Gedchart version 1.0  (beta test release)                     May 25, 1993

OVERVIEW

Gedchart is a program to prepare family tree charts on your laser printer.
It will produce an elegantly formatted chart of the ancestors of a given
individual, with an option to print either just the direct ancestors or
the direct ancestors with all of their siblings.

Using Gedchart you can easily produce up to 10 generation charts that will
fit on letter size paper and still be quite readable.

It will run on any IBM PC (or compatible), and will read in a GED file and
produce several styles of family chart on any of the following laser printers:

HP LaserJet III family or LaserJet 4 family
Any other printer that supports the PCL5 language
Apple LaserWriter NT or NTX or IIf or IIg
HP LaserJet II or IIP or IID with PostScript cartridge
Any other PostScript printer

Note: if you are using an HP LaserJet III or 4, please read the next section
of this file.

To start the program, type:

	gedchart file.ged

and a menu of choices will appear.  Enter the surname and given name of an
individual, the number of generations, the style of chart, the type of printer,
and the name of the printer port (LPT1, COM1, etc) and gedchart will prepare
an ancestor chart for that individual.


PRINTING ON HP LASERJET III or 4

If you are using an HP LaserJet III or LaserJet 4, and if you are getting
only partial pages printed, or getting a "PRINT OVERRUN" error, please
read this section.

All of the LaserJet III and LaserJet 4 printers have 2 modes,
Page Protect=Off and Page Protect=On.  The default is page protect off,
which is used when the printer does not have enough memory to store the
entire page, and therefore simply tries to output the job in "bands" or
horizontal strips.  If the page is too complex, then the front
panel will say something like "print overrun" or "complex page" and only
a portion of the page will print.  In the case of gedchart the output
will be some part of the paternal line at the top of the page.

The solution is to set Page Protect on for letter size paper via the front
panel.  You will need at least 2 MB of RAM in the printer to do this,
otherwise the option to turn on page protect will not be available in the
front panel menus.

To determine the amount of memory in the printer, print a test page.
Usually there is a "test page" key on the front panel.  You may have to
hold down the button for about 5 secs until the test page message appears
and then let go.

If you don't have enough memory, consult the manual about the amount of
RAM that is needed for Page Protect mode, then buy and install (installs
easily).

If the printer already has enough memory, you just need to go to the
appropriate menu on the front panel, and change the setting:

	Press Online (light goes out to indicate offline)
	Hold Menu key down for about 5 secs to get a new message
	Press Menu enough times to see Page Prot=Off*
	  (the * indicates the current setting)
	Press + to change to Page Prot=Ltr  (letter size)
	Press Enter to change to Page Prot=Ltr*
	Press Online

and try the page again.
These instructions happen to be for a IIID, they may be slightly different
front panel buttons on other LaserJets, but the basic idea is the same.


COMMENTS

I would like to hear what you think about this program,
please mail any comments or suggestions to:

Internet address:   blumer@ptltd.com
Compuserve address: 70740,3403
US mail:	    Tom Blumer, 63 Sacramento St, Cambridge, MA  02138

PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.
PCL is a registered trademark of Hewlett Packard Company.
