An Open Source Substitute for Scrivener

Latte Other Software & Development
1

I hope that L&L doesn’t mind me posting this. I’m not affiliated with the author, and this software does not run on any of the platforms that Scrivener does.

But it does run on Linux, and it is an effective substitute for Scrivener that is native to Linux and open source.

It is called Manuskript. I have already written a non-fiction book using it, and am in the middle of a novel. It is not as complete as Scrivener, but it is a very nice piece of software, and I encourage those authors looking for a Scrivener substitute on Linux to give it a try.

theologeek.ch/manuskript/

Remember, as with any open source project, the more people that use it and support it, the better it will get. And it’s already pretty good.

2

There seem to be downloads for Windows and Mac. Even for the Linux versions there are lots of warnings that Manuskript is in flux and to back up often, so it’s not exactly threatening Scrivener yet.

3

Hi,

Manuskript is cool, and there is another one called Plume Creator that I found on Debian repository.
Both seems pretty good. Anyway I am still using Scrivener along with the other two.

4

I’m a bit confused. Why do you post this if not to promote the software?

5

What confuses you?

Plume Creator is open source, could substitute Scrivener and I considered it a good find to share.

I’m testing and it seems to be a good program; But I did not consider it in the point that would substitute Scrivener.

So I guess your confusion confounded me. :open_mouth:

6

My question was aimed at the initial post. Why post about a competing software if not to promote it?

7

Especially in this forum instead of the forum where such discussion is appropriate and on-topic?

viewforum.php?f=14

8

Oh! That I don’t know!! :confused:
But it could just be moved to other forum if it is misplaced.

9

No problem, I’ve moved it for you!

And for the record I don’t really have a problem with people posting “what else, then?” threads in a board for an unofficial version of Scrivener that was discontinued years ago. Generally speaking it’s a good idea to keep such discussions in the general software area for boards on supported platforms, though. :slight_smile:

My pick by the way would be Leo Editor. It’s designed more for programmers, but it can be used for any kind of text production. In a nutshell it is like Scrivener in that it is an outliner with an export function designed to turn the outline into a file (or even many files). And as well as with Scrivener, that barely even scratches the surface of what all it does.

10

I had a heck of a time getting Leo Editor to even run, some years back, so I dropped it. I wanted an outliner – needed one.

Tried Plume, but it crashed and I lost a bunch of text (backed up with HTML output, so it was recoverable with work), and that was the end of that.

Scrivener 1.9.x runs just fine under Wine on Linux. Scrivener 3 Beta for Win also runs under Wine on Linux (although it has issues, I think they’re Wine-related, not Scriv-related). I recently spent 3 weeks out in the boonies with my laptop (that only runs Linux), and Beta 10 ran fine on it.