[PLUG] Checkbook Applications

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Wed May 24 02:42:26 UTC 2006


On Tue, 23 May 2006 18:59:51 -0700 (PDT)
Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> dijo:

>    GnuCash has serious problems on current Slackware distributions
> (unfortunately), so I switched to kmymoney2. This application is unstable
> (the date keeps changing to future years; cannot type a date but must use the
> spin control individually on year, month, day; transaction type reverts to
> the last one used regardless of what's entered; checks to pay credit card
> bills are forced to be transfers rather than checks; and it's got the ugliest
> UI I've encountered in any software installed here) and I'm looking for a
> replacement.
> 
>    Chris Browne's ol' CBB (CheckBook Balancer) is still available, but seems
> to have had no activity since 2000 or 2001. Is anyone using it?
> 
>    I don't want any online banking or other stuff, just plain ol' double-entry
> bookkeeping for checking, savings, and liabilities such as mortgages. Anyone
> using something they like and will recommend?

I just went through this, although I was looking for just a personal
check register program -- no double entry needed or desired, although I
did want the ability to assign checks and deposits to expense and
income accounts and make year-end reports for the tax dude.

Like you, I started with GnuCash. Lots of problems installing in 64-bit
Ubuntu, but after upgrading to Breezy last fall and making a few tweaks
I got it installed and running. ("Missing libraries" error messages
even though the libraries were installed.) After finally getting it
installed I discovered I couldn't figure out how to use it. I futzed
with it off and on for days, but the logic of it escaped me. I do have
Accounting I and II, plus Managerial Accounting (a long time ago), but
I just couldn't grasp how to do things. Every time I tried to make an
entry I got error messages. And the documentation sucked -- "Press
Account to instantiate the account." Instantiate? Oh well. Pressing
Account didn't do anything anyway.

So then I tried Grisbi, but it was way pathetic. I thought my needs
were simple, but Grisbi was not capable enough.

Finally I found KMyMoney and I have been using it ever since. I haven't
noticed any of the problems you report. However, I have entered so far
only a couple dozen transactions, so maybe some sunny day it will up
and eat all my money. It seems to be very Quicken-like. Regarding
entering the date -- if I need to enter a date other than today's date
(it pops up with today's date by default), then I always use the
calendar thing on the right. It would be nice if it had Quicken's
ability to increment/decrement the date by typing + and -, because most
of the time you just need to change a couple of days, like when you are
posting a day or two late. But having to use the mouse is a minor
annoyance to me. I have not experienced it suddenly changing the year
on me. 

I do agree on the appearance. Looks like the artwork was done by circus
clowns. But that's KDE. I wish it were a Gnome app instead.

I also wish it could print a check. So far that has not been a major
problem, and I'm hoping that one day I will never need to write a paper
check anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter. It does seem to be able to
handle loans, credit cards and investment assets.

Having looked and looked I don't think there is anything out there
better than KMyMoney. Let me know if you find anything.



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