KelvarMarrow said:Right now I recordkeep everything in Excel. Do any of the Open Source apps listed have a rough budgeting only type interface that precludes the need for exact account balances (for example, when I buy a loaf of bread at Kroger, I don't want to have to enter that transaction or connect to my FI or even download a Quicken or Money file to keep exact balance in my software)...I'm not sure I entirely understand your needs. Most financial users account at least to the penny. That being said, you get to choose how you use their software. You can just put in rounded amounts when you enter transactions. There are a wealth of budgeting applications which are more minimalistic. Search sourceforge and freshmeat.

Thanks noksagt. Those were the instructions I was following (well, those and these). Apt-get attempts to install gnucash, but at the end of the process it asks me to put the Ubuntu 5.10 disc into /cdrom/. I'm running the Ubuntu virtual machine on VMWare, so I don't have a CD. My guess is that someone in the VMWare forums will have run into this problem (though I searched on the keywords from the error, and on cdrom as well, and found nothing) or, perhaps, someone in the Ubuntu forums will have encountered this or know a workaround. But I'm betting it's more a VMWare issue than an Ubuntu issue.

GnuCash has released a beta version of their software which is GTK+-2. The present version may be of little value except for ambitious beta testers who want to help support the project (by filing bug reports so that they're discovered and fixed ASAP), but the progress of interest to those who found it ugly/difficult to install/want it ported to another platform.

Few Linux, FOSS alternatives at tax time

Thanks Josh.

Given how close we are to Ubuntu's Dapper release, I figure I'll hold off until its VMWare package comes out. It looks as though further simplifying application installation is being made a priority. But if I run into the same problem, I'll know where to look and what to do.

Again, I really appreciate the post... and the entire thread for that matter.

bump. Also: GnuCash released a gtk+-2.0 version, and people are again working on a windows version.

bloodmire said:Another cool application for stock trading is Wealth Lab. Allows u to create yr own filters, stats analysis etcThis isn't open source. Please keep this thread on topic.

windows version is almost ready for the prime time.

see here.

and the latest gnucash supports direct transaction download, inside gnucash.

Special Report: Managing your money with Linux on linux.com kicks off with Review:GnuCash 2.0

Glad I found this. I've been sifting through FOSS finance stuff and this was helpful.