Netbooks

I got my hands on an ASUS Eee PC last year in the first week they were available in Australia. I took it on a trip to Canada and loved it. It was lightweight and fitted in my handbag, I was able to use it to connect to wireless networks in hotels and airports and keep in contact with family and the world by email and Skype. I won't be carrying a brick of a laptop on travels any more.

I upgraded a few months ago to an Eee PC 900 that runs Windows. This netbook has also had a trip to the US and Canada.

But what of genealogy? A month ago I installed my genealogy software, The Master Genealogist, onto the Eee PC and it is working a treat. I am about to set off on a trip to the country and will be able to take my database with me on the Netbook. As protection I have emailed the latest backup of my project to myself at Gmail so that, if I have a problem on the road, I can retrieve my data.

Previously, when travelling, I had The Pocket Genealogist software on my PDA but I found the tiny screen size meant lots of scrolling. Now I need only one program and one device and I don't have to bother about synching data.

Since the EeePC was developed many other netbooks have come on the market; ACER, HP and Dell now all have similar machines. These inexpensive computers are perfect for genealogists on the move.