Database, Genealogy, Spreadsheet
& Related Programs for DOS

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DATABASES

Emphasis here is flat file and generic dBASE/ DBF related programs as well as bibliography databases. For address/ phone number managers see the Calendars, Clock, PIM page.


DataPerfect- Relational Database.

unrated [updated 09-27-00]

DataPerfect is an impressive relational database program which does not require the use of a programming language- or the latest hardware.

Comments from a DP user: "As far as existing database platforms, none resemble DP's structure. None of the Windows platforms, when using only the applications generator (i.e., not writing code) allow for the complexity DP allows for, and most....don't allow for some of DP's relationality even with writing code. Also, most do very poorly with medium to large databases (say, databases with data files holding over 50,000 records each); whereas, DP allows for almost no slowdown, free of corruption, with data files in the millions of records each." DataPerfect does not include mouse support- but dp-mouse, a freeware add-on, is available.

Copyrighted freeware. Originally released by Word Perfect/Novell (through 1994); subsequent releases by DP's author, Lew Bastian; Suggested by A. Padilla, Maurizio Converso.

Update 09-27-00: v2.6f (08-00); Linux version also available.

See the DataPerfect Users Discussion Group for links to other DP sites, mailing list, manuals, tools, Y2K info, etc.


INMAGIC- Powerful database program for textual information.

unrated [added 1998]

INMAGIC is a database program for maintaining textual information such as bibliographic, library, or legal documents. The DOS version has apparently been used in many libraries, but is now superseded by a Windows version. I haven't played with it much, but here is some unsolicited praise I've read:

"These are NOT TRIVIAL products. If you're interested in a painless, no-cost method of experimenting with the Inmagic approach, and maybe starting up a prototype or developmental database, this offer should be of interest. Inmagic products have good export and translation features, so whatever you build or start to develop in the way of a datafile will definitely be transportable."

"It's an excellent product, one of the standards in libraries, and used to cost about $1,000."

INMAGIC web site


Nanobase -xBASE, DBF compatible database.

* * * *

Nanobase is a recent (1997) dBASE compatible database that can function as a Dot command interpreter, menu driven xBase, xBase program interpreter, or compiler/ executor of simple xBase programs. From my limited evaluation, it appears to be a solid choice for maintaining a variety of catalogs or databases. nB can access files created with Fox Pro 2, dBASE IV, dBASE III, dBASE III PLUS and CA-Clipper. Mouse compatible. Author: Daniele Giacomini.


REFERENCES- Bibliographic database program.

unrated [added 02-20-00 updated 01-04-01]

From the docs: "REFERENCES is a software supporting preparation of scientific manuscripts, storage of bibliographic data of articles in periodicals, books and articles in books. Supports the TeX/LaTeX document preparation systems including the BibTeX program and commercial word processors. REFERENCES allows import of bibliographic data from material downloaded in the MEDLINE format. Database functions allows retrieval of references by keywords, authors' or editors' names, date of publication, strings in title of article, in book title or journal names. Lists of references can be compiled in all (user-defined) formats required by the publishers of scientific journals. Documentation in accompanying text files. Source code is included: REFERENCES is free software distributed under the terms of the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE [ GPL ], Version 2 (FSF)."

Notes: Requires 386+ PC and DPMI provider. Author: Volker Kiefel, Germany (2000).

01-04-01: v3.6 (12-00) available.

download refs_36.zip (1.1MB)


PC-File- Award-winning flat file database manager.

unrated

PC-File, created by the "Father of Shareware" Jim Button, has been re-classified (9-97) as unsupported freeware. PC-File won three PC Magazine Editor's Choice awards in the 80's and early 90's. I've heard much about it- but have no experience with it. I will allow an old advertisement to speak for this program:

"Awarded its second Editors' Choice in the June 26, 1990 issue of PC Magazine, PC-File is the #1 rated flat-file database manager. The May 14, 1990 issue of PC Week said "PC-File emerged as the most powerful flat filer". ShareWare magazine awarded PC-File an Editors Choice award in 1991. In December 1991 Home Office Computing awarded PC-File four stars stating, "Few programs in recent years have offered as much power for the price as PC-File." In July 1992, Data Based Advisor magazine awarded PC-File 1st place in Documentation, Ease of use in report creation, and Price vs. value provided. PC-File is so popular because it does just what you need a database to do: store, organize, retrieve, manipulate and update information. Whether it's your mailing list or your membership list; your clients, your customers, or your contacts; sales, inventory, expenses, payables & receivables, even your hobby collection...PC-File can keep track of it.

PC-File sports an impressive list of features, such as easy database creation, relational posting and retrieval, customized data entry screens, powerful search and retrieval capabilities, five different ways to create reports, including point and click and a forms designer, merge letters, bar code output including ZIP+4 Postnet & UPC, pie, bar and line graphs, quick mailing labels, 10 levels of sorting, macros, password protection, dBASE file compatibility, extensive import and export with many other popular programs and much more!"

The freeware version is the fully functional version 5.01, but the included manual is for v. 3.0. Documentation may be inadequate for some features. PC-File is not Year 2000 compliant. Author: Jim Knopf (aka Jim Button) (1997).

download pcf501.zip (641K)


DBM- Database for DOS.

unrated

"The DBM - database manager is a general-purpose database manager....It works in text mode screen with excellent mouse support. DBM also supports user configuration for user-defined tasks on specific database files. "

Main Features:

Note: May not be wise to run this program under Win31 (rg)

DBM is cardware. Author: Zhuhan Jiang, Australia. (1995). Suggested by Lars-Erik Sandberg.

download dbm113.zip (307K)


Simple database-like programs

1. Freebase- Simple database uses plain text files.
2. Trilogy- Note retrieval system.

[added 6-16-98]

Reviewed by Howard Schwartz.

Freebase and Trilogy represent a middle ground between simple ``cardfile'' programs, such as the applet that comes with Windows, and fully functional databases. These programs operate on collections of various pieces of text, e.g., recipes, notes, book summaries, phone call descriptions, medical information. We often want to search these pieces of text to find specific information. But we don't want to deal with the complexity, time, and effort of setting up and maintaining a full fleged data-base. Freebase and Trilogy let you label pieces of text with one or more descriptive keywords, and retrieve the text items by doing simple, ``data-base'' type searches on the keywords.

1. FREEBASE is one of the few database programs that operates on an ordinary ascii file as the data file. You can change the (ascii) data file with any text editor of your choice. To add a new piece of text, you simply mark its beginning with a special character (~), and add one or more descriptive keywords at the end of the text.

You retrieve items of text in one of two ways: You can search the text itself for the presence of one or more words (similar to a wordprocessor's search and replace mechanism). You you can search your list of descriptive keywords for these words.``Or'' type searches are done by doing a sequence of full data-base searches, one at a time. ``And'' type searches are done by doing several searches in succession, where each new search looks only through the text found by the last search.

Advantages: 1) Uses a simple ascii file as the data file. Does not require items to be imported to or exported from a special format. 2) Has a wonderful, easy to use, well thought out interface and display format. 3) Has a DOS escape key, so you can use it as a pop-up data base by starting it and then escaping to dos.

Disadvantages: 1) Cannot perform complex boolean searches on keywords (e.g., search for text containing word, X, but not word, Y). 2) Must search for text strings only, no wildcards available. 3) You must prepare index of keywords manually by including a separate list of keywords as the first piece of text in your data file. 3) Limitations on the size of the data-base. The manual claims that a piece of text must be no more than a screenful of lines (21 lines). However, I found that larger pieces seem to work fine. One data file is limited to 100 pieces of text (but you can split a large data-base into 2 or more files).

Author: Glynn Shaffer (1988)

download fbase12.zip (79K)

2. TRILOGY. This program permits more elaborate boolean searches of keywords, and it automatically generates two indexes for you- an alphabetized list of keywords, and a list of ``titles'' for each piece of text. A ``title'' is the line of keywords that starts a piece of text. The cost of these extras is using a specially formatted, non-ascii, database file. Preparation of pieces of text is equally easy: include one or more keywords at the beginning of the text, and then import the text into a data-base, using the trilogy program itself. You can view the indices of keywords and titles, and then retrieve pieces of text, using simple or relatively complex boolean searches on the keywords or titles. Trilogy also lets you print out pieces of text, as well as viewing them. The program was originally written by a professor to keep track of notes made in preparation for writing a research book.

Advantages: 1) Complex ``and'' and ``or" searches are permitted. However, ``not'' type searches are not available. 2) Searches can use a simple wildcard (*). 3) Handles relatively large databases of up to 500 notes per file, filesizes up to 1/2 Meg, and multi-screen text items.

Disadvantages: 1) Cannot search the text itself for words. To do this you must export the text out of trilogy's data-base and search it with an ordinary editor. 2) Changing the keywords or text in a data file is time consuming and awkward: You must export the text out of he data-base, change it with a text editor, and then import it back into the database. 3) Has an awkward, non-intuitive user interface. In particular, one cannot go directly from the keyword screen to the retrieve-text screen. You can get around this limitation by using a key macro TSR (e.g., qk202.zip).

Author: B. J. Ball (1988)

download trilogy.zip (57K)


Related...

dg -Search for complete records based on search phrase.

unrated

From the docs..."dg will search a text file for a given phrase and print all "records" containing that phrase to standard output...This utility is not designed to replace full featured databases with formal query languages. It is suitable for keeping utility files, such as address or contact files or software requirements files, when the purpose of the search is not to settle just for individual lines containing the desired phrase, but to get the entire paragraph or record. It is like grep with some notion of context...

dg is intended for free form "flat" files of text containing records (multi-line chunks or "paragraphs") separated by a defined delimiter character (default is "*")... A "paragraph" mode (-dd option) treats blank lines as record delimiters... Unlike grep, which would report only the specific lines containing the search term (or a fixed number of lines either side of the find), data-grepper will print the entire record in which the search term was found-- or a specified number of key lines for that record. It is useful from the command line, but most powerful when used in batch files that grab a set of records and then do further processing on them...

The program does not directly support wildcards, nor does it understand all unix "regular expressions." A wildcarded list of files to search may be done using the dgw batch file. "

(See docs for a list of limitations.)

Author: Pete Marikle. (1997). Suggested by Marianna Van Erp.

download dg53.zip (111K)


DATABASE VIEWERS/ CONVERSION

(generic dBASE/ DBF/ CSV related tools)


dBASE dbf viewers and editors...

1. DBV- dbase (*.dbf) file viewer and editor.
2. DBFView- dbase (*.dbf) file viewer and editor, mouse support.
3. VFPVIEW- (V)FoxPro, DBF table viewer and editor, Win9x LFN's.
4. CLUT-Powerful DBF viewer, editor, and manipulator.

  1. DBV unrated. This is a handy little (55K) *.DBF file viewer with the added ability to edit records and fields. Search function included. A configuration file can store custom switches. File size limit unknown, but it can handle relatively large files (I've only tested it with a 1.2MB file). Pops up a directory browser if run without parameters. Released by Raymond T. Kaya.
  2. DBFVIEW unrated. [added 05-03-99]. Much like DBV and VFPVIEW but includes good mouse support and some different options. Author: Kovacs Tibor, Romania (1999)
  3. VFPVIEW unrated. [added 11-97 updated 12-12-99] Similar to DBV but includes additional enhancements. Includes a search field function, displays header info, type of table, and table code page. Latest versions can also repair damaged headers and display Win9x long file names (LFN). Code page translation support. May choke on empty directory (i.e., w/ no *.dbf files). Author: Milan Kosina. Czech Republic (1999). Home Page. 12-12-99: New in v3.2 (12-99): "...possible to display Character fields longer than 80 chars."
  4. CLUT unrated [added 03-21-00] Includes CLUT.EXE, R-CLUT.EXE, and G-CLUT.EXE: Three versions of the same program (standard protected mode, real mode, graphic protected mode). "Allow ".Dbf" files to be opened with various "RDD." Features include indexing, ordering, comparing structure and data, create, modify, relate, filter, browse/edit/append, copy to, append from, replace, find, locate, list to print or to text file, and many others. Includes field and record clipboards to copy data from one to another, a DOS shell and a no-limit "dot" prompt to interactively test expressions and function calls. Allows selection of date format (always four digit year). Fully bilingual; program language may be set to Italian (default) or English." Notes: Ran great on my MS_DOS 386, but had directory browser problems under Win98 (solution: load files on command line).

Titanic- Rescue/ repair damaged DBF files.

unrated [added 09-07-99]

Repairs damaged DBF files..."The idea [behind the] program is to copy the correct header from [a] sample file and recover all data in [the] damaged file. [The] sample file can be empty or you can create a new empty file for this purpose." Performance: "100% successful in the case of damaged header"; can recover a maximum of data even with "shifted disk block" error. Interactive, full screen interface. Available in English, Slovak and Czech language versions. No-fee shareware (cardware registration).

Author: Branislav Stofko, Slovak Republic. (1999)

download bstitae0.zip (81K)


Convert- Convert among dBASE, delimited text, fixed text, Lotus 1-2-3 formats.

unrated [updated 07-05-99]

From the docs..."Converts between data formats: FROM dBASE, ASCII-delimited (typically commas between fields and quotes around strings), and fixed field TO Lotus WKS, ASCII-delimited, dBASE, and fixed field. "

11-23-99: v911 released 11-99. See Wayne Software

Author: Bruce Guthrie. (1999)

Get convr911.zip (107K) from Download Page.


DBF2HTML- Command-line DBF to HTML converter.

(see extended description on HTML utilities page.)


GENEALOGY

Also see: a useful, free, but Win31-based genealogy program: Kindred Connections


Roots Master- Genealogy database with GEDCOM import/export.

* * * * 1/2

This simple but well designed text mode program is a database for storing family information and generating documents showing family relationships. Mouse driven, and very nice for a free program. This is the only genealogy program I've ever used (or needed)- I haven't compared it with the shareware competition. Author: Robert K. Summers (1995)

Key features:

  1. View and print ancestors, descendants, family groups, alphabetical lists, birthday lists, longevity analyses, etc..
  2. Can enter an unlimited number of people.
  3. Can export to the GEDCOM format, which is readable by most genealogy programs. If you advance to a professional package, you won't have to re-key your information.
  4. Allows you to enter name, address, birth date and place, marriage date and place, death date and place, and sex for each relative. Once entered, you can easily tie relatives together with father, mother, and spouse relationships.
  5. Supports an unlimited number of multiple marriages.
  6. Excellent search and filtering capabilities. Query-building feature.
  7. Prints out family history worksheets which can be used to help collect family history data.
  8. Does not catalog family pictures.
Uploaded to my web space.

download rm23.zip (309K)


DOS SPREADSHEETS

GENERAL REMARKS: Familiarizing oneself with a new spreadsheet program is often tedious and usually requires a significant time investment to learn function syntax, navigation commands, and sundry other peculiarities. Partly because of this, I can't recommend any of the available DOS freeware spreadsheets to the newbie/ GUI user (except for tasks like floppy-portable, no-frills number crunching which they perform quite well). One spreadsheet I do recommend is InstaCalc, but its recent freeware status has only been informally communicated. The DOS freeware spreadsheets listed here may meet their own design goals well, but they will appear to many as alien and underpowered compared with 1-2-3, Excel, or Quatro Pro. None are good choices if the user needs easy portability of files between spreadsheet programs. Minimally, support for delimited text (e.g., CSV) would be desirable, but this hasn't been implemented in any free spreadsheet listed below (but see InstaCalc). Finally, all freeware spreadsheets below (except InstaCalc) are lacking standard commands that many spreadsheet users can't live without (e.g., format number as a date, sort range of cells, undo, etc...)

Other spreadsheets to consider:


VisiCalc- 1981 version of classic DOS spreadsheet.

[added 12-03-00]

Placed here primarily because of its historical significance, the 1981 PC version of VisiCalc is now being distributed by one of its co-authors. See Home Page for a first-person history of this archetype of modern spreadsheets. Only the 26.8 Kb *.com file is distributed (no docs), but you can download a graphic of a 1979 Apple II reference card. Hint: to quit the program, use command "/SQY."

License note: VisiCalc is still copyrighted (Lotus) and can only be used for non-commercial purposes.

Authors: Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston (1981). VisiCalc Home Page. Suggested by many.

Go to VisiCalc download page


Matrix- DOS spreadsheet supports range selection with mouse.

unrated [added 02-27-00]

First impressions of v2.0 (02-00): Matrix is a newer DOS spreadsheet that uniquely supports selection of cell ranges using the mouse.

Remarks: Matrix (v2.0) is unusual among recent DOS programs because it requires (emulated) expanded memory. Unfortunately this requires replacing the (usually) desirable emm386.sys /NOEMS switch in config.sys with /RAM or /AUTO. Win98 users may have to explicitly add himem.sys and emm386 statements to config.sys in order to permit use of expanded memory, e.g,

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE /RAM 4096 /I=B000-B7FF 
(/I=B000-B7FF can get you 32K of extra high memory if you're 
 not using monochrome adapter)

Notes: Matrix needs a faster CPU with a coprocessor/FPU (was slow on a 386/20).

Author: Michael Finnegan, Ireland (2000). Suggested by Paul Chung.

download mtrix2.zip (346K)


Rebel- Key-driven spreadsheet for DOS.

unrated [added 02-27-00]

Quick impressions: Rebel is an old (1993) spreadsheet that is not widely distributed on the Internet. Although it's probably the most complex freeware spreadsheet listed here, it isn't well suited to GUI spreadsheet users (no mouse support). Absent features include a "format number as date" function (in order to input something resembling a numeric date you have to use 3 columns for month, date, and year [see how it's done in the CHECKS.RB2 sample]). No sorting feature. Does have a simple undo command.

REBEL requires an IBM PC or compatible with at least 384K of memory, running DOS 2.1 or higher.

Author: Brad Smith (1993) Thanks to Torben Joergensen for finding Rebel.

http://www.geocities.com/rlcgreen/bin/ get rebel302.zip


SC- Spreadsheet Calculator.

unrated

An older (1994) character mode, key-driven spreadsheet ported from the Unix world. The SC package includes two executable versions (both ~250K ) - the 32-bit executable is for 386+ PC's and, if you can get it to run, should handle larger data sets than the 16-bit version.

Quick feature list (incomplete):

Remarks: The 32-bit exe will not run under Windows or in another DPMI environment. (It's an EMX exe for OS/2 and DOS, should run under DOS but I haven't had success).

download sc621_3.zip (520K)

Also see: SLSC


SLSC- Enhanced DJGPP (386) version of Spreadsheet Calculator (SC).

unrated [added 01-06-00]

"SLSC is derived from the public domain spreadsheet SC. With the exception of the internal parts of the spreadsheet, much of it has been completely rewritten. In particular, the user interface is completely different and the spreadsheet is now customizable to suit different tastes Although all of the power of SLSC is available from the keyboard, a simple menu interface modeled after a popular spreadsheet has been implemented. This interface is available by pressing the `/' key". Supported formats (write): native SLSC, TeX and variants. Max cell grid size= 199r x 70c.

Hints: Don't forget to exract the *.rc config file when installing the program- and read it to see default key bindings. The program seems to behave oddly after loading a file from the command line (maybe it needs a path variable set?). I load files from within the program only.

Requires 386+ PC, FPU (?), and CWSDPMI under plain DOS.

Author: DJGPP port by Jeff Edwards (1999), based on SLSC developed by John E. Davis. Home Page. Suggested by Jean-Francois Buisson.

download binary: slscdj1b.zip (155K)
Also download additional docs and source: slscdj1s.zip (90K)


OTHER


Account Pro- Professional accounting program.

unrated

(Another example of an "obsolete" fee-based program turned freeware because it runs under DOS. I'll move this app to a more appropriate category in the future.)

From the docs..."ACCOUNT PRO is a modern, user friendly and fast accounting and finance- planning program, which can be operated with a mouse or keyboard. ACCOUNT PRO is based on the principle of double-entry bookkeeping. It is particularly suitable for small to medium size businesses and for private persons who wish to manage their own money, or the finances of an institution, association or a club. ACCOUNT PRO is capable of networking and can handle up to 152 different accounting systems. Comfortable pull-down menus and context-sensitive help will also enable the accounting novice to familiarize himself with the program rapidly and to work efficiently right from the beginning." The documentation has not been updated to reflect freeware status. See the author's web page for further info.

Author: W.R. Aus der Au. Switzerland. (1994)

download apdos.zip (274KB) link adjusted 6-9-98



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