The Linux Genealogy CD is a great way to take Linux for a "test drive" without changing anything on your PC. Once downloaded and stored properly on a CD-ROM disk, the Linux Genealogy CD can be used as a boot disk. You insert the CD into your PC's CD disk drive, boot directly from the CD, and load Linux. You can run Linux as long as you wish but it never writes anything to your hard drive (unless you specifically tell it to). When finished, you boot down, remove the CD, boot again, and the system returns to Windows, exactly the same as before. Nothing has been changed.
The Linux Genealogy CD also has another option. If you wish, you can tell it to reformat the hard drive, destroying Windows in the process, and then install Linux and the programs included on the "live CD." Of course, that is an option and will not happen until you click a couple of times to answer the question, "Are you really sure you want to do this?" You will never accidentally re-format your hard drive.
Many Linux "live CDs" are available these days, but the Linux Genealogy CD is the only "live CD" I know of that includes a genealogy program, namely Gramps. Now, the producer of the Linux Genealogy CD has released a new version.
The new Linux Genealogy CD is based on latest Ubuntu 10.10 version of Linux. It includes Gramps 3.2.5, the latest version of this popular genealogy program for Linux.
I wrote at some length earlier about the previous version of the Linux Genealogy CD. You can read my earlier article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/07/linux-genealogy-live-cd.html. The latest version appears to be nearly the same as the version I wrote about earlier, except that the new version features the latest version of Ubuntu Linux and of Gramps.
The CD image can be downloaded here:
ftp://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/linux/gramps/
http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/linux/gramps/
The Linux Genealogy CD 6.1 is available to everyone free of charge. Gramps is available to everyone free of charge. You will never be asked to pay and there are no "beg screens" suggesting you pay money. The author does accept voluntary contributions, however.
If you prefer to not download the file and "burn" it to a CD, you can purchase the latest version of the Linux Genealogy CD with Gramps at very modest prices to cover postage and labor charges at:
USA ($14.99 US dollars): http://fstore.roitman.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=8
Australia ($10 AUD): http://www.cdfhs.org.au/zenshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=16
This is an excellent method of taking Linux and Gramps for a test drive. For more information, look at the Gramps project Web site at http://gramps-project.org/
NOTE: This information is brand-new. When I wrote this article, the information about the new Linux Genealogy CD 6.1 had not yet been posted to the Web site. However, that information will probably appear within the next day or two at http://gramps-project.org/
