Linux Web-based Accounting Software that Works!

So I spent hours today chasing my tail trying to install an accounting program on my home server. I recently switched it from Slackware to Gentoo, and hadn’t reinstalled my accounting software (I was using LedgerSMB). Note that I do not like accounting. I know just enough to be dangerous, and rely on my accounting book for almost everything.

My Requirements

1. It works on Linux.
2. It is web based so I can use it from my home and office PC’s.
3. It makes invoices.
4. It has clear, easy to use navigation so I don’t get lost.
5. It is (preferably) still developed.

The good news is there are more options than a couple years ago, but the bad news is that most of them failed on 4 or 5. I looked at several, including my recently used LedgerSMB, NolaPro, and many others from freshmeat.net (including BlueErp, Front Accounting, XIWA, SQL-Ledger and webERP). Many had confusing navigation and too much clicking to do the simplest tasks.

The First Try: LedgerSMB

I tried installing the current version of LedgerSMB. Multiple times. I upgraded and downgraded Postgresql, tweaked perl, modified the source code and got nothing but errors, mostly having to do with perl’s @INC path.

Second Attempt: NolaPro

So I gave up, and looked at alternate programs. I stumbled across NolaPro. Wow! The interface looks so much better than before. Even the demo is fast and responsive. So I tried installing it. After conquering the problem of ZendOptimizer being installed but not working, I was logged in. Unfortunately, the company setup screen is the only page I ever saw, since it errored everytime I tried to create a company. Searching failed to return any results, and it’s closed source so I can’t change it.

The Third Time’s a Charm: LedgerSMB

So I have now wasted about five hours, and OpenOffice is looking like a good way to create invoices. I decide to try one more thing, a previous version of LedgerSMB (which is a great program, based on SQL-Ledger, that fills all my needs). It worked. I am SO happy. I was unable to restore my previous data, but I can fill it in later. (Note to self: SQL and subversion prefer their own dump utilities over tar). So tomorrow I will be printing some invoices.

So that was my day. Hope everyone else had a better day.

Something about firing 200 rounds of .22 ammo

… is really relaxing. Maybe its the smell of gunpowder.

We went out shooting early this afternoon and had a blast. Kevin and I shot over 200 rounds of .22 ammo, the boys did some well-supervised practicing with their BB gun. Sir Jon’s best “group” was hitting 3 of 5 shots, he did a few 2/5 shot “groups” as well, so he is learning to aim. I’m trying to decide if David is a lefty – he sure holds the gun oddly. Andrew slept through the whole thing.

The boys and I attempted to make a snowman, except the snow wouldn’t pack. There was still a LOT of snow, but the road was well plowed (to Four Corners anyway). The older boys and I took Tana on a short walk while Kevin packed up the truck. I remembered to bring the camera, and then I forgot to take pictures. Someday I’ll figure it out.

At any rate, our first outing of 2008 was a success.

Goodbye Max, We Miss You

Yesterday (February 19, 2008) my mother’s dog, Max, died. He had been doing poorly, refusing to eat (even though I tried many foods to entice him). He had also lost a lot of weight over the past six months (in his prime he weighed 100-110 pounds, last month he weighed 79 pounds).

In the beginning …

My mother LOVED German Shepherds, she had one when my brother and I were little. In the late 1990s my brother and I talked her into getting another one. We found Max in the local paper, a 2 year old intact male GSD who needed a new home. That was 1997 or 1998. He was still very lean when we found him (fairly normal for a young GSD), but filled out over the next year.

Faster than a speeding bullet.

Watching Max run was like watching poetry. I tell people my little Brittany (Tana) running is like watching a long-legged rabbit – she is SO fast. Max was fast too, faster than her on a straight run, but he was like a locomotive – 100+ pounds of MUSCLE. If you’ve seen the K-9 Cop movies with James Belushi, the dog, Jerry Lee, does several chase downs and a flying tackle. I think of Max when I see those scenes.

The fairy tale ends.

Unfortunately, Mom’s cancer came back in the summer of 2001 with a vengeance, she died in December 2001. Max stayed with Dad until last Christmas. Dad had tried letting him out of his pen into the yard, and Max’s condition improved so much that he started getting into dog fights. So back to the pen he had to go, and his condition got worse. So when we came down at Christmas, Dad asked if Max could stay with us, since we have a large fenced yard.

Good bye old friend.

Max’s health improved for about a month, he was even playing with my other GSD, Ruger. But early this month he quit eating. I was able to get him to eat special things: pizza, chicken, dogfood soup. Never more than twice in a row. Dad and I didn’t want to take him to a vet. Firstly, he didn’t like vets. Secondly, they would a) do tests; b) they would knock him out – risky on older animals; or c) they would give him drugs. I don’t want to make him suffer the side-effects when it would only cause him to linger, not restore him to health. I don’t think he had the strength for anything they could have done. He didn’t seem to be in pain, he just wasn’t hungry. His “spot” in the yard was in the kids’ playhouse, which had a bed of straw for him.

We are planning to take him back to my Dad’s for burial as we live on a rented lot.

So Max, I love you. Give Mom a kiss for me, enjoy playing and running with the health and energy you had together when you first met.

Spring is Coming!

We have had several nice days in the last week, I can’t wait for spring. The dogs (Ruger and Tana) and I have been going for walks, I plan to start running some next week.

David and Andrew are still under the weather with colds; Jonathan, Kevin and I are still coughing but feeling better. I really hope we can get outside and play soon.

I finally found something Max would eat yesterday: ground chicken, fed by hand. I hope he will eat it today as well. If he keeps eating it I will try to move him to a ground raw food diet.

David turned four last Monday, no party as we were all hacking and gagging, but we did have candles, presents and cake.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!