There’s a nice introduction to virtual computers in Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter. The article informs the reader that virtual computers are made possible by software that lets you to run another operating system (OS), like Windows, while simultaneously running the host OS, in our case, Mac OS X. All this techie talk simply means that with the help of another piece of Mac software, like Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac
you can run Windows programs without leaving the comfort of your familiar Mac.
I have a copy of both, so if there is interest I can write more about them or make some videos. Contact me using the form on the “Contact” page with what you’d like to see. You could also post your questions about virtual computers in the comments on this article.
I am a PC user running Windows Programs. My sister has a mac mini. I have a large database of genealogical data in the program “Personal Ancestral File” which I’d like to share with my sister. Would she be able to run a “virtual” windows program on her mini mac, or would it be best if she simply purchased a Mac genealogy program and we transferred the data via gedcom?
Thanks!
Howard, your sister could run PAF within a virtual computer. Which one to get depends on whether her Mac mini has an Intel or PowerPC processor. The applications mentioned in this article are for Intel based Macs. If she has an older mini (PowerPC based), I would not recommend running a virtualization application. It’s just too slow. In that case I would go with genealogy database software that is made for the Mac (the term for this is a “native” application).
Whether it is best for her to run native program depends on several factors:
I can make a good recommendation for you and your sister if given answers to those questions.
Thanks for asking your question!
—-Ben
Either way will work, as long as her Mac mini has the Intel chip in it (and isn’t one of the earlier PowerPC powered minis.
If she gets setup with either VM Fusion, or Parallels, then she can install PAF for free, and everything about the database and how it works would be identical. The costs of this would be purchasing the virtualisation software AND a copy of Windows.
If you do the GEDCOM thing, then the costs are lower as she’d only need to install a Macintosh genealogy software like MacFamilyTree, or iFamily or Reunion – costing between $50 to $100.
Then things would operate differently, and it would be more steps to send data back and forth than just moving the actual PAF file each time.
If you just want her to be able to see it, but not enter any data herself, the GEDCOM file method would work fine.
Roger
You have my vote for videos on this software subject. I think your videos are great and very informative. I am interested to see how easy it would be to install and use. I would like to be able to share these videos with others who are skeptical about the possibilities. This will open up a new, more reliable computer experience for my PC-using family historian friends!
Thanks for the feedback Karen! I'll add it to my list of topics to cover.
I like what I am reading about interfacing my Mac with a workable solution to make entries one can print out and save on Family Group and Pedigree sheets. Everyone I talk to is frustrated at having no way to create these sheets (for now living individuals) when they don’t want to use actual paper and a typewriter because they are totally digitally oriented.
I have a terrific new iMac which comes with the Intel processor, plus VMFusion which came free [with rebates] (just updated to 2.0.4). I’ll just need to get a copy of Windows then to have a workable way to enter, save, AND PRINT current data on those FG&P sheets. I’ll be excited to pass this along as there are 4 other families in my immediate group who have new Macs, but were frustrated (and have been in recent years) with no way to add/update family history data.
The old-style legal-size sheets need to be updated to letter sized and then made digital, and this looks like the way to go. The current and upcoming generations don’t want to pack around store those big heavy legal binders. They’re already digital with mini “thumb drives” and no carbon typewriters, but they’ve also been hampered on how to move ahead.
Meanwhile, the children are arriving and parents have not been able to complete/update their FG&P sheets. Hopefully, this will open a new vista for them. I’m also in favor for videos on this software subject. That’s the quickest way to promote and teach this new media combo that you’ve suggested here. Let us all see it in action! Then we’ll not just be believers, we’ll be DOers, too! Thanks, Ben. Keep up the great work.