Notes from the May 9, 2002 meeting of the Rochester Genealogical Society, Computer Interest Group.

Paul Blake, President of Rochester Genealogical Society, substituting for Roy Thurston (who has joined the group of Rochester Genealogical Society members on a trip to Salt Lake City) greeted the Computer Interest Group. There were 34 members and 2 visitors in attendance.

Larry Schongar, Rochester Genealogical Society Vice President/Programs reminded attendees of the change in the May meeting to May 30^th, with Dr. Colin Chapman of England as the renouned speaker. This meeting is also the annual meeting of the Rochester Genealogical Society for election of officers. The June meeting will be a picnic (bring your own food) at the Pultneyville Yacht Club on Saturday, June 15^th, 1-3 P.M.

Jim Hall, Membership Secretary of Rochester Genealogical Society noted that the May 30^th meeting will be the last chance until September to save postage on renewing memberships. As writer of these notes, he reported that somehow he had neglected to send the electronic version of the April notes to Dick Halsey for addition to the Computer Interest Group section of the Rochester Genalogical Society website. (The file was sent the next day and Dick did his usual fine job of preparing them for viewing.)

The June 13^th meeting topic was gleaned from the interest survey. Many members wished to know more about making a website and then maintaining it. Paul Blake's son, James (Jamie) is employed in this field and will make a presentation at the June meeting.

Acronyms:

ANSEL, MP3, MPEG

Answers at the end of this document.

Several discussions were held, but the recorder did not pick them up clearly. A question on the need to remove Win98 before a reload was answered that this is a write-over, not an addition.

An offer to give away an old, but operable Xerox 620 Daisy Wheel printer was accepted. This meeting is a good opportunity to share equipment which is no longer needed/wanted.

A request for a copy of DOS version 1 was not responded to. Any help out there?

A problem with decreasing memory may be due to memory leak, where running a program uses a small amount of memory until the system is shut down.

Any member wishing to view the Version 9 of Family Tree Maker video tape can make arrangements with the writer at 265-9514. It will be available at the June 13th Computer Interest Group meeting.

Tom Pautz was the presenter. He is a former Rochester Genealogical Society Vice President/ Computer Interest Group and is a retired Electronics Engineer from Harris Corp. He has been running PAF for about 5 years. He has Personal Ancestral File Version 5.1.12, the latest version, produced and sold by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Questions during the presentation were acceptable.

A bit of history was presented about the development of PAF, in DOS, then WINDOWS. In 1993-1995 there was a big shake-out of the number of developers of genealogical software. Family Tree Maker (FTM) became a leader of the pack.

Tom recently reviewed and used PAF ver. 5.1.12 and found that it is competitive with FTM, although with PAF having fewer options. FTM emphasizes its library of CD-ROMs, where PAF has its on-line Family Search and microfilms/fiche to rent. PAF Ver. 5.1 is also available in several foreign languages. If you need special features such as huge numbers in the database, other programs are available.

To get PAF software, visit their website at Family Search.org and use downloads to get the latest version. The program is 10MB, but adding lessons will increase the total to 20MB. A total package with all 6 languages will jump the size to 39MB. There is also a Forum which provides technical support, besides a HELP function in the program.

There are about 200 options in PAF. Some major ones include ease of installation. A WIZARD is available, but is not always safe to use. Plug and Play is useable through the CD player. A YES choice for terms and conditions is needed. He changed the destination folder from Family Search to Family Search 5.1 since he already had versions 3 and 4 on the hard drive.

Going to the Main Screen (Family), he noted that PAF Companion is also available for PAF5 to get printouts in many formats. This screen contained data for Hamlin and Bligh family members. He described the contents including the parents and children of this couple, and the parents of a selected spouse. Following this screen, he displayed the options available, Family, Pedigree (NEW) and Individual screens. He also noted that the RIN is associated with one file, but an AFN is unique and used world-wide. Additonal custom ID numbers can also be used.

The Individual Screen can be edited with the large variety of data fields. Tom recommended getting familiar with the icons on the upper tool bar. Definitions/titles will be shown upon putting the cursor at the icon. The list of individuals can be used in either an alphabetical or RIN sequence for easy selection.

Adding a new person involves clicking on the ADD word in the title bar, then selecting the generation desired; Individual, Family, Spouse, Child or Other Parents.

Another change recommended was the ability to indicate if a name is a Given or Surname. The process requires adding a back slash before and after the surname. Other versions/languages have the Surname before the Given name. This process is being implemented by other genealogical programs also.

Continuing on with a data entry, Tom noted that inputting a non-standard format date will generate a warning. The date must be in the DD/MM/YYYY format. If you add other information in a possible erroneous format, the program will flash a warning until you correct it.

He described how easy the rearrangement of children can be performed in the EDIT function. A Child Order screen is presented and the existing order for an individual is changed by selection in the Order sub screen.

Instead of having the RIN and MRIN numbers attached to each name in the screens, these numbers are displayed at the bottom bar as an individual is highlighted.

PAF3 and 4 formats have been changed in PAF5. As you open an earlier format file, it must be converted. Tom recommends backing up the early files before converting. The data files of PAF5 are not downward compatible with PAF3 or 4. A message indicating use of a corrupted file really means that it has not been converted.

Tom noted that some foreign names are changed for military service, then reverted to the original, if desired, upon leaving the military (Sweden, up to 1860's). The use of the father's name could mean a name change every generation.

Going to the Pedigree Screen, the 5 generations of ancestors are shown for the individual. Each person on the chart can be selected and the major personal events, spouse and children, will be displayed.

If photos are added to the file, a miniature copy will show on the charts if selected. The Printer Icon leads to the Reports and Charts screen, where the specifications for the print-out can be selected from a large variety of options. Next, Tom described preparing and sending a GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data Communication) file, and using RTF (Rich Text Format) for exporting data. The RTF is the only format available. Exporting of GEDCOM files provides conversion to earlier versions of PAF.

Preparing charts and reports for use in Word Processor programs was described briefly. He displayed how the printed report can be previewed prior to printing by going to "Ancestry" tab.

Zoom in or out will give a readable screen image. Tom described Match/Merge, noting the warning to backup prior to this operation. As duplicates are found, the data is Merged, disposing of extraneous or known erroneous data. There are several options that can be selected to assure proper selection, one name at a time.

Going to EXPORT, he described how the many options can be selected. He also noted that Acrobat.PDF (Portable Data File) is needed where forms, etc. can be printed out. This should be on your computer. A current version can be obtained from the Internal Revenue Service website at IRS.GOV, for a free download.

Multiple spouses input/output was shown briefly.

Tom noted that the PAF5 program is very stable and users can have confidence in using it.

Tom was given a well-deserved round of applause.

:

ANSEL = American National Standard Extended Latin
An ANSI character set that supports diacritical marks for Latin-based foreign languages. It uses the additional 128 values provided by the 8th bit of the byte to store the diacritic for that character. ANSEL is also known as the American Library Association character set. GEDCOM genealogical files use ANSEL characters.

MP3 = MPEG Audio Layer 3
An audio compression technology that is part of MPEG-1 & MPEG-2 Specifications developed in Germany in 1991 by the Fraunhofer Institute, MP3. It uses perceptual audio coding to compress CD -quality sound by a factor of 12, while providing the same fidelity. MP3 music files are played via software or a physical player that cables to PC for file transfer.

MPEG = Moving Pictures Expert Group
(Pronounced: "Em Peg.") An ISO/ ITU standard for compressing video. MPEG is a lousey compression method, which means that some of the original image is lost in the compression stage which cannot be recreated.

To those who will not be joining us for the June 13^th meeting, we wish you success in your genealogical research over the Summer, and we hope to see you on September 12^th. We often have to change the meeting location for September, but you will be given an announcement in early September. Please check the RGS Website soon for the notes from the June 13^th meeting.

The prompt payments of both your RGS and CIG dues are appreciated.

wishes to thank Gloria Church for her rapid response in keyboarding these notes and Dick Halsey for preparing them for display on the RGS Website.

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