TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2000-05 > 0957193116


From: David Ward <>
Subject: [TMG-L:] TMG-L: TMG Beginners luck
Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 16:58:36 +0200


The following was part copied from TMG-L-digest V3 #1134

From: Richard Brogger <>
Subject: Re: TMG-L:Beginner's problems

Jean Todd wrote:
>
> Perhaps we beginners need a book on " Step by step what to do when you have
> downloaded from your previous FTM or Paf or whatever" so as not to wreak
> things for later.
>
> Jean
> "Lang may your lum reek"
> E-mail
>

>>Hello Jean,

>>I fully agree. The first file I converted from FTM to TMG was my main
>>file. After three days of trying to fix it, I gave up and deleted it.

>>A step by step procedure should probably begin with what to do in ____
>>(FTM or Paf or whatever) before importing that program's file to
TMG............. etc., etc.

As yet, I still haven't ordered my copy of TMG. I want to but I have the
misfortune to be a prospective migrant(FTM). In the TMG blurb, I read that
the switch over from FTM to TMG should present NO problems. In the short
time that I have been following, amongst others, this particular saga, I
can only draw the conclusion that a conversion appears to be nigh on
impossible.
Now this disappoints me greatly,as I have seen how TMG works but this was
someone who was a complete beginner to genealogy and not tainted by
preconceived ideas of "FTM did it so, so should TMG".
I sincerely hope those at TMG development read Richard Broggers e-mail but
would like to add to his suggestions that the much rumoured v5 comes
complete with a CONVERSION WIZARD.

But just to put things in perspective, I still use FTM 4 DOS as well as FTM
v5, the latter being used since it came out. Not 4 weeks ago I took the
plunge and went for the FTM upgrade to 7.5. I will not bore you with the
outcome except to say that 7.5 made a dog's breakfast - no protests from
dog lovers, please - of my data files and I had to re-convert my FTM4 data
files to get v5 working again. There is no backward compatibility from FTM
7.5 to 5 - similar to the MS Word problem a short while ago. No I will not
throw the DOS version out - it at least is very quick, stable and produces
good charts and reports and yes I will keep on using v5 as too many of my
family use it to be thrown but its capabilities are limited.

Yes, I want TMG but I think it would take a great leap of faith to go now -
I think I'll wait for the true 32-bit windows version with all the goodies
as suggested by this forum's subscibers.
But again, surely there are other ex FTM users who must have been able to
convert without problems? Lets hear from them as well.

Dave
Utrecht, Holland.

PS. A4 paper size is used by many more countries and millions more people
than Americans but trying to get them to convert would be the same as
asking the UK to convert to the new European Monopoly money otherwise
called with great originality, the Euro. I would go so far as to say
Monopoly money is perhaps worth more.







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