Hi there, I’m considering adding Ubuntu to my netbook so I can duel boot. The whole point getting an netbook was so that I could run Scrivener. I was unaware that it was possible to run Scrivener natively in Linux. Aside from the beta bugs, how smoothly does Scrivener run natively? Does anyone here run Scrivener in both Linux and Win 7?
I almost wouldn’t bother as Win 7 runs a lot better than I expected on the netbook, but I see those far away lands that are free of MS and I have to wonder…
First off, welcome!
There are a couple of ways to run Scrivener on Linux–in WINE, or native.
Although Scrivener runs just fine on Ubuntu, for the moment I recommend you run the WIndows version in WINE, simply because the 1.6 beta hasn’t been made into a deb yet, and the 1.5 beta has expired.
You can find instructions for getting Scrivener up and running in WINE at:
literatureandlatte.com/wiki/inde … r_in_Linux
And if you don’t already have it, get the current Scrivener for Windows beta here: literatureandlatte.com/scrivenerforwindows/
I imagine there will be a .deb to make Ubuntu installation easier within a couple of days. I was running the 1.5 beta on Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit, and although I got terminal screens full of errors when opening or creating a project, it worked just fine for me, so I encourage you to give it a go then.
Who needs a .deb to run scrivener linux? Simply extract the .tgz, and run scrivener from terminal (or create a launcher) with the command
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 --library-path /lib:/[path to your scrivener folder]/lib /[path to your scrivener folder]/bin/Scrivener@metonymy - no issues with scrivener linux. also it has the same features as the win version.
No issues here. I mostly use wine and the windows version. I hate Ubuntu with the fiery hate of a thousand suns, though. (I use slackware…have for about 8 years. Before that I used LFS and Debian while I was learning.)
I could certainly use a deb package, I’m fairly new at Ubuntu and not that comfortable with terminal use yet.
Don’t fear the command line! Worst case it just doesn’t work. 
So long as you don’t go throwing around a lot of wildcards while root and using the “rm” command, not much can go horribly wrong. (Not only can you blow your foot off, you can lose a leg, as well. Ask me how I know.)
If you hate typing all that, you can make a shell alias. In your home folder you should have something ending in “rc” that’s a configuration file for your shell. (for instance, I use zsh, and my file is .zshrc. The dot before it is important–that’s a hidden file. You’ve got probably half a dozen hidden files and folders all starting with a “.” in your home directory.
Open up a text editor (like vim, pico, emacs, etc–most distros come with something simple. You don’t want to use a word processor.)
Then type something like this:
alias scriv-linux='/lib/ld-linux.so.2 --library-path /lib:/usr/local/LiteratureAndLatte/lib /usr/local/LiteratureAndLatte/bin/Scrivener'
I untar mine to the /usr/local folder. (A matter of convention. It really will work anywhere. You’ll need sudo or su to do it, though.) If you put yours in your home folder, it would look like /home/yourusername/LiteratureAndLatte
To untar the file: tar -xzf whateveritscalled.tgz
Here’s a nice reference to learning the command line: tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/cli.html
Metonymy, you should do whatever you’re comfortable with. If you’re okay with trying out the command line, go for it. If you want point-and-click, wait for the .deb, and if something in between suits you, fire up WINE.
The reason I made the suggestion I did is that most people considering a switch to Linux want point-and-click, at least at first, and I assumed (perhaps wrongly so) that you’d fall into this category. And yes, you can run many Linux distros forever without ever once touching the command line if that is your wish.
Some people get seduced by the power of the command and use it for nearly everything, performing what appear to mere mortals as feats of technomancy (Power! Mwahahahaaaaaa!), but others simply don’t care about any of that as long as their word processors work. Most of us fall in between those two extremes, and you’ll find your own comfort zone as you go.
Just found http://www.junauza.com/2011/01/create-your-own-ubuntu-packages-with.html, if anybody using Ubuntu is willing to try to build a package from GUI.
Thanks, catalinux!
I’d found another graphical tool, but I a) wanted to use this as an exercise to learn to build a .deb from the CLI, and b) was confused about file structure. When you’re done laughing at me, pity me for having the attention span of a gnat on crack and not even thinking of looking inside the previous .deb to get a better idea. I’ll check out this tool and take another crack at things.
I should be more encouraging to new users about the command line. I’ll work on it. I’m not the most experienced user myself (as you may have noticed), and since the biggest concern of those I’ve helped to switch over was that they wanted to be able to do everything they were used to with a GUI, I tend to point everyone towards the GUI at first, when I should give both options instead.
One of the reasons I loved Linux from the first time was the CLI. I am some sort of a DOS era nostalgic, I still use some good old DOS apps under DOSBox (well, mostly games to be sincere…) and in Linux I prefer to do a lot of tasks only from Terminal. It’s lovely when I have to start in init 3. So quiet and peaceful…
On the other hand, Linux is wonderful because no matter how you prefer to do the things, there is a way for you!
As for scrivener, I haven’t tried to make a .deb because I don’t need it. I untar the archive in a directory from ~/, and that’s all. I start the program with a custom launcher from the panel.