[Rockhounds] Fw: SOFTWARE FOR INDENTIFYING MINERALS

[Tom Corson]

I have the book, have read it, and as I posted on this list a few weeks ago,
it is simply fantastic! The best new work in determinative mineralogy (for
mere mortals) that I have seen in years! It is simply a "must have".

Minsearch 4.00 is very good. It has most of what is being asked for in this
tread in terms of functionality. I also have and use MineralDB
(http://www.mineraldb.com/index.html), also very good, but somewhat pricy.
There is a free demo of it available for download.

FYI, if there really is a consensus that a new software app is needed for
mineral identification, I too would be interested in contributing my
expertise to such a project. I have been writing software for 38 years...

PS: I have no commercial interest in the book whatsoever. I just think it's
really an excellent work.
________________________________

Thomas W. Corson	 	OBG International	 
corson at infodyn.com	2435 E Mayview Drive	 
520-225-0244	 	Green Valley, AZ 85614	
http://www.obgrocks.com	 
World Class Minerals For World Class Collectors	
________________________________

 

> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:44:43 -0800
> From: DonH <donhalterman at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Fw: SOFTWARE FOR INDENTIFYING MINERALS
> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem
> 	collectors"	<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Message-ID: <475F4B1B.3080500 at verizon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
> 
> Kreigh Tomaszewski wrote:
> 
> > Don,
> > 
> > I'm with Horst on this one. I too would like an expert 
> system software 
> > package to help with mineral identification.
> 
> 
> Oh I agree!  I was offering a "reality check" regarding what 
> it takes to ID most minerals.
> 
> And on that note, Minsearch 4.00, the software that comes with Mineral
> Identification: A Practical Guide for the Amateur 
> Mineralogist, recently published by Mineralogical Record, has 
> a lot of the search logic that people here have been talking 
> about (or does no one believe me???)  The book itself has a 
> lot of information on how to ID minerals at home without 
> fancy equipment, though some chemicals are required for reagent tests.
> 
> I'd like to see someone else who has the book and software, 
> and has used them, comment on it.  I think it provides much 
> of what people have been asking about for years.
> 
> And I really don't receive any proceeds from the sale of the 
> book (except a free copy).  But i wouldn't have put my name 
> to the Afterword if I hadn't thought it would be very useful 
> to the collector community.
> 
> 
> best,
> Don
>