1. Family-Historian
  2. Topics

Would like to hear about transition experiences from RM9 to FH7

Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

I am currently running RM9 on a Mac M1 Mini and employ custom templates.
My recent experiences have proven that RM9 is poorly tested, not really a "native" Mac program and there is actually no real support.
I understand from the Crossover folks that FH7 runs very well on a Mac using Crossover.

I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer;
  • Has anyone made a similar transition to FH7 and would care to tell me about how it worked for them?
  • Should I expect to "lose" anything in the transition?
  • Can I do anything to smooth the transition and minimize any impact?
  • Is it easy to do a short test of Crossover + FH7 prior to buying? (The two packages are somewhat expensive, but I'd buy them if they work better than RM9.)
Gary
Nicola Byrnes
 

I used FH7 on Crossover but found the program froze quite regularly, although that may now have been fixed by updates to Crossover - I ‘crossed over’ to Parallels and have had no issues at all there. Crossover has a free period initially so you can try it out.

Nicola


On 21 Mar 2023, at 15:45, Gary <gary.gauthier@...> wrote:

I am currently running RM9 on a Mac M1 Mini and employ custom templates.
My recent experiences have proven that RM9 is poorly tested, not really a "native" Mac program and there is actually no real support.
I understand from the Crossover folks that FH7 runs very well on a Mac using Crossover.

I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer;
  • Has anyone made a similar transition to FH7 and would care to tell me about how it worked for them?
  • Should I expect to "lose" anything in the transition?
  • Can I do anything to smooth the transition and minimize any impact?
  • Is it easy to do a short test of Crossover + FH7 prior to buying? (The two packages are somewhat expensive, but I'd buy them if they work better than RM9.)
Gary

Mike Tate
 

Gary,

May I suggest that you join the free FHUG at https://www.fhug.org.uk/

There are many users there who have migrated from RootsMagic 7, 8 & 9 to FH.

Also, several users run FH on Mac using WINE, Crossover, and PlayOnMac.

There is a free 30-day trial available for FH.

See these FHUG Knowledge Base articles that may answer some of your questions:

https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/importing-to-family-historian/ with a section dedicated to RootsMagic including Source Templates.

https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/family-historian-on-mac-or-linux/ with advice on each emulator most of which are free.
Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

Mike;

Thank you. I'll check out the articles.
Subscriptions to things like Parallels are something I avoid, as the yearly charges can be expensive.
Buying Crossover is expensive, but I'd use it if it works.
If WINE or PlayOnMac works, that would be really nice, as FH7 is a fairly expensive package on its own.

Gary
Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

Nicola;

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
What version of Crossover were you using or when did you try it? I will take a look at their trial version to see how it behaves.
The recurring cost of Parallels is something I'd like to avoid. I used to have it, but dropped it when they went to a subscription model.

Gary
Mike Tate
 

As an alternative virtual machine consider VirtualBox which is free.

However, you must also pay for a Windows 10 or 11 licence whichever virtual machine you use.

That is why emulators such as Crossover and PlayOnMac are popular as no Windows licence is needed but some features may not work smoothly.

 
Nicola Byrnes
 

Gary

I used it from January 2020 for a couple of years - the last version I had was 21-1-0.

I’m sure they’ll have fixed the freezing issue by now - the main reason I went over to Parallels was because I had a few programs that ran only on Windows (such as Custodian)but didn’t play nicely with Crossover.

I must admit that I’ve had no problems running RM9 on my iMac under Ventura.

Nicola

On 21 Mar 2023, at 16:26, Gary <gary.gauthier@...> wrote:

Nicola;

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
What version of Crossover were you using or when did you try it? I will take a look at their trial version to see how it behaves.
The recurring cost of Parallels is something I'd like to avoid. I used to have it, but dropped it when they went to a subscription model.

Gary

Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

Mike,

I tried installing FH7 under Crossover, using the current versions of each.
The FH7 installation had a failure in trying to install Novalink7.exe, though I'm not sure what that is or how to fix it.
Also Webview2 fails to install. I think it is an Edge browser that is now outdated. Wonder if there's something I can do.
Other than that, It seems to function normally and the plugins even work. Mind you; report scrolling is slow.
I also didn't have to play with my antivirus software, BitDefender. It had no fans positives.
Mike Tate
 

Gary,

Please check the FHUG Knowledge Base as I advised, especially for Crossover if that is your preferred emulator.

https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/running-family-historian-on-crossover/

But also consider https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/running-family-historian-on-playonlinux-mac/

 

Novalink7.exe is the FH PDF Printer which is unsupported. Use the free PDFWriter for Mac instead.

 

Yes, Webview2 is the embedded Edge browser for the FH Web Search window and is Windows 10/11 compatible.

What version of Windows are you setting for the Crossover bottle?

 

As I said before, you will be better able to discuss with more experienced FH on Mac users in the FHUG forums

 

 
Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

Thanks, Mike.
Now that I know what Novalink7 actually does, I'll check into whether the issues can be circumvented.

Regards;
Gary
 
Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

Mike;

I tried the installation instructions for FH7/Crossover.
They are so outdated that the end-result was that I had to blow away the FH7 installation and re-install.
That cause my trial license to no longer work.
Guess that puts paid to my trying out FH7.
Bit of a shame. I was really hoping it was a viable alternative to RootsMagic 8.

Gary
Vyger
 

Gary,

 

Try emailing support

 

Jackson

 

 

From: family-historian@groups.io [mailto:family-historian@groups.io] On Behalf Of Gary
Sent: 21 March 2023 23:11
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: Re: [family-historian] Would like to hear about transition experiences from RM9 to FH7

 

Mike;

I tried the installation instructions for FH7/Crossover.
They are so outdated that the end-result was that I had to blow away the FH7 installation and re-install.
That cause my trial license to no longer work.
Guess that puts paid to my trying out FH7.
Bit of a shame. I was really hoping it was a viable alternative to RootsMagic 8.

Gary

Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

That's the first thing I did, but I don't expect much help.
The product is designed for Windows and not for running on Crossover.
That raises an interesting point that I'll have to consider, if I were to buy the program.
There would be little if any real tech "support".
Mike Tate
 

The FH vendor Calico Pie have said they are committed to supporting Crossover/WINE based installations.

But they are resource limited and the number of Mac users is quite small.

I am sure they will sort out your licence issue quite quickly.

 

From: family-historian@groups.io <family-historian@groups.io> On Behalf Of Gary
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2023 1:07 AM
To: family-historian@groups.io
Subject: Re: [family-historian] Would like to hear about transition experiences from RM9 to FH7

 

That's the first thing I did, but I don't expect much help.
The product is designed for Windows and not for running on Crossover.
That raises an interesting point that I'll have to consider, if I were to buy the program.
There would be little if any real tech "support".

colevalleygirl@colevalleygirl.co.uk
 

Can you be more specific about which elements of Running Family Historian on Crossover – Family Historian User Group – Knowledge Base (fhug.org.uk) are out of date? Also which versions of software you were using. We can't update the KB until we know what the problems ypu encountered were.
Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

https://fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/running-family-historian-on-crossover/

The advice below applies to the current version of Crossover the Windows emulator from CodeWeavers and is a a variant of Wine from WineHQ.

  • CrossOver Mac Version 19.0.1
  • CrossOver Linux Version 19.0.1

The currently posted Mac version of versions Crossover is: Version 22.1 (22.1.0.35672)

The currently available programs to be installed are, now:
Family Historian:    Version 7.0.19.0
AncestralSources:  Version 7.7.2 (64bit)

Notes:
  1. I was not able to locate a compatible version of Windows script 5.7
  2. FH7 tries to install Novalink7.exe, which is the PDF printer program and still not supported.
  3. FH7 tries to install the WebView2 package still doesn't install (I "think" this is the Edge browser. It would be nice if FH7 would allow an alternate to be used).
  4. Crossover currently provides a predefined installation for FH7 that causes the loading of the FH7 dependencies. I believe one may have to tweak the definition to set it as Windows 10, since lower versions may not support some of the noted components.
  5. In case it should matter; I am running a Mac mini M1 under o/s Ventura Version 13.2.1 (22D68)

In short; the current Crossover installation instructions need someone to do a review to bring them up to date.
I believe some of the previous limitations are now effectively gone and it may be slightly more simple to install than presented.
I am not all that familiar with the Crossover/FH7 setup and the preceding are just notes on what I found.
colevalleygirl@colevalleygirl.co.uk
 

Thanks, Gary. I'll ask the author to have a look.

Re NovaPDF (from the FH7 updates page):

  • It is now possible to prevent the Family Historian installation program from installing PDF support. To do this, download the file fhinstallconfig.ini and place it in the same folder as the installation program. When this file is present, the installation program will prompt you to ask if you want to install PDF support.
Gary <gary.gauthier@...>
 

I'd appreciate that.
I bumbled through the installation and eventually got it to install, but thought it best to blow it away and try to install it cleanly.
Calico Pie were kind enough to reset my trial license, so I can now do it again; avoiding some issues (I hope).
Your note about the "ini" file was most welcome. I will also tell it not to install the WebView2. 

In the course of the tests I was able to run, FH7 did actually run quite well (including reports and printing), as did Ancestral Sources.
I noticed that report scroll was noticeably slow, but everything else seemed to respond in a timely manner.
I believe Mac users can generate PDFs by just printing to PDF and letting the Mac drivers take care of it.
The FH7 people tell me that any other browser can be installed and should work fine.
I wonder if it has to be a Windows one and whether Crossover will call up a Mac one.

Regards;
Gary
Colin Spencer
 

I wrote the majority of the instructions for running FH on a Mac some while ago.

Unfortunately I don't have an M1 Mac and am not likely to buy one in the foreseeable future, also none of my Mac's run Ventura. I seem to remember an issue with Crossover and M1 Mac's not sure if it has been resolved.

I have not done a clean install of Crossover onto Monterey just updated from earlier versions of Crossover and so don't know the issues you are having. I must say though that FH v7.x still runs fine on my Macbook Air under Monterey under Crossover v22.x

Calico Pie stated some time ago that they were looking at developing a Mac version but have not heard anything lately about this.

Sorry I can't help any more than this.
--

Colin Spencer
Colin Spencer
 

I do not use the internal browser but use the Mac version of Firefox and FH under Crossover accesses that fine.
--

Colin Spencer

1 - 20 of 56