEN it's pretty easy... Karen karen@rand.org ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1991 08:36:59 CDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Ed Mertes Subject: RE: Software >I hate to bring this up, I know its been discussed before. Yes, It's a Frequently Asked Question... > My secretary is looking for some good geneology software for the > IBM PC. Could someone send me a summary of what is available? > With prices and sources if available. Frequently Asked Questions Filename ----------------------------------------------------------------- -------- SOFTWARE TO USE FOR COMPUTERIZED GENEALOGISTS (IBM) ...............FAQ 0201 ================================================================================ To get a file simply send the GET command to the LISTSERV, not the Roots-L List! for example : GET FAQ 0201 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1991 09:42:08 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: George Subject: Re: Sub-Division of Counties In-Reply-To: Message of Mon, 12 Aug 1991 22:23:00 EDT from On Mon, 12 Aug 1991 22:23:00 EDT Tom Cunningham, Computer Science Department sai > > Also, I was surprised to hear that townships kept vital records (Larry >Reed). Can anyone else confirm this? In Western Pennsylvania, I have seen >vital records at the county and state levels. > >Tom Connecticut and New York keep/have kept vital records at the town/township level. About the beginning of this century, the records began to be collected at the state level. In Connecticut now, there is no county government or court-- only town/city and state. (And I believe that in all New England states you will find vital records at the town level). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cousin George Waller, UConn, HBLADM1@UCONNVM.BITNET --> Happy Hunting! August sun please: Parents for Nancy Jane Hunter (1862-1916 Lincoln Co TN) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1991 13:00:39 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: George Subject: Re: PAF, Gedcom and exporting In-Reply-To: Message of Tue, 13 Aug 1991 09:43:00 PDT from On Tue, 13 Aug 1991 09:43:00 PDT The Cat said: >I visited the Mormon Ward last weekend and brought my disk from my >MacIntosh so that I could pull off a GEDCOM file from their ancestral file >and bring it home to pull up on my Mac. Their terminal had slots >for a 5" floppy and a 3" disk. I placed my formatted disk in and it >asked to format it again. I then transferred the file to the disk. > >It did not come up on my MacIntosh. I went to an IBM terminal near >my office and was unable to read it there also. Has anyone had >experience with this? 1. was the Mormon machine a DOS or Mac machine? Was the 3.5" drive high density or double density? Is your diskette HD or DD? 2. can your Mac read DOS formatted diskettes? 3. did the IBM machine have HD or DD drive? The answer to your problem lies somewhere therein (probably). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cousin George Waller, UConn, HBLADM1@UCONNVM.BITNET --> Happy Hunting! August sun please: Parents for Nancy Jane Hunter (1862-1916 Lincoln Co TN) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1991 16:19:38 EDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Darin S. Lory" Subject: Re: PAF, Gedcom and exporting David.Strong.Flower@UM.CC.UMICH.EDU said: > With IBM getting together with Apple will there ba a way to > eventually transfer data for the PAF program from an IBM PC > to an Apple Computer like an Mac +, SE and others? You can already transfer IBM and Apple Macintosh disks between a Mac with a SuperDrive (1.44 MB) floppy drive and a IBM compatible with a 1.44 MB drive (and some times a 720KB). The speculation is that IBM-Apple team-up is for developing a RISC processor machine for the market already ruled by PCs and Macs. The RISC processor is currently used in many scientific workstations used on our college campuses and workplaces. The PCs and Macs use a CISC processor. I don't want to turn the roots-l into a computer forum unless it deals with PAF specifically. If the ASCII format was right, the PCs and the MACs could trade off data between PAFs. -Darin ________________________________________________________________________________ Darin S. Lory Kaman Sciences Corporation Advanced Technology Division Network Analyst Utica, New York +1.315.734.3663 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1991 13:47:24 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Vic Abell Subject: software reviews in "Genealogical Computing" If you're looking for genealogical software for your personal computer, after you've looked at FAQ 0201, you might also want to look at the July/August/September 1991 issue of "Genealogical Computing" (Volume 11 Number 1.) It contains a ten page directory of genealogical software that includes information about 98 programs for MS/PC-DOS, Macintosh (including HyperCard stacks), Commodore 64/128, Atari ST and Amiga. Many genealogical and historical libraries subscribe to "Genealogical Computing." It is published quarterly in January, April, July and October by: Ancestry Incorporated 350 South 400 East, Suite 110 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Subscriptions are $25 annually. The toll-free subscription number is: 1-800-531-1790 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1991 16:32:24 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Mark Taylor Subject: Re: PAF, Gedcom and exporting In article <1991Aug14.183648.16811@leland.Stanford.EDU>, kathleen@casbs.Stanford.EDU (Kathleen Much) writes: > > In article <2F256166451F004148@whitman.bitnet> LYNX@WHITMAN.BITNET (The Cat) writes: > >I visited the Mormon Ward last weekend and brought my disk from my > >MacIntosh so that I could pull off a GEDCOM file from their ancestral file > >and bring it home to pull up on my Mac. Their terminal had slots > >for a 5" floppy and a 3" disk. I placed my formatted disk in and it > >asked to format it again. I then transferred the file to the disk. > > > >It did not come up on my MacIntosh. I went to an IBM terminal near > >my office and was unable to read it there also. Has anyone had > >experience with this? > > My local Mormon ward tells me that its machines work only on > DOS-formatted disks. I could buy a disk from them for $1, dump GEDCOM > files on it there, bring it to my office and transfer it to Mac > format, and then take it home and upload it to my Mac hard disk, where > I could read it in PAF. If there isn't much to transfer, it's easier > to print it out at the History Center and take it home to enter > directly onto the Mac. Good luck. If anyone knows of a simpler > transfer system, I`d like to hear of it. > The program Apple File Exchange, which comes free with the system software, should be used to transfer the files from the MS-DOS disk to your Mac's hard drive. It also has the capability of formatting MS-DOS disks. It can turn a blank Mac 3-1/2" disk into an MS-DOS 720k disk, or a 3-1/2" HD Mac disk into an MS-DOS 1440k disk. So you can just temporarily use one of your Mac disks for getting and transferring files from the Family History Center instead of buying a disk from them. To format a disk using Apple File Exchange, run the program, insert any floppy, and choose "Erase Disk" under the File menu. A dialog will appear. Select "720K" and "MS-DOS" or "1440K" and "MS-DOS" if it's a high density disk. To turn an MS-DOS disk back into a Mac disk, just insert the disk while Apple File Exchange is not running. The system will ask you if you want to format it as a Macintosh disk. (Of course, the disk will be erased in the process, so transfer your files first.) - Mark ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1991 21:02:53 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Theodore John Swift Subject: Re: PAF, Gedcom and exporting > There are some Apple processors that can read a 3.5" disc > using the DOS format but I don't have a list. All the newer Macs that have the 1.6 MB "Superdrives" can read Mac, Apple II (I think) and DOS formats automatically. By "newer" I mean the Mac SE/30, all the newer Mac II's, and I think the Mac Classic. > It would be good to know how to get from a 3.5" DOS into an > Apple processor that has the Mac PAF program. > With IBM getting together with Apple will there be a way to > eventually transfer data for the PAF program from an IBM PC > to a... Mac Plus, SE and others? You don't have to wait the several years it will take for IBM and Apple to produce a "joint" machine: Either version of PAF will read and write GEDCOM files, and the Mac version of PAF comes with a utility that converts Mac PAF files to and from PC PAF files: On the Mac a PAF "database" is a single file; on the PC the "database" is split into several files (e.g., records, notes, marriage links, etc.). The only bottleneck is to get the file from one machine to another, and that can be done several ways, including a null modem cable, "smart" floppy drives, etc. -Ted (tswift@well.sf.ca.us) or (Ted_Swift@qm.sri.com) -- ---------------------- Ted Swift tswift@well.sf.ca.us "You bally well are informed, Jeeves! Do you know everything?" "I don't know, sir" ~P.G. Wodehouse ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1991 15:19:00 EST Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Trish Subject: APPLE II GENEALOGY SOFTWARE A few months ago I contacted the Church of Latter Day Saints in regards to PAF for the APPLE II and was told they only have the software for MACS but no version for the APPLE II. I have an APPLE IIc which can operate dos3.3 or prodos. Does anyone know of a inexpensive yet comprehensive genealogy software that is available for a plain old APPLE II or IIc? email: ess@snygenva.bitnet snail mail: Patricia E. Harter, 7987 Route 63 North, Dansville, NY 14437 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1991 15:31:38 EDT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: "Darin S. Lory" Subject: Re: APPLE II GENEALOGY SOFTWARE A gentleman from Rochester told me that there was a version of PAF for ProDOS. He is on this list. I, too, have an Apple //c and would like to enter in the family tree on the ProDOS version. My brother has just gotten a PC-compatible and I gave him my IBM version to use. There was a dicussion on IBM-Mac portability of the PAF files. Apple //-IBM may be interesting. I don't any new development of Apple ][ software in the future. Apple Corp. is discontinuing the Apple ][ line in 1992 in favor of the Motorola-based 680x0 Mac and the future line of IBM RS/6000 processor line (yuck, go sparc). -Darin ________________________________________________________________________________ Darin S. Lory Kaman Sciences Corporation Advanced Technology Division Network Analyst Utica, New York +1.315.734.3663 ________________________________________________________________________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1991 22:19:29 -0400 Reply-To: aa624@cleveland.Freenet.Edu Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: James Moores Subject: Re: APPLE II GENEALOGY SOFTWARE > >A gentleman from Rochester told me that there was a version of PAF for ProDOS. Having done some research on this, all my resources say that there is NOT a PRODOS version of PAF, only DOS 3.3. The LDS people have stated that they are not distributing the DOS 3.3 version anymore. > >He is on this list. I, too, have an Apple //c and would like to enter in >the family tree on the ProDOS version. My brother has just gotten a > PC-compatible and >I gave him my IBM version to use. > >There was a dicussion on IBM-Mac portability of the PAF files. Apple //-IBM >may be interesting. I don't any new development of Apple ][ software in the >future. Apple Corp. is discontinuing the Apple ][ line in 1992 in favor of >the Motorola-based 680x0 Mac and the future line of IBM RS/6000 processor line >(yuck, go sparc). Having talked to several of the Apple Inc. employees on Usenet, there is no plan to discontinue the Apple II line in 1992. As a matter of fact there are some strong rumors that there will be an Apple IIgs+ machine announced in Sept. The Apple IIe and Apple IIgs are still currently in production. > >-Darin > >______________________________________________________________________________ > >Darin S. Lory Kaman Sciences Corporation Advanced Technology Division > Network Analyst Utica, New York +1.315.734.3663 >_______________________________________________________________________________ > Jim Moores -- _____________________________________________________________________ | Reply-To: aa624@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James Moores) | | Co-Sysop of the Genealogy Sig ---- Type "GO ROOTS" ---- | |___________________________________________________________________| ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1991 18:21:44 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: vahl scott gordon Subject: selecting a PC program I'm looking for a very inexpensive PC program to manage my family tree. Mr. Pence gave me an excellent list of available software. From it I've extracted the following list of *cheap* ones: BROTHER'S KEEPER (registration $25) EZ-TREE ($3.50) FAMILY EDGE (shareware version $15) FAMILY HISTORY SYSTEM (Philip E. Brown, registration: $35) FAMILY TIES (registration $50) FAMILY TREE-ETC FAMILY TREE JOURNAL (registration $35) GENE VERSION ($3.50) GENEALOGY ON DISPLAY ($3.50) KINFOLKS ($3.50) GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH HELPER (shareware). ($10) FAMILY TREE (shareware). ($5) GENEALOGICAL RECORD (public domain). ($7.50) HYPERTREE 1.2 (freeware). (12.50) PROGENITOR IBM ($35 registration) Can anyone relay to me experiences was any of the above? I want to select the best one before typing all this stuff in. The features I need are: 1) It should allow me to enter full name, parent/sibling info, birthdates, multiple marriages, marriage dates, birthplaces, death dates, comments, and allow for marriage between cousins. 2) It should be able to produce reasonably attractive output. I'm interested in knowing what sort of output I could expect from some of the above. 3) It should handle a fair number of names. Currently I have about 400, but I expect that number to grow. 4) I am a starving student and cost is a BIG factor in my choice. 5) If there are other programs not mentioned above, that information is welcome, too (but it must be *cheap*). 6) I don't want to download it from a bulletin board (well, source code email-ed to me is fine, but I don't want to deal with local BBS's). I'd prefer to send away for a diskette. Forgive my naivety, I am completely inexperienced with geneology. I am just keeping track of the family history and I'm tiring of re-drawing the tree every time I get new information! Finally, if there are particular features that I haven't mentioned that you more experienced folks think I should be aware of, please educate me! My email address is : gordons@cs.colostate.edu Or you can post response, since lately I've been reading soc.roots. Thanks! Scott ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1991 21:42:27 GMT Reply-To: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU From: Peter Fales Subject: Re: selecting a PC program In article <17175@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> gordons@mozart.cs.colostate.edu (vahl scott gordon) writes: > >I'm looking for a very inexpensive PC program to manage my family tree. >Mr. Pence gave me an excellent list of available software. From it I've >extracted the following list of *cheap* ones: > >FAMILY HISTORY SYSTEM (Philip E. Brown, registration: $35) >FAMILY TREE-ETC [others deleted] You missed a big one, Personal Ancestral File (PAF), available through the LDS church. The last time I looked, it was also $35 and has the advantage of being in very wide use. >Can anyone relay to me experiences was any of the above? I want to >select the best one before typing all this stuff in. The features I >need are: I have used the two packages listed above as well as PAF. Forget Family Tree-etc. - it is a toy. On the other han, Family History System is very nice. It has (in my opinion) a much nicer user interface than PAF and is the package I use on a regular basis. It was reviewed in one of the recent issues of "Genealogical Computing." It also made a good showing in the GC user survey. (As I recall, it had about 3% penetration which was far more than any other shareware package, but far less than the leaders which were commercial packages including PAF.) FHS meets all the criteria you have listed: >1) It should allow me to enter full name, parent/sibling info, birthdates, > multiple marriages, marriage dates, birthplaces, death dates, comments, > and allow for marriage between cousins. It does all of this. >2) It should be able to produce reasonably attractive output. I'm > interested in knowing what sort of output I could expect from some of > the above. There are a whole slew of different reports that can be generated. This includes the normal "Family Group Sheets" and Pedigree Charts. There are "Ancestor Charts" and "Descendent Charts" as well as several forms of summary reports. >3) It should handle a fair number of names. Currently I have about 400, > but I expect that number to grow. If disk space doesn't get you first, it will go up to 9999 individuals. >4) I am a starving student and cost is a BIG factor in my choice. $35 is still the price, as far as I know. >5) If there are other programs not mentioned above, that information > is welcome, too (but it must be *cheap*). > >6) I don't want to download it from a bulletin board (well, source code > email-ed to me is fine, but I don't want to deal with local BBS's). > I'd prefer to send away for a diskette. There is a shareware version of FHS available from Bulletin Boards, but the full "extended" version is available only on disk from the author. You also forgot: 7) The program must have a GEDCOM import/export utility so that if you change your mind, you can convert to another program. Both PAF and FHS support GEDCOM (and others probably do too, but I can't speak from experience.) Good luck. -- Peter Fales AT&T, Room 5B-420 N9IYJ 2000 N. Naperville Rd. UUCP: ...att!ihlpb!psfales Naperville, IL 60566 Domain: psfales@ihlpb.att.com work: (708) 979-8031 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1991 13:34:27 CDT Reply-To: cmanis@csoftec.csf.com Sender: ROOTS-L Genealogy List From: Cliff Manis Subject: RE: Selecting a PC Program >> I'm looking for a very inexpensive PC program to manage my family tree. >> Mr. Pence gave me an excellent list of available software. From it I've >> extracted the following list of *cheap* ones: >> >> BROTHER'S KEEPER (registration $25) The Brother's Keeper 4.5B Registration has been $40.00 for about one year, not $25.00. *cheap* = less expensive, as compared to MORE EXPENSIVE It does have full GEDCOM support (in and out), at no extra cost, and many different reports, and a report writer for personal design of REGISTER reports. cliff -- Cliff Manis K4ZTF Manis/Manes Family History Searching: MANIS MANES MANESS MANAS WHITEHORN CANTER BIRD CORBETT USMAIL: P. O. Box 33937, San Antonio, Texas 78265-3937 BITNET: cmanis%csoftec.csf.com@VM1.NoDak.EDU Caretaker of GENEALOG INTERNET: cmanis@csoftec.csf.com GEnie: A.Manis FIDONET: Cliff.Manis@p2.f607.n387.z1.fidonet.org "Where am I ? , I'm in a phone booth at the corner of Walk and Don't Walk." Standard Disclaimer: We are not associated with anyone. (PERIOD). (.)