[ice]

I am trying to convince my parents that they should switch out of the PC world and get a Mac however my dad uses the computer soley for geneology stuff and doing 3d home architect stuff. Is there any software that is compatible with his existing files (i.e. geneology gedcom files and 3d home architect deluxe files)???

If anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[hudson1]

For genealogy, Reunion is often regarded as the best software available for either platform. It runs on the Mac only and will read Gedcom files just fine. Here's a link:

http://www.leisterpro.com/

[Freeflyer]

My wife is using Heredis as her genealogy program, and likes it very much. It reads and writes standard genealogy data formats (GEDCOM compliant, which she tells me is the standard genealogy database format), and is pc compatible. There's a free version that's limited to 50 individuals, which would give you a fair chunk of family to test it out on.

I don't know about the home architect stuff, but I'd be interested if there's anything that comes up on this thread.

Hope this helps.

J.

[fiesta cat]

Originally posted by ice:
Is there any software that is compatible with his existing files (i.e. geneology gedcom files and 3d home architect deluxe files)???

Although it's not as fancy looking as Reunion, GEDitCOM ( http://www.geditcom.com/index.html ) is usually touted as the most compatible in regards to the gedcom format files - the author is almost anal retentive about it (which is a good thing in this case).

I've tried all the Mac/OS X genealogy programs and kept coming back to GEDitCOM for three reasons :
1)The above mentioned compatibility - I had problems with other programs going back and forth between them and Windows programs, with GEDCOM files. No problem with GEDitCOM.
2)Layout. GEDitCOM was written to basically let the user display the data any way they want. It comes with some great layouts/templates already setup, for those who just want to plug data in and generate web pages or trees, but if your really into genealogy, then it shines.
3)You can switch layouts/templates on-the-fly. Hard to explain without you seeing it in person, but you can look at your data one way, then without reloading your data, switch and in a second or two, you can see it in a completly new way.

I've got @1300 individuals in my current setup, and it's just as fast as when I had 1, and just as easy to switch layouts.


You can write your own templates/filters (and share them with other users), and display your genealogy data any way you like. For some, it's not a big deal, for me, it is, because if your doing a lot of research, say using census, you can go in and create your own layout/template geared towards census, etc.

Some people get freaked out by that kind of stuff though, in which case they should go with Reunion. Reunion is kinda like AOL, costs twice as much, but it's good enough to get most people up and running.

[hudson1]

Ice, I think it comes down to what your father is looking for in genealogy software. Reunion and Heredis cost more but offer far more charting capability than GEDitCOM. All of them open GEDCOM files just fine and have website creation capability. I have no idea what this AOL comment above is all about. The good news is that if you convince him to buy a Mac, there are free demo versions available of all of these programs and others, too.

Also, there's a freeware genealogy program available called Genealogy Pro (link below) but I don't think it will do website creation.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~luthi..._web_main.html

[absmiths]

Does anybody know if any of these programs will read the databases that come with Family Tree Maker? My mother-in-law is about to buy a PC because of this stupid program and if I can get her data files into one of these programs it might help.

By the way, the files I am referring to are the census info, etc, that comes with the program (she has like 7 disks).

[ice]

my father does use family tree maker so the above comment also applies however to move the data bases over its the same process because you can export them to gedcoms.

thanks alot for all the geneology info and names/links to available software.

now how about the home architect stuff?

[Timo]

Originally posted by ice:
now how about the home architect stuff?

I'm not familiar with the program that your father uses. You might try www.architosh.com for research.

Your dad might like SketchUp. A good, easy-to-use program.

[absmiths]

Originally posted by ice:
my father does use family tree maker so the above comment also applies however to move the data bases over its the same process because you can export them to gedcoms.

So, the data has to be loaded into program, then exported to GEDCOM? It isn't installed right now.