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1992-05-28
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_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
**********************************************
* N O A C H *
**********************************************
1 Contents
2 Introduction 2
2.1 About shareware 2
2.2 About the author 3
2.3 About the system 3
3 How to install 3
4 The latest version 4
5 Definitions in this manual 4
6 Paging through the database 4
7 Pedigrees and Family-trees 6
8 Modifying 7
8.1 Introduction 7
8.2 Dates 7
8.3 Addresses 8
8.4 Copying names, cities, occupation, address 9
8.5 Equality of texts. 9
8.6 Changing legends 9
8.7 Changing sex 10
9 Addition 10
10 Checking 11
11 Searching 12
12 Combining 12
12.1 Introduction 12
12.2 Combining 13
12.3 Is there more to combine? 14
13 Deleting 14
14 Number-changing 14
1
15 Function-keys 14
15.1 Summary 14
15.2 Regularity 16
16 Border-colours 17
17 Problems 17
18 Video-installation 18
18.1 18
18.2 Video-adapter 18
18.3 Video-segment 19
18.4 Screen-colours 19
18.5 Further installation 20
19 Creation 20
20 Conversion 20
20.1 20
20.2 20
18.3 21
21 Compression of the relations 21
22 Compression of the names 21
23 Combining two databases 21
24 Degree of relationship 22
25 Checking 23
26 Printing 23
27 More auxiliary programs 23
28 Filenames 23
29 History 24
2 Introduction
2.1 About shareware
The genealogy-system Noach (Noah in English) has been named
after the man who received in Genesis 9:1 the order to have
numerous offspring.
The system was made by
Feico Nater,
Beukweg 24,
2
7556 DE Hengelo,
the Netherlands.
The English-language documentation was corrected by Róisín
de Jong-Ní Choncheanainn.
The system has been reviewed by Henk Hijdra.
The system is available as shareware. What is shareware?
It is software which people pass around, but I, the author,
retain the rights to it. Maybe you obtained the system from a
bulletin-board and paid a few dollars for it, but I don't get
a penny of it. I expect to be paid by you, because I make my
living out of making shareware software.
Therefore, if you like this system and use it, you are
supposed to register by sending a $50-check drawn on a US-
bank. Sorry, I cannot accept credit-cards. The address:
Feico Nater Shareware, Beukweg 24, 7556 DE Hengelo, the Neth-
erlands.
Why register? Well, it costs you money. But if you do, I
will advise you about further developments. Furthermore you
will have the right to order later versions for only a few
dollars and I will be willing to listen to your wishes.
And if you don't like the system? Well, throw it away. But
you will like shareware, because it does not let you pay a lot
of money for something you dislike afterwards.
Whether you register or not, you are encouraged to pass this
system around. Give away copies to your friends. However,
files with the extension .NAR should not be given away. The
copies you pass around must be complete and unmodified, but
file-compression is allowed. Any money you collect should be
for diskette, packing, postage only and should not exceed five
dollars.
2.2 About the author
I have been working with computers since 1970. I have
completed a third-level degree in computer-science. I have
been employed for many years in a big company, making defense-
equipment, and my colleagues considered me the most skilled
programmer among them. However, since the company went broke
(Gorbachev was to blame, and he did a good job) I became
unemployed and started woring as a shareware author.
2.3 About the system
The system will probably run on every compatible MS-DOS-
computer.
Memory-requirement is 128K.
For speed and storage-capacity a fixed disk is recommended.
A mouse is not required, but highly recommended.
A colour-screen with CGA, EGA or VGA gives clearer display.
3 How to install
3
Fixed disk: copy all files to a directory on your disk. Make
this directory default. Usually the commands to do this are:
C:
MD \NOACH
CD \NOACH
COPY A:*.*
Floppy: copy the programs (.COM-files) to one disk and the
other files to another disk. Make the latter disk default.
4 The latest version
Version 1.4 includes the addition of addresses. If you have
an older version read the chapter about conversion first.
Version 1.6 includes multilingual legends. The language
depends on the COUNTRY-setting in CONFIG.SYS. Languages
available are English and Dutch. The format of the date is
also according to European (DD-MM-YYYY) or American (MM-DD-
YYYY) usage.
5 Definitions in this manual
Record. A `page' in the database. In the relation-file there
are two types of records, namely one for every person, and one
for every matrimony. Every record has a number.
Selecting. If a record is selected, its data will appear on
the upper half of the screen. These may be data of a person,
but also of a matrimony.
"Child" (between quotes). A matrimony is often considered as
a child. If someone has been married twice and has three sons,
then he has five "children".
"Sibling" (between quotes). A matrimony of the parents is
often included among the brothers and sisters.
6 Paging through the database
As a demonstration we use the database named PIERSON.
Start the program by entering NOACH PIERSON.
You get the request to enter a number. Type number 1 and
press Enter. This selects Hendrik Pierson and his data appear
on the upper half of the screen. You also see the numbers and
4
names of his parents. Below, in the centre of the screen, you
see two menu-lines. The lower half of the screen shows Hen-
drik's wives and children.
(If nothing happens, press F8 and F1 to stop and read the
chapter on Installation).
On the right-hand side of the screen you see the dates of
birth and death. Sometimes there are two dates: this means
that the true date is in between. If the date of death is not
mentioned, then the person is still alive. Question-marks mean
that the date is not known.
To the left of the first name you see, usually, the age. The
letter L indicates that this is the age. When the selected
record is a matrimony, you see the length of time that the
matrimony lasted (until either divorce or death). Sometimes
you see something else in this place. On the lower half you
see the children and consorts of Hendrik Pierson.
With the children you see dates of birth and death, with the
consorts the dates of marriage and divorce. The consorts stand
out by a blinking heart. The list is compiled by date, so you
see a chronological report of Hendrik's marriages and
children.
At first showing sons, daughters and consorts together
seems like a strange mixture, but if you get used to it you
will find that it is very useful.
If there are more than thirteen children and consorts, then
you will see the first thirteen.
Press F1, this selects Hendrik Pierson's father. Instead of
pressing F1 you can click the mouse on the name of the father,
or on F1 in the upper menuline.
Press Esc to return to Hendrik Pierson.
Now press F2, this selects Hendrik's mother. Of course you
can also click the mouse on the name of his mother or on F2 in
the upper menuline.
Press Esc again to return to Hendrik Pierson.
Selecting a child or matrimony of Hendrik Pierson is just as
simple if you have a mouse: just click on the child or matri-
mony. Without a mouse it is not so simple, for he had several
wives and children.
Press F3, F4 of F5 (which of these makes no difference).
Hendrik Pierson's first wife on the lower half of the screen
is now shown in a different colour. With the arrows you can
move the coloured line and with Enter you can select. If you
don't want that, press Esc, or click Esc.
If there are more than thirteen "children", then the mouse
can only reach the first thirteen. To get further you use the
method of the previous paragraph.
Maybe you will find that the use of F3, F4 en F5 is not
what's in the menu-line. Yes, that's true. During paging F3,
F4 and F5 do the same thing. The difference comes in if you
also use the Alt-key to add a record.
If you select a matrimony, you will not immediately see the
5
partner on the upper half of the screen. A blinking heart
indicates that it is a matrimony. The menu-lines are different
too. The lower half of the screen shows the "children" from
that matrimony, including the matrimony itself! ("children" in
quotes, see the chapter on definitions.) To select the consort
press or click F1 or F2. If you want to select a person or
matrimony immediately, you press or click F8 and enter a
number.
With the mouse you can select a number of brothers and
sisters in sequence. First you select the father or mother.
Turn ScrollLock on. Now select one of the children. The lower
half of the screen does not change. Therefore you can now
select a sibling. The data on the lower half of the screen
remain there until you hit F3, F4 or F5, or until you select a
record with ScrollLock turned off.
With the mouse you can (within certain limits) immediately
select an ancestor or descendant. See the next chapter.
To stop press F8 and F1.
7 Pedigrees and Family-trees
Release 2.3 brought the possibility to display a pedigree
(tree of ancestors) or family-tree (tree of descendants) on
the screen. If you press Ctrl F1 you will obtain a pedigree
of the selected person, and Ctrl F3 will produce a family
tree. With the mouse you can select any person, with Esc or
any other key the list disappears.
Afterwards, you can use Ctrl F5 to recall the same list
again, with updates, independent of the selected person.
These lists show at least four letters of the first name.
More letters are shown when there is space. If you press an
arrow-key (left or right), the list will be redisplayed with
less or more letters for the names. Of course, longer names
leave less space to display all persons.
Often names will touch one another. Note that the lines
always point to the first letter of each name.
With the arrow-keys up and down you can mark part of the
tree. Note that the arrow-keys left and right now do some-
thing else (this is visible in the menu-lines): they cause the
marked area to shift sideways. The general rule is: the
leftmost name on the last marked line is removed (or a name is
added on the left) and the rest of the marked area is adapted.
In principle, the not-marked area does not change (although it
may happen).
Only the first given names are shown. If you want to know
more about a person in the tree, click his name with the
mouse, and press or click Ctrl F5 to redisplay the tree.
Lines show the relations between persons on the screen, and
also with persons beyond the edges of the screen. Lines
beyond the left edge may clash.
6
Sometimes two persons occur twice in the tree. If this
happens in the same generation, then they are shown only once,
and lines may clash.
8 Modifying
8.1 Introduction
If you want to change the data of the selected record, then
you press or click F12. You can also start modifying by click-
ing the field you want to modify (but not the number or the
parents). If you have a CGA- or VGA-screen, then the blue
border will be red, to remind you that you are now modifying.
You can now change the name, place and date of birth and
death, the occupation and the address. You can also change the
numbers of the parents, the names of the parents are inserted
automatically. Sorry, you cannot change the sex.
A field is usually terminated with Enter (most function-keys
do the same). This will bring you to the next field. The up-
arrow brings you to the previous field (which is not always
higher on the screen). With the mouse you can select another
field immediately (even the parents).
The left and right arrows move the cursor within a field.
The mouse cannot do this.
When all modifications are finished you press F12 again. You
can also press Esc to cancel all modifications.
Modifying a matrimony goes likewise. The main difference is
that a matrimony has no name and no occupation. The final date
of a matrimony is only entered in case of divorce.
During modifying you will not see the age. Instead you see
to the left of the first name a sequence-number, preceded by
the letter N. This number can be used if someones birth- or
wedding-date is not known, and with twins, to force sequence.
The maximum value in this field is 63.
The length of names, occupations, addresses is limited to
1000 characters. If you exceed the width of the screen, the
text will shift sideways. During selection you will only see
the first 48 or 70 characters.
Accented letters are possible! Enter the accent first, then
the letter. Available combinaties are: all vowels (a e i o u)
with acute, grave, circonflexe, Umlaut, trema or diaeresis, c
with cedille (enter ^ and c), German sz (enter ^ and s), n
with tilde.
If you want an apostrophe type a space after the apostrophe.
Sorry, to save space, capital letters are not supported. Some
data will be checked for correctness. Parents must have the
right sex and dates must match. Some of these checks occur
immediately, so you cannot leave a field until a correct value
has been entered, and some checks do not occur until you press
F12. In both cases: remove the error-message with Esc before
you go on. For more checks, see the chapter on checking.
8.2 Dates
If you do not know when someone was born, died, married or
divorced, press F10, the date-fields will be filled with
7
question-marks. If someone is still alive, or if a matrimony
was never divorced, press F9.
If you only know that someone was born or died between two
given dates, that's no problem. You can enter two dates! If
you know that someone was born or died before or after a given
date, enter that date and press F10 (question-marks) for the
other date. If you know the date exactly, enter the same date
twice. You can use F11 for this. The second date should not be
earlier than the first.
For recent events, you can press F1 (today), F2 (yesterday)
etcetera through F7. Of course this requires that your compu-
ter's clock be correctly set.
Pressing F8 displays a calendar of the year in the current
field. This is particularly useful if you know that someone
was born three weeks befort whitsuntide, for festival dates
are indicated on the calendar. PageUp, PageDown, and arrows
display another year. With the mouse you can select any date.
If you do not want to select a date press Esc to remove the
calendar.
Examples:
date unknown F10 * F10 *
after jan 3 1840 01-03-1840 F10 *
before sep 12 1860 F10 * 09-12-1860
in 1850 or 1851 01-01-1850 12-31-1851
still alive F9 + F9 +
exactly oct 3 1960 10-03-1960 F11 **
Notes:
* shows question-marks.
** shows the same date when modifying, no date when select-
ing.
+ shows only two hyphens.
A date must be correct. If you enter an incorrect date, then
it will be changed into another date, without error-message.
What the other date is, is not always predictable.
If you want to enter the last day of a month, try 00 in the
next month. 03-00-1988 will be 02-29-1988.
If you receive the message: second date is earlier than
first, the program means the first and second birth-date, or
the first and second death-date. The cursor goes to the dates
which must be corrected.
The built-in calendar uses Julian dates from March 4 A.D.
through October 1582 and Gregorian dates from October 1582.
Dates before 4 A.D. are not displayed reliably.
8.3 Addresses
The line above the menu-line is intended for the address.
This line has two parts: on the left goes the street name, on
the right goes the city name. It is recommended to use the
right part for the city name only. This saves space in the
database if the same city name is also in use as birth- or
death-place of any person. Other data, like zip-codes, phone-
numbers, go on the left. You may give all members of a family
8
the same address, it takes no extra space in the database
(provided the addresses are exactly the same). This can be
done with the copy-function, described below.
The address-line is intended for the present address of
living persons, not for historical data. Therefore there is no
possibility for storing several addresses per person.
8.4 Copying names, cities, occupation, address
The key F11 works not only with dates, but also with birth-
and death-places. If a person was born and died in the same
city, enter one city-name, move the cursor to the field for
the other city and press F11.
Often you will see that someone has the same first or last
name, birth- or death-place, occupation or address as a close
relative. When you add a person, the last name, birth-place
and address will often be entered automatically. Where this is
insufficient try the following procedure.
Put the cursor on the field you want to enter and press F1
(copy from father) or F2 (from mother). If the field is a
city, you can select the birth-, death, or home-place of the
parent by pressing F1 or F2 several times.
Copying from a "child": press F3 until the desired text
appears. Copying from a "sibling": press F5 until the desired
text appears. Every time you press F3 or F5 you will see the
text from the next "child" or "sibling". If it is a city-name,
you will first see all birth-cities, then all death-cities,
then all home-cities. At the beginning of each sequence the
computer beeps. After the last home-city follows the first
birth-city, with two beeps.
If you copy a street name, the name of the city will also be
copied. If you press a key too many times, press again until
the desired text reappears.
8.5 Equality of texts.
A text is the name of a person, occupation, city or address.
Texts are stored in the database. If the same text occurs
several times, it will be stored only once. Therefore you will
save space if texts are truely equal. Do not mix names like
"Denver, Colo" and "Denver (Colo)" and "Denver" and "Denver
Colorado". It wastes storage. This is the reason why the city
name has a separate position in the address-line, the same
city name might occur in another address or as birth- or
death-place. The copy-function above makes it easy to make
texts exactly equal.
8.6 Changing legends
In church-registers you will often not find somebody's
birth- or death-date, but only the date of baptism or burial.
With the cursor on the city-name press F8 to change the leg-
end.
These are the alternatives:
born or baptized
9
died or buried
married or registered
divorced or separated
father or adoptive father
mother or adoptive mother.
8.7 Changing sex
I said it: the sex of persons cannot be changed. The struc-
ture of the database is greatly based on the sex of persons,
and changing this would cause great problems. Changing would
be permissible with persons who have no children and who are
not married, but the program offers no possibilities for it.
However it can be done in this way:
Delete the record, by removing all names, all parents and
all children and pressing Ctrl Delete.
Add the record again, with the right sex. It will have the
highest number in the databse.
Combine the new record with the deleted record (see the
chapter Combining). This leaves the number eventually un-
changed. There only remains an empty record at the end of the
database. If you like, you can remove it with the auxiliary
program COMPREL.
9 Addition
Imagine you want to put a relation (not a matrimony) between
two persons in the database. For example you want to indicate
that 234 is a son of 456. Then you select 234, press F12 and
enter 456 as the father or mother. That's all. But if you want
to add a person to the database, you need one of the Alt-key-
functions described below. You also need them if you want to
put a matrimony between two persons in the database.
First of all select the person to whom you want to add a
relation. Now press:
Alt F1: add a father, this is only possible if the selected
person has not yet got a father. A person will be added to the
database and you can modify the data. The last name will be
copied, but can be changed.
Alt F2: add a mother. The procedure is the same, but of
course the last name will not be copied.
Alt F3: add a son. At this point the added son has only one
parent, it is up to you to enter the other parent. The address
and the birth-place will be copied, (the birth-place from the
parent's home-place). If the known parent is a man, the last
name will also be copied.
It is much nicer to use F3 while a matrimony (with a blink-
ing heart) is selected: in that case both parents are known.
The last name will be copied from the father, the address and
the birth-place from the mother.
Alt F4: add a daughter. This works just like Alt F3.
Alt F5: add a matrimony. There are two possibilities: both
10
partners are already in the database, or either must be added.
Select one partner. If the other is already in the database,
make sure you know his/her number. Press Alt F5. Enter city
and date of the wedding. Note that one consort has been filled
in already. If you press F12 now, the program will start
adding the other consort. If, however, you enter the number of
the other consort before you press F12, then the other consort
will not be added.
While adding a matrimony, a message om the bottom-line will
prompt you what to do.
Adding is irrevocable! It is therefore not possible to
cancel adding with Esc. To prevents mishaps it is not possible
to start adding with the mouse: the Alt-key must be used. If
you put a matrimony between two persons who are both already
in the database, then it is important that you enter the
number of the other consort while entering the data of the
matrimony, lest the other partner be added.
Do you want to remove a record? Remove all its relations
("children" and parents) or consorts and remove the names as
well. Then press Ctrl Delete. This marks the record as
`empty', but it will not be reused. The auxiliary program
COMPREL and the combining-function will reuse it.
10 Checking
If you press or click F6 then the program will check the
correctness of dates.
Checking starts with the selected record and continues in
sequence. When an error is found, a message apears on the
bottom- line, and the offending record will be selected.
The message often begins with the number of another record,
and ends with an instruction. For instance: number 1322 is
selected, and the bottom-line reads:
1333 two children within 8 months, press F2 F3.
This means that 1322 en 1333 are siblings born within a
short time (but not twins). If you follow the instruction, F2
will select the mother and F3 will show both children.
Only the first date will be checked. The second date will be
ignored.
Checking will be on:
age of deceased persons (max 125 years);
age of living persons (born max 125 year ago, provided the
omputer's clock has been set correctly;
age when a child is born (min 15);
age at wedding (min 15);
age-difference between siblings of one mother (less than 2
or more than 300 days).
When there are no errors, the program will select the last
record, without an error-message.
After correcting an error, press F6 to find the next error.
If you do not correct the error, press Page Down first, fol-
lowed by F6.
11
11 Searching
Press F7 to use the search-function. A screen appears that
is similar to the modifying screen, but the border (if avail-
able) is yellow rather than red. Enter the data to search for
and press F12. Searching starts at the selected record and
continues to the end of the database. The first satisfactory
record will be selected.
If this is not the record you want, you can continue search-
ing by pressing F7 and F12, but also, more conveniently, by
pressing F7 twice.
It is sufficient to enter the first letters of the names you
look for. So entering Leo will also find Leonard and Leopold.
If you enter dates, the program will search for persons which
were born or died between the dates you entered.
Changing the legend with F8 is possible but useless. The
search-function does not distinguish birth- and baptism-dates,
neither death- and burial-dates. Furthermore, the search-
function will find matrimonies as well as persons.
12 Combining
12.1 Introduction
Sooner or later you will find that one person occurs twice
in the database. This will happen in particular if you have
combined two databases into one (with COMPNAM). Therefore
there is a function to combine two records to one.
Combining can only be done if the data in the two records
agree. What does that mean? Look at the example below.
number: 8
name: meier
bert
born: amsterdam 08-03-1845 12-31-1850
died: 09-09-1890 12-31-1890
occ: blacksmith
father: 28
mother:
number: 90
name: meyer
bertus
born: amsterdam 11-01-1849 08-08-1855
died: hoorn 01-01-1910 12-31-1910
occ:
father: 29
mother: 38
12
Two records, number 8 en number 90, for the same person. The
first and last names disagree, for Meier is not then same as
Meyer and Bert is not the same as Bertus.
The birth-cities agree, for both are Amsterdam.
The death-cities agree too, for 8 has no known death-city.
(If somebody answers "I don't know" to a question, you cannot
say that his answer disagrees with another person's answer.)
The occupations agree, for 90 has no known occupation. The
fathers disagree, the mothers agree.
The birth-dates agree, we can conclude that it must be
between 11-01-1849 and 12-31-1850.
The death-date of number 8 is before december 1890 and of 90
after january 1910, and that is a disagreement.
Combining data which agree is a simple matter. If the dates
disagree, then the program elects the ultimate dates, in this
case 09-09-1890 12-31-1910. For the other disagreements your
help is wanted.
Disagreeing sex: If the sex disagrees, there will be no
combination!
Disagreeing parents. If the parents disagree, we must con-
clude that they are the same person. In the example above,
number 8 and number 90 are the same person, their fathers are
28 and 29, so 28 and 29 are also the same person. The program
requires that 28 and 29 will be combined first.
Of course, this also requires that the grandparents agree.
If there are many disagreeing ancestors, combining can take a
long while. But at any time you can stop (with Esc) and con-
tinue the next day. Disagreeing names, cities and occupation:
The program shows the data ans asks you to select one of them.
And the children. Children always disagree, it is impossible
that two persons of the same sex have the same children. When
combining, all children will be put together, and this may
produce the same children several times, which should also be
combined.
12.2 Combining
Select one of the records you want to combine and press Alt
F12. If you have a CGA- or VGA-screen, then the border will be
magenta, indicating you are combining. Enter the number of the
other record. This record will be displayed on the lower half
of the screen.
If the parents of the two persons disagree, the program will
prompt you to press F1 or F2 to invoke the fathers or mothers.
When the parents have been combined the original records will
be displayed again.
If the parents of the two records do not disagree, then you
are prompted to press F12 and start combining.
If data in one record are empty, then the program will
automatically assume the data from the other record. If data
disagree, they will be displayed with a blinking arrow in
front. You can move the arrow with any key and if it points to
the desired text press Enter. You can also make your selection
13
with the mouse, but only for the field with the blinking
arrow. (I am not satisfied with this user-interface. Have you
any suggestions? Tell me!)
If dates agree, the program will make its best assumption.
If dates disagree, the program retains the ultimate dates.
Eventually the combined data are displayed. Press any key.
Did you combine the records you wanted to combine or were they
ancestors? In the former case combining will now be finished,
in the latter case combining continues with the younger gener-
ation until the original records have been combined.
The combined record will have the number of the record that
was on the upper half of the screen, which is the record you
selected first. The record on the lower half will be `empty'.
There is one exception to this: see the chapter on number-
changing.
Combining can be interrupted at any time with Esc.
12.3 Is there more to combine?
Combining puts all children of the two persons together. The
result could be that all children are mentioned twice, which
is not intended. If you press Ctrl F12 then the program will
try to find such occurences. The combining-function starts
automatically and can be interrupted with Esc.
This function can only be used if the F12-key is available
on your computer.
13 Deleting
To delete a record remove all names and relations. There
should be no more parents or "children". Then press Ctrl
Delete. The record is now `empty'. In stead of the sex you see
a =. The record will not be reused again and you cannot enter
data in it. To reuse the record, see the chapter on number-
changing or the auxiliary program COMPREL.
14 Number-changing
It is possible to change the number of a record, provided
the new number is available i.e. it must be an `empty' record.
If you combine (see the function combining) the `empty' record
with another record (in any order), then the data from the
other record will be moved to the `empty' record.
15 Function-keys
15.1 Summary
If a record is selected, i.e. there is a person or matrimony
14
on the upper half of the screen, and no text has the colour
for text-entry:
F1, click on F1, click on name: select the father of
the selected person, or the husband of the selected
matrimony.
F2, click on F2, click on name: select the mother of
the selected person, or the wife of the selected
matrimony.
F3, F4 or F5, or click on F3, F4 or F5: show the
children and matrimonies of the selected person, or
the children from the selected matrimony.
F6: screen the dates of the selected person and com-
pare them with his children and with his younger
sibling. When the dates seem correct, go on with the
next record in the database.
F7: search.
F8, click on F8, click on top-line: enter number of
the record to select.
Page Up: select previous record in database.
Page Down: select next record in database.
Ctrl Delete: mark the record `empty' (if there are no
more names and relations in it).
F12, click on F12: modify selected record. Clicking
the top half of the screen (not the first line and
not the line which mentions the parents) will also
start modifying, and the cursor will start on the
field you clicked.
Ctrl F1: display the pedigree of the selected person.
Ctrl F3: display the family tree of the selected
person.
Ctrl F5: display the same pedigree or family tree
(with modifications if any) which was last displayed
with Ctrl F1 or Ctrl F3.
Esc: back to previous selected record.
F8 F1: stop.
Alt F1: add father.
Alt F2: add mother.
Alt F3: add son.
Alt F4: add daughter.
Alt F5: add matrimony and consort.
Alt F12: combine.
When modifying (general):
Enter, down arrow: go to next field
Up arrow: go to previous field.
Arrows left and right: move cursor within field.
Click on any field: go to this field.
Esc, click on Esc: cancel modifications, stop modify-
ing.
F12, click on F12: store modifications, stop modify-
ing.
When modifying a date:
F9: date is not applicable, still alive, not di-
vorced. F10: date is not known.
F11: date is known exactly, first and second date are
the same.
15
When modifying a name, occupation or address:
F1: same as father
F2: same as mother
F3 (repeatedly): same as one of the "children"
F5 (repeatedly): same as one of the "siblings"
Delete: remove character under cursor.
Insert: toggle Insert-mode.
When modifying a city-name:
F1 (repeatedly): birth-, death-, or home-city of
father or husband.
F2 (repeatedly): birth-, death-, or home-city of
mother or wife.
F3 (repeatedly): birth-, death-, or home-city of one
of the "children".
F5 (repeatedly): birth-, death-, or home-city of one
of the "siblings".
F8: change legend.
F11: born and died in the same city.
Delete: remove character under cursor.
Insert: toggle Insert-mode.
When modifying a father or mother:
F8: change legend.
When combining:
Esc: stop combining.
F1: (only when prompted) show fathers.
F2: (only when prompted) show mothers.
F12: (only when prompted) start combining
15.2 Regularity
Note that usage of the function-keys F1 through F5 is rather
regular:
F1: select father
Ctrl F1: pedigree (ancestors)
Alt F1: add father
F1 (modifying): copy from father
F1 (combining): combine fathers.
F2: select mother
Ctrl F2: same as Ctrl F1
Alt F2: add mother
F2 (modifying): copy from mother
F2 (combining): combine mothers.
F3: children and consorts
Ctrl F3: family tree (descendants)
Alt F3: add son
F3 (modifying) copy from "children"
F4: same as F3
16
Ctrl F4: same as Ctrl F3
Alt F4: add daughter
F4 (modifying) copy from "children"
F5: same as F3
Ctrl F5: redisplay family tree or pedigree
Alt F5: add matrimony and consort
F5 (modifying) copy from "siblings"
16 Border-colours
Border-colours are only available with CGA or VGA and
colour-screen.
Blue: selection
Red: modifying and adding
Magenta: combining
Yellow: searching
17 Problems
Q. I selected someone, but his children do not appear on the
lower half of the screen.
A. Toggle ScrollLock off and select again.
Q. I want to select other persons and leave the lower half of
the screen unchanged.
A. Toggle ScrollLock on and do not use F3, F4 or F5.
Q. Nothing appears on the screen and the computer must be
rebooted.
A. Read the chapter Further Installation. Reply N to the
question after Int 16 function 10.
Q. F11 and F12 do not occur on my keyboard.
A. Use instead of
Ctrl F9 F11
Ctrl F10 F12
Alt F10 Alt F12
Q. F11 and F12 occur on my keyboard, but they do not function.
A. Read the chapter on Further Installation and reply Y after
the question on Int 16 function 10. If this has not the de-
sired effect, reply N and see previous question.
Q. The digit zero is ugly.
A. Read the chapter on Video-Installation.
Q. The mouse is sometimes not visible.
17
A. Read the chapter on Video-Installation.
Q. It says `second date earlier than first'.
A. Press Esc. The cursor goes to a date. Press Enter. The
cursor goes to another date. These two dates are conflicting.
Q. I cannot enter a name.
A. The namefile is full, maximum is 1M, 1048576 bytes. Run
COMPNAM. Probably the namefile will be smaller now, so that
there is space again.
Q. I want legends in another language and I do not like the
format of the dates.
A. You can choose English MM-DD-YYYY or Dutch DD-MM-YYYY. The
choice is made by the COUNTRY-statement in CONFIG.SYS. Read
your DOS-manual. Some messages (such as during installation)
are always in English.
If CONFIG.SYS has a country-setting other than 1 or 31, then
you must appropiately change the names of the .NAR and .NAS
files.
18 Video-installation
18.1
NOACH finds out what kind of video-adapter you have, but if
this does not work you can enter your own wishes.
Make sure that NOACH.COM is in your default-directory. Start
the program by typing NOACH -V
This starts the installation. There are three functions:
video-adapter, video-segment, and screen-colours.
18.2 Video-adapter.
The first question is the type of your video-adapter. Press
V for VGA, E for EGA, M for others (MDA, CGA or Hercules). You
can judge the difference from the row of digits and sometimes
the proportions of the screen will change. When your video-
adapter permits it, NOACH will display the digit zero without
a slash, to prevent confusion with an eight. Try the three
letters V, E and M and press Enter when you are satisfied.
If you have a EGA- or VGA-adapter and yet the zero is shown
with a slash, please let me know what that row of digits is
like.
The first letter you see remains from the previous installa-
tion, or it is NOACH's opinion. This is often correct.
If you change this selection, the selections for video-
segment and screen-colours will change too, but you can change
them as well. If you enter V, E or M, then NOACH will believe
you, and it will no longer find out for itself what type the
video-adapter is. You can also enter a question-mark. In that
case NOACH will find out.
If you enter a question-mark, the installation will stop
immediately. If you enter a letter, then the video-installa-
tion will go on with the functions video-segment and screen-
colours. It is not possible to combine a question-mark with
video-segment and screen-colours to taste.
18
18.3 Video-segment.
The next question is the video-segment. The correct value is
usually B800 if you have a colour-screen and B000 if you have
a monochrome schreen. If the displayed value is correct, press
Enter. Caution: some incorrect values will make the system
crash.
Now you should see two coloured lines laden with the letter
c. If you don't, the video-segment was probably incorrect:
press Esc and try again.
18.4 Screen-colours.
This is the nicest part of the installation: adapting the
screen-colours.
Above you see an example of the final result. There are
three fields: legend, fixed text and variable text. A blinking
arrow points to one of the fields.
The legend is the text which is always on the screen, in
other words the preprinted text. This includes the menu.
Example: grey on black.
The fixed text is all data of a person which is displayed
without being changed. Example: brown on black or white on
black. The variable text is a line which is being changed.
This colour is also used to select one of a person's children.
Some error-messages and other messages also appear in this
colour. Example: green on blue or black on white.
Below is a short help-text, and two lines with all the
available fore- and background-colours. An arrow points to the
same colour which is also pointed to by the blinking arrow
above. Press the arrow-keys up and down. The blinking arrow
above goes to another field. The arrow below moves too, so it
still points to the right colour.
Now press the arrow-keys left and right. The blinking arrow
above does not move, but the lower arrow moves to another
colour and the field pointed to by the upper arrow changes
colour. The lower arrow always points to one of the two co-
loured lines. To get this arrow in the other line move it left
or right beyond the length of the line. It will go further in
the other line.
Selecting a colour in one of the two lines can be done with
the mouse too.
For legend and fixed text a black background is recommended.
Of course foreground and background must be different, lest
you see nothing. Furthermore you may find that the mouse is
not visible on some colours, and these are best avoided.
You may choose the same colour for legend and fixed text.
For the variable text a different colour is recommended. If
you have a monochrome screen, then this function works just
the same, although the variety of colours will be more limit-
ed. Press Enter when the colours are satisfying.
This completes the video-installation. The changes will be
written into the program (in NOACH.COM).
19
18.5 Further installation
If NOACH does not work at all, try the command NOACH -I. You
get the question whether the keyboard can be driven by Int 16
function 10. This function is needed on some computers to use
the keys F11 and F12, but on other computers it produces
nothing but trouble.
If you have an 84-key keyboard, answer N (Y is useless). If
you have a 101-key keyboard, try Y. If NOACH does not work
with this setting, start NOACH -I again and answer N.
The program itself (NOACH.COM) is modified to your wish.
19 Creation
Of course it must be possible to create a new database. This
is done with the auxiliary program CREATE. The program shows
the name of the new database and asks your permission to go
on. This permission is: Alt F1. Every other key aborts.
If someone else were to start this program without reading
the instructions, then it is not likely that he could enter
Alt F1. This prevents the program from being run unintention-
ally, causing important data to be lost.
The new database has one record, a man, without name, and
with the number 1.
Now start NOACH, select number 1 and F12 and enter a man's
data. Then add more persons. Remember: the first person cannot
be a woman.
20 Conversion
The program CONVERT performs several conversions for you.
Start the program with the command CONVERT XXXX, where XXXX is
the name of your NOACH-database. Then select (with arrows and
Enter) the conversion you want.
20.1
If you have used an older version of NOACH (1.3 or earlier)
then you must convert your database. Conversion adds an .ADR
file and performs some other changes.
20.2
If you have a database in the format of Phillip Brown, then
you can convert it with the program CONVERT.
This program uses the files FAMILY.NAM, .OTH and .ADR as
input. So make sure your input-database has these names.
These names are shown on the screen and the program waits for
your permission to continue. This permission is Alt F1. Every
other key aborts the program.
20
18.3
CONVERT can also do conversions from NOACH to GEDCOM vice
versa. The GEDCOM-file has the same name as your database and
its extension is .GED.
21 Compression of the relations
Any `empty' records in the .REL file will not be reused.
Compression is possible with the auxiliary program COMPREL.
This program modifies only the .REL file. It searches for
`empty' records. The record which is last in the file is moved
there. So this program changes the numbering of the records
somewhat.
This program as well shows the database-name and waits for
your permission to continue. Again, this permission is Alt F1.
If you enter the DIR command, then you will see that the
relation-file is not smaller. The freed space is not released.
But if you add records afterwards, then the relation-file will
not grow. You can run COMPNAM, this will result in a smaller
relation-file.
22 Compression of the names
If you have made many modifications the .NAM and .ADR files
will be much greater than needed. They can be compressed with
the auxiliary program COMPNAM. This program rebuilds the
entire database.
Input to this program is the database named GENEA, unless
you enter another name. Output is always named COMPRESS. The
database COMPRESS should not exist. So do first DEL
COMPRESS.*.
This program also shows the database-names on the screen and
waits for your permission. This permission is Alt F1. Every
other key aborts the program.
When COMPNAM is completed you can REName the three files to
the name of your choice. Warning: the file COMPRESS.REL is
usually the same size (perhaps a bit smaller) but certainly
not equal to the original .REL-file. If you use one .REL-file
with the other .NAM or .ADR-file, then you will have unpre-
dictable results.
23 Combining two databases
If you want to join two databses into one, then this can
21
also be done with the auxiliary program COMPNAM. For if the
database COMPRESS exists, COMPNAM will add its output to it.
After obtaining permission by Alt F1 the program reports
that COMPRESS exists and asks again for permission to contin-
ue.
DEL COMPRESS.*
COMPNAM JAN
AltF1
COMPNAM PIET
AltF1
AltF1
REN COMPRESS.* JANPIET.*
or:
COPY JAN.* COMPRESS.*
COMPNAM PIET
AltF1
AltF1
REN COMPRESS.* JANPIET.*
It should now be clear that COMPRESS should not exist if
COMPNAM id only used to compress a database.
24 Degree of relationship
After creating a large database you will find a person and
wonder whether he belongs in your database, and what relation
he has to the other persons in your database. These questions
can be answered by the auxiliary program DEGREE.
This program adds a byte to every record in your database,
showing the degree of relationship.
Syntax: C>DEGREE [<databasename>] /<number>
Start the program and enter after a slash the number of
someone in your database, yourself if you like. This person
will have relation-number 0. His parents and children will
have number 1, his consort, grandchildren and grandparents 2,
is parents- in-law, uncles and aunts 3, etcetera.
This takes some time, for DEGREE will scan the databae
several times and the numbers on the screen may suggest that
the program will never stop. So be patient.
Now start NOACH. You see that the ages have disappeared, and
instead you see the degree of relationship, preceded by the
letter G.
For example: if a person has degree 12, and his father 11,
you know that the father is nearer number 0.
If there is no degree of relationship with someone, then
this person has no relations to the person who got number 0.
To remove the degree of relationship from the database you run
DEGREE again, this time without a number, thus:
C>DEGREE [<databasename>]
The next time you run NOACH you will see the ages again!
22
25 Checking
The program DATCHK reads the database and performs the same
checks as when you pressed F6. The consistency of the database
is also tested. The result is in a file with the extension
.CHK.
26 Printing
The program PRNOACH lets you print data. The program asks
these questions:
Pedigree, Family Tree of a single person's data.
Long of short. If you select Long, the program will yield
for every person the same data as you have seen on the screen.
If you select Short, it will yield only the names.
By order of generation or structure.
What person (number)?
Width of desired output.
These questions van be answered with the keyboard or with
the mouse.
The output will not be sent to the printer, but to a file in
the default directory. This file can be printed with the
MSDOS-comman PRINT.
27 More auxiliary programs
Tell me your wishes.
28 Filenames
You can have as many databases as you like.
A database consists of three files, with the same name, and
the extension .REL, .ADR en .NAM.
When starting NOACH, or an auxiliary program, you can enter
a path and a name. This is the name of the database. If you
enter no name, the default is GENEA.
So you can, for instance, enter the command NOACH PIERSON.
The database will be PIERSON.REL, PIERSON.ADR and PIERSON.NAM
on the default-directory. You can also enter NOACH
C:\FAM\PIERSON. In that case the default-directory is unimpor-
23
tant.
In general you are advised to put the three files together
on one directory. But if you have no fixed disk, this may not
be possible.
To allow this, you make a file with your favorite editor
(for instance EDLIN) with three lines: the full names of the
files. The extensions must be .NAM, .ADR and .REL.
Thee contents of the file could be:
A:\FAMILIE.NAM
B:\FAMILIE.REL
C:\FAMILIE.ADR
Then choose the name of this file, the extension is .USC.
Enter the name of this file when you start a program.
Summary: if you start NOACH with the command NOACH XXXXX,
then the program will search for the file XXXXX.USC, and
obtain the filenames from this file. If that file is not
found, then the filenames are XXXXX.NAM, XXXXX.ADR and
XXXXX.REL.
And if you start NOACH simply with the command NOACH, then it
wilbe as if you entered NOACH GENEA. This is the default
database name.
The order of the lines in the .USC-file is immaterial, but
the extensions must be correct.
If you start a program without entering a database-name,
then its name is GENEA. The file GENEA.USC is used if found on
the default-directory.
Summary of filenames used by the programs:
COMPNAM: input: 1 see command-line
2 GENEA
output: 1 COMPRESS
CONVERT Phillip Brown to NOACH:
input: FAMILY
output: 1 see command-line
2 GENEA
other conversions and other programs:
1 see command-line
2 GENEA
29 History
Release 1.0 october 1990
Release 1.1 november 1990
Leap-year error corrected.
Hardware-cursor made invisible.
Length of names limited to 1000 (used to be 70).
Characters can be removed (with Del-key).
After every modification the files are closed and opened
again, to protect against system-crashes.
Birth and death-cities display only 48 characters. This used
24
to be 70 during modification, overlapping the dates.
F3 of a matrimony shows the children from that matrimony.
The lower half of the screen also displays the numbers of the
parents.
It is permitted for one date to have an unknown value. This
way one can indicate that someone was born before or after a
given date.
Screening of dates.
COMPNAM works much faster.
Start modifying with the mouse.
Degree of relationship and age and sequence-number moved on
the screen.
Combining.
Release 1.2 january 1991
PRCARD
DATCHK
Immediate display of children when ScrollLock is off. Copy-
ing names, occupations, cities of parents and children. In-
serting characters (with Insert-key).
Check for full files.
Usage of hardware-cursor.
Variable legends: baptized, buried, separated, adoptive
parents.
The mouse will be invisible until it is moved.
Release 1.3
The comma can no longer be used for ç and ß. This turned
out to be awkward, In stead use ^ or ~.
Patch for INT 16h function 10h. This function made some
computers crash.
Release 1.4 april 1991
PRASC and PRDESC.
Adresses.
The program finds the type of the video-adapter, the video-
segment and the colours. The installation-program will there-
fore seldom be needed.
Installation-program integrated with main-program.
The .USC file contains only the filenames, with possibility
for disk and path. This file must be made with an editor.
Second search-function added.
Release 1.5 may 1991
Printprograms PRASC, PRDESC and PRCARD combined to PRNOACH.
Search for records which may need to be combined (with Ctrl
F12).
Release 2.0 october 1991
Documentation translated into English.
Mulitilingual legends.
Modification for zero digit on some VGA-cards.
Release 2.1 december 1991
Very extensive helptext on screen during update (suggested
by Henk Hijdra)
25
ScrollLock turned off when program starts (suggested by Henk
Hijdra)
GEDCOM conversion
Combined conversion programs into one
Some bugfixes
Release 2.2 january 1992
F1 through F7 for recent events
Calendar display with festival days
Release 2.3 january 1992
Display of pedigree and immediate selection of an ancestor.
Release 2.4 february 1992
Bug fix (current date in English language)
Renewed search-function
26
