Genealogy on the Go

For the Palm OS

Last year, I joined the Greater Houston Jewish Genealogy Society with the intent of finding my family roots. In the process of doing research, I realized that I couldn’t do it all sitting at my PC in the comfort of my home. I ended up trying to take everything with me when I was out researching at the Clayton library, but there was too much to lug and inevitably, I omitted or forgot something. Frustration is trying to remember what one has and doesn’t have on their PC.

Since I already have my life on my Sony Clie, the thought occurred “why don’t I put my family’s lives on the PDA?”

But, as a novice to genealogy, I was having enough problems trying to use the software that I had on my PC; what would I do about software on my PDA? That’s when the decision was made to investigate what software was available for the Palm OS, and how to use it. If I was going that far, then why not share my findings with HAL-PC. So, for better or worse, here are my findings.

There is a comparative chart at the conclusion of this article.

The applications are listed in alphabetical order.

GedStar v4.3: www.ghcssoftware.com

This was one of my favorite programs. It, like most of the programs in this evaluation, will download genealogical data from a GEDCOMfile (GEDCOM GEnealogical Data COMmunication. A common file format used to exchange computerized genealogical data between different genealogy). But what is most important is that the user can enter research from the field and export the data to the Memo Pad function on the PDA. From there it can be Hot Synced to Palm Desk Top or Outlook and then the data can be added to your PC’s genealogy program.

Other features include a Soundex utility (The Soundex code is an indexing system which translates names into a 4 character code consisting of 1 letter and 3 numbers. It is especially helpful in coping with spelling variations of names.), the ability to do multiple search approaches, to auto-update from the PC program to GedStar during HotSync, to “Bookmark” up to 8 people for fast access to an individual and an “On This Day” screen showing any events in the lives of anybody listed in the database, and last but not least, storage card support. Entries can be color coded on three elements, (1) With descendants, (2) spouse, but no issue and (3) no spouse or issue. There is a massive color base to select from.

Some sample screens are at www.ghcssoftware.com/ screens.htm

GedWise: www.batteryparksoftware.com

This program imports from a GEDCOM file and exports back to your PC through Memo. In addition to getting Soundex codes for names, there were several cool features including ancestry charting, descendancy charting and two interesting calculators, one for relationships (John Smith is the granduncle of James Smith) which I thought was fantastic. The other is a date calculator that I didn’t get turned on by, although I understand that it was requested by previous users of the program as a handy tool for use in age determination. The screens have help links to assist with data entries and definitions.

Some samples of the screens of GedWise are at www.batteryparksoftware.com

Genealogy: members.aol.com/TJLivett

This is a “bare bones” program. This was the least expensive of all six programs evaluated. I spent more time trying to figure out how this works than any other program. I was never able to find anything resembling a help file and e-mails to Trevor Livett went unanswered. I gave up in frustration. I was finally able to establish contact with Mr. Livett and he did provide a Help file. He has promised to have the Help data on his website, “hopefully, before Christmas,” I was able to enter data, but unfortunately, the program is not intuitive.

Genealogy’s screen is at members.aol.com/ TJLivett

HandyTree: www.geocities.com/arkansoft

This program requires SmartList to Go (formerly thinkDB) as the underlying database. Once SmartList is purchased from www.dataviz.com, it can be used for other applications. This was the only program that needs a separate database. I don’t think that this is a plus feature unless, you need a separate database program for other applications. While HandyTree by itself is more than economically priced, adding in SmartList makes it the most expensive program that I tested.

Some of HandyTree’s features include import and export capability, auto-update and a sketch feature. This allows you to make sketches of headstones in cemeteries (a great genealogy resource) and maps for future reference.

The GUI is intuitive and easy to navigate, especially with a tabbed display but, I felt that it lacks a genealogy-type display in the list screen that is found in other programs.

Some samples of HandyTree’s screens are at www.geocities.com/arkansoft/ page11.html

My Roots www.tapperware.com

Though not comparatively inexpensive, this was my favorite program. This comes as close to my ideal as I could possibly hope for. It is great for field work in that you can upload to your GEDCOM file through a free utility, My Roots Conversion Utility. My Roots is the only program of the six that has this feature, but this can only be done from main memory.

Other features include ancestor and descendant trees, Soundex reference and three filters for viewing subsets of data. If you have a color-supported PDA, the program notes colors women in red and men in blue. One other program in the evaluation categorizes by color, but the colors, as noted in a previous evaluation, are not by sex.

There are 38 built-in event types in 5 categories which covers virtually every event short of a nuclear disaster.

There is a tutorial on the website that walks you through each feature of the program, step-by-step. Even I could work my way through with a minimal of difficulty.

Some samples of My Roots’ screens are at www.tapperware.com/MyRoots/index.html

MySearch keifferusa.com

This is one of a suite of five genealogy programs from keifferusa.com. By itself, MySearch is an adequate program – intuitive and easy to navigate through, utilizing database types of tabs to access different screens. It became very easy to switch from one screen to another. By itself, MySearch was priced very reasonably.

The problem is that there are other programs that are relational but stand alone and are priced independently. It becomes a very expensive proposition to have all of the programs, some of which are very good. The programs are:

1. GenRes: $5.00: Allows you to keep track of resource information. Color enabled.
2. Gen2Do: $5.00: Keeps a list of things to do and to enter the results. Monochrome
3. Crspndnc: $5.00: Keeps a record of your correspondence. Color or monochrome versions, either version is the same price.
4. Cemetery: $10.00: Keeps a record of data found in a cemetery. Color enabled.

As an amateur, I could live without all of these except Gen2Do, which helped me organize my plan of things to accomplish on my library trips. Unfortunately, this and the other programs, while sharing the same GUI, are not integrated into one program. Integrating the programs, at a reasonable price, would have been a strong program.

Screens for each program can be found at keifferusa.com

THE SEARCH FOR NIRVANA

If I were going to design the perfect (for me) genealogy program, this is what I would do:

1. Start with My Roots
2. Add the “Relationship and Date Calculator” from GedWise
3. Add “On This Date” from GedStar
4. Add the “Sketch” feature from Handy Tree
5. Add the “Gen2Do” program from keifferusa.com
6. Keep it under $20.00

I can fantasize, can’t I?

The following is a table of features and my overall grading of each program.

Eli Bensky is a member of HAL-PC and a first-time contributor. He is retired and can be reached at ehb2@earthlink.net

E-mail me at mfoster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.

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Last modified: 2003:01:23