Macintosh OS X Genealogy software

[igeoff]

If screen size of a MacBook is an issue for genealogy buy the MacBook and a cheap external screen for use as a secondary screen when the MacBook is at home. The best of both worlds!

[Jane Lucas]

Brilliant.. why didn't I think of that! I'd been thinking desktop with the old laptop as separate screen but there won't really be the space on my tiny desk for that.
Thank you.
Jane

[TonyV]

.or Chromecast dongle and cast images to the tele

[Jane Lucas]

I have an apple tv.. so I could use that except the tv is in a different room.. but good idea for sharing with others if the family are here. Thanks.

[Colin Y]

Hello Jane

I'm not sure a cheap screen to mimic your MBP 2011 13" would help. It may not be as simple as that either - cheap screens for MBP may not be cheap...if they are to give you a half decent picture! I bought a Samsung TV for its HDMI connection  but it is well used in another role now  and has been replaced.

I suspect you'd be better off buying a 2011 MBP 15".

Why do I say that - I have one just the same which I use for another task. It now has 8 GB memory which speeded it up. It is vintage too and yes it cannot run Mojave - no problem. It has a good sized screen and mine now has its 500 GB HDD replaced with a 500 GB SSD - seriously fast. Its OS is recognised as solid and reliable and even now Apple is occasionally upgrading it. I dropped my older MS Office and found Apples Pages, Numbers and Keynote can open all the MS files and save files in MS formats. So much faster.

The 2011 MBP is referred to as a Unibody and they are rugged. Mine was a gift from a friends two daughters who gave me both their 2011 MBPs which had both had disasters. The 13" was not happy with a cup tea with milk and sugar poured over it. Only the 500 GB HDD came out. I traded the shell in for a new glass screen to replace the cracked one on the the 2011 15"

So -lucky me - I have two MBPs, both 15" - the second is a Retina but only 250 GB SSD. Its superb for Family History in one User and everything else in the second.  I run Etrecheck on each at regular intervals and all is well.

Reunion - I have had no real problems with it in the maybe 15 years I have had it and, like the Macs, I keep it up to date. It has been excellent for what I needed and has some immense trees on it. If you have paid for the update to 12 I'm sure the Support folk will help you but I don't think you need worry - just dump whatever you want to go to the MBP as ged files from wherever you have them. I tried FTM but gave up on it - geditcom was almost good! If you can dump FTM files in Families as separate ged files, you should be able to open them on the Mac in Reunion without any problem. I'd suggest you create each as a  separate family file until you are happy that you know your way around and only then merge those Families together.

If you can get one I can recommend a Fujitsu Display which usually have VGA, DVI, Dataport and the Dataport is the full sized version of Apples Thunderbolt, which your MBP has. I bought my screen from a daughter who works for Fujitsu because i am also playing with Raspberry Pi's!

Anything at all I can do to help feel free to ask. Yes, may be a Mac/Reunion Forum has scope.

Have fun - By the way Google Chrome is not recommended for use on Mac Laptops. Overheating and excess battery use problems are well known. Not sure about Chromecast but i'd be cautious.

Colin

[TonyV]

I have a 2014 MBP 2014 with Mojave aboard and while I use Safari for most things I find that Chrome works better with Google Map which I use a lot. I do however agree that when Chrome is on the laptop gets very hot so maybe it's best to ignore my earlier thought.

I use MacFamilyTree 8 to record my family history. It works fine and it is always being improved. I've never tried Reunion and was put off doing so by it's cost. I converted to Mac from Windows after retiring, as many people do. I used Family Historian in those far-off days. A great program but not available for MacOS sadly.   

Tony

[Jane Lucas]

Hi Colin
Good points.. I haven't decided about an external screen, though I've seen some good reviews for one or two, but not cheap as you say. I am considering a 15" laptop.. but I could also upgrade my current 13". I added more memory a couple of years ago, and was considering an SSD before thinking that I might just buy a newer laptop. Don't know. I've had differing advice with pros and cons on both sides. I agree the 2011 is a good solid machine. I did have to replace the trackpad after I tipped red wine over it, but seems fine now.
I can trade it in at the Apple shop for £130 and might get more on Ebay though I'm tempted to keep it even if I do get a newer one.
Reunion 12 appears to have lots of new features including the ability to import weblinks with a gedcom (maybe) and drag and drop pictures and sources. I've got an old tree on there that I'm playing around with before I import anything.
Having spent the last couple of days using Reunion, FTM seems really basic, though it is much simpler to use.

Tony.. yes.. I don't like Chrome though my son says it's better than Safari for a lot of things. The only malware I've had on my mac was just before christmas, when I had Chrome open and I clicked on something by accident.. I saw the little download thing but couldn't delete it. Every google search in Safari immediately defaulted to Bing and I ended up with non stop pop ups. Etrecheck got rid of them for about a day and then they were back again. So I tried Malwarebytes and that has done the trick.
And it does make the laptop heat up.

Think FH programmes are horses for courses. But I like the fact that Reunion is for mac and the forum help is excellent. We all need help at times and the issues one person might have is not necessarily identical to another persons. Rootschat is great because there are so many very knowledgable people.

Thanks again
Jane

[RJ_Paton]

I used Family Historian in those far-off days. A great program but not available for MacOS sadly.   

Tony

But it works well with Wine or Crossover and various other programs including virtual machines
https://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/wiki/doku.php?id=how_to:family_historian_on_imac_ipad_android_etc