Hi, Ed,

There's a good explanation of the installation process in the Ubuntu forums here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1396375.html

I have both the Complete National Geographic and I also subscribe to monthly issues. When the updated digital archives become available will I receive a discount since I already have a yearly subscription? It only seems right since I could unsubscribe to the monthly issues and pay only for the digital updates.

I have the 2008 CNG. I am running Linux (Ubuntu 10.4) and would like to install there. Is there any hope?

Thanks,

Ed

Hi, Nick! The most recent update allows you to choose/change the default location for images, so you should be in good shape regardless of how you got the files to another location (it's probably helpful to name the image folders "disc1", etc., wherever you locate them). To change the location where the program looks for the images, click the "Preferences" tab at the top of the screen and choose "Install options". From there you can browse to find the correct location. Then click "OK" or "Apply". You may get a message asking if you're sure, warning you that you'll have to copy files, etc. -- just ignore this message and tell the program you're sure. The program may appear to be unresponsive for a few moments, but after that you'll see that your default location's been changed.

Regarding text resolution, there's an "Enhance Text" function, which works at all sizes, but seems to look best when used with the "Enlarge" function. Re: availability of individual settings for each account, this has yet to be included, but your suggestion's been noted.

Hi NatGeo people! I have some questions/suggestions...

1. Why does the "copy to drive" option take _SOOOOoooo LOooooooong_ ? 30+ hours for me in the end! It's not decompressing the images, just coying. I can manually copy the files 10x faster. Would it be possible to allow the user to copy the files off the DVD and then just have natgeo *look* at the (hand-copied) cache folder and fill in the status information and db entries it needs to run?

The copy-local function works /UNTIL/ you have to move the files (e.g. if you're running out of space and buy a new drive, or realise that you've copied it into a folder inaccessible to other users on the PC)... Then, you have to uninstall CNG air app, then reinstall it using the original DVD to 'unlock' the ability to re-point it to the new cache location.

Also, if I have multiple people using the CNG, it would be nice to just have 'shared' settings, since (let's be honest) nobody's going to install 4x copies of the DVDs for themselves, their wife and two kids! They'll have one copy, and share it. Having per-user settings for that seems... odd. Coupled with the above issue, it makes administering CNG for a family a pain.

Lastly, it's clear that to squeeze so much onto 6 DVDs, you've had to /HEAVILY/ JPEG the images. In a future version, might it be possible to enable an intelligent gaussian smoothing filter? Reading some of the jaggy text can be eye-watering, and a smoothing operation might help.

Thanks for a great product. I look forward to the next update which (hopefully) will speed up the cache-copy, and fix a few of the above issues.

Nick

The update that activated the copy to hard drive functionality was released at the end of January 2010. If you go to "Preferences" and make sure that your software is updated, you should then be able to select "Installation Options" to begin the process.

Where is a fix and a link to it to copy the discs to a HD? I am tired of this. When I bought the software it said nothing about being incomplete! And no I refuse to download the complete version when all is needed is a fix to complete this software that should never have been put on the shelves as complete!

manualy setting to use hdd location anywhere on xp (use shorcuts):

C:\Documents and Settings\krisk\Application Data\com.nationalgeographic.products.cng120.68B1CC4249876152EBE333BD4B7514ADB4D94062.1\Local Store\cache

shortcut disk1 , disk2 etc to real disk locations:
disk1: D:\NG\disc1

disk2: D:\NG\disk2

etc...

enjoy

Karl:

Check out something called "Alcohol 52%". Their website is www.alcohol-soft.com.

This software will make an ISO image of the CNG DVD's, and then mount that image as a "virtual" DVD Drive. Each DVD's will have its own drive letter. The CNG software finds the "virtual" DVD's with no problem.

Alcohol 52% is free but has a limit of mounting 6 DVD's. Hey, guess what? The CNG set is only 6 DVD's. It works great.

Michael

I enjoy the CNG but the interface needs work. The print on the Welcome Page is too small to be read easily. This is especially true of the "wheels" that are used to narrow searches by date.

It is now January 10, 2010. Is there finally a fix available for copying the DVD's to a network drive? I do not want to copy 50 gb to a cache folder.

I have the 1999 version of 100yr
version of Nat Geo on CD.
Why haven't you made updates to the software for this version so it can run under newer Microsoft OS.

Please Advise
Thank You
Hg