Can DBMAN be used offline, say on a laptop running windows, to add records and then ftp the database up to the server when connected via DSL, etc.?

You can setup your laptop with an Xitami server and activeperl and run the database locally and then upload the file. Or more easily you could just work in a text editor and manually enter files in the pipe delimiter format.

I use both methods depending on which db i'm updating. For the text editor I have a template I setup with the field names and then just replace the contents when I'm adding new entries and then I test the output in excel (to be sure all the fields are in the correct places) and then add the additions to my active database file.

Hope this gives you some ideas

Unoffical DBMan FAQ

http://creativecomputingweb.com/dbman/index.shtml/