Ubuntu OS

I have been using Ubuntu Operating System for about 2 and half years now. If you are using Windows 98 or older, you should consider a newer OS. Ubuntu is a Linux based OS and is the most popular, at least for now. Even if you are using XP, you should think about a new OS. Most Linux distributions have more up to date drivers, features and software programs. Also it is great on-line, worrying about malware and viruses is minimal. Using Firefox on a Linux OS is no different than on Windows.

The biggest draw-back is what to do for Windows programs. There is a decent windows emulator called Wine, in which many programs will run. My favorite Windows program is Ancestral Quest, a genealogy program. Unfortunately, I can only view the people and families on AQ. If I make any changes or click on any web links it crashes when I exit the program.

I haven't quite given up my XP machine. I use two machines with a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch. It allows me to jump back and forth between computers. Its especially good for surfing genealogy sites on my Ubuntu computer and jumping to my XP to compare family info. Listening to music on one and downloading on the other. I can do true multitasking without lagging down a single processor.

Stop Your Whining

Ancestral Quest has been my favorite genealogy program for years. It is compatible with and has all the features of PAF and an abundance of other properties, a wide variety of reports, charts and scrap-booking capabilities. It also has research manager, direct connection with Family Search, World Vital Records and Ancestry.com. What I like most about AQ is the ability to move about to various families and names in a rapid manner, since I’m working on about as many lines as a lounge lizard has to pick up the ladies.
Last week I reviewed three genealogy programs for Linux Operating System. So I figured that a good genealogy program was not available for Ubuntu. When I was a kid, my grandfather used to tell me “Stop your whining.”
This week I sucked in my bottom lip and tried a package called Wine (a Windows emulator) in conjunction with Ancestral Quest. First, I installed Wine, then I went to the cdrom directory in terminal and typed in ‘wine setup.exe’. Then I let Wine and Ancestral Quest do their thing. Testing the program produced no errors so far.

Word of the Week:
Wand = A portion of communal land, marked by corner sticks (wands).

Testing or Testing my Patience

My favorite genealogy program is Ancestral Quest; I have been using it since its inception. My spare computer has been turned into an Ubuntu operating system, which is Linux based. So I decided to evaluate different genealogy software programs on my Ubuntu machine:

Gramps is probably one of the best linux-based genealogy programs. It was a fairly easy install and opened up with my 6000+ gedcom file with no problems. It can produce some cool reports and has a nice look. Some graph reports (.dot), however did not show up properly. It also lacks the ability to move quickly around to various names and families.

Lifelines a text-based package which reminded me of an old 8088 software program. After download and installation, I soon found out it only runs in terminal. Then I tried entering my name and it took five minutes. This program is not even worth the effort it took to uninstall it.

GeneWeb is an html-based program. After installing the three packages geneweb, gwsetup and gwtb, I then converted my gedcom file in terminal to where? I don’t know. Two hours later, I still couldn’t bring up my database. I consider myself a bit of a geek, but this was a total waste of time. If anyone finds my genealogy database somewhere on the net, please let me know.

There might be other genealogy software for Linux systems that I haven’t heard of yet, please let me know if you are aware of any. As for the above three, Gramps is workable, but the other two programs are impractical.

Word of the Week:
Brandwithe: A fence around a well, used to prevent people and animals from falling into it.