Scrivener - Windows & Linux Versions

[WAS8097]

This is a combined reply to The Swede and Jaysen.

I did (after a bit of confusion) easily install Scrivener for Linux 1.9.0.1 Beta and it appears to run w/out problem. I also used it to open the essay (about 65% to 80% composed under Scrivener for Windows 1.9.16). (I created a folder in Documents for Scrivener and then subfolders for each of Linux and Windows compositions (the latter for the current essay version if I can get Crosstalk to cooperate)).

My worry about using the Linux version to complete it is that it is a _very long_ essay w/ multiple footnotes - which upon completion I will self-publish - and wanted to avoid a situation where after completion i discovered a portion composed in Windows was missing - and then having to start afresh in Windows on the additions. I do acknowledge that the version opened in Linux does appear from the one section I have looked at to have the text, formatting, and footnotes composed in Windows. A previous poster, in a thread in this forum, or the Linux Mint, forum, cautioned against relying on consistency of the text in the Linux version for a file composed in the Windows version, causing my hesitancy for reliance on the former for this project. (I do plan to used the Linux version for all future compositions.)

I am an absolute newbie in Linux, having for the last quarter century worked primarily in OS/2 and its various later distributions. And now having passed the 3/4 Century mark I likely have little time remaining to learn too much new in command line work and scripting. My platform is Linux Mint Debian 3, and the PlayOnLinux and WineTricks versions which are available through the Software Manager are definitely out of date; I'm sure this is the primary cause of my problems. It perhaps is also handicapped by my removal of Wine, PlayOnLinux and Winetricks - only done though after my problems w/ it and doubt of its utility here - in order to make room in Root; I tend to doubt it though since Crosstalk was supposed to install the required dependencies (including Net) and seemed to do so.

I suppose that I will try in the next few days to see if I can retrieve from WineHQ the Net 4.5 and 4.6 updates - the Crosstalk log file showing that the 2.0 and 4.0 Framework was installed - and see if I can somehow install them under Debian and associate them w/ Crosstalk.

[WAS8097]

Just an addendum to my preceding post.

I apparently hadn't been infused w/ enough morning coffee when I composed it ... The reference to "Crosstalk" should of course be read to mean "Crossover". As I just opened it to see if it could remedy the Net conundrum, I realized my error.

[garpu]

That said, outside of core, never trust a distro version of ANYTHING in linux to be the latest. The more it is in the contrib section the less likely you are to get a recent version. If you are familiar with linux you will know that any linux code run on any linux distribution. This isn't MS vs Apple here where the kernels are incompatible. The difference in distros is about packaging and FS layout. Spend some time learning to build packages from source or use non-distro based installation scripts and you will never have to look for distribution packages again.

Take that last point to heart.

Yeah...even on Slackware, I've got to recompile a not-insignificant amount of stuff to get things to where I need. And with WINE, it's a constantly-evolving thing, so fixes happen every two weeks or so. (Or every fortnight, for those across the Pond.)

A lot of those fixes might seem inconsequential, if you don't game, but they all affect WINE's core functionality. Like a lot of the vcruntime changes between versions 2 and 4 were aimed at gaming, but helped Scrivener function without a lot of overrides. I suspect once they get the speechsdk issue nailed down (It was a regression in 5.0), it'll likely not need any overrides. (God only knows when that will happen, depending on what else it breaks, who has time to debug and bisect, and if anyone can do regression testing between WINE 4.19 and WINE 5.0.)

The "development" version of WINE sounds scary, compared to "stable," but "stable" was released a year ago, and is already out of date. The development one sometimes breaks things, but those regressions are rare, in my experience.

A lot of software, you can totally skate with older versions, but WINE isn't one of them. (Like video card drivers or Mesa, and so on.)

[garpu]

Just an addendum to my preceding post.

I apparently hadn't been infused w/ enough morning coffee when I composed it ... The reference to "Crosstalk" should of course be read to mean "Crossover". As I just opened it to see if it could remedy the Net conundrum, I realized my error.

Hang on, what, exactly, are you downloading from WineHQ? The only mono that's distributed there is wine-mono, which is known not to work with Paddle. You need the real .Net framework (4.6 or above) that's distributed via microsoft and winetricks. (Winetricks has some changes to make it actually install, whereas if you download the redistributable direct from microsoft, it might not work.)

Back in the day, we did have to coax Microsoft to let us Linux folks download things like vcrun 2005, and hope it installed on the wineprefix. Winetricks is so much easier.

(.net = mono for windows. Rather, mono is .net for Linux. Sometimes you can use linux mono to run Windows .net programs, but those are few and far between. The game, Vintage Story, is one of them. So was Terraria about 10 years ago. Paddle, the license activation program for Scrivener, is one of them that absolutely needs the Windows .Net framework to function.)

[WAS8097]

I've made so many posts on various forums and in e-mails - here, on a Linux Mint one, and to L&L and Code Weavers, I'm not sure which I mentioned previously and to which you are referring.

It's probably, though, <NDP462-KB3151800-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe>. In order to save space in Root, and as they weren't helping me anyway, I decided to uninstall Wine, PlayOn Linux, and Winetricks, and to try Crossover. The install window showed it downloading and installing Net Framework 4.0, and also downloading 4.6.2. In the Crossover log there wasn't any clear reference to installation of 4.6.2, so I made inquiry of Code Weavers a few days ago on this issue; I've yet to receive a response.

One of the additional issues I addressed was whether installation of the above file, using its Wine Configuration or Tools menu was possible; it seemed to me this might insure I got Scrivener to recognize 4.5 and 4.6.2. Crossover installed Scrivener fine, but I'm still dealing w/ the Paddle issue. (In the meantime I'm regrettably using Scrivener under Win 7 so as to be sure not to lose or have to duplicate text I'm composing in my *very long* current essay.)


[On the last point I note that Devin, as stated in his 4/13 6:06 PM post, and The Swede, as stated in his 4/22 7:13 AM post, seem to "have different mileage" on consistency of texts composed in Windows 1.9.16 and Linux 1.9.0.1 Beta. If the only difference lies w/in certain menu options, this is meaningless to me. My only concern is whether the binder categories and text (including footnotes) for a file composed under the former will fully and accurately open under the latter. I find Scrivener invaluable - particularly for what I am doing now, which is generating and then organizing a plethora of text files, each containing different thoughts - in order to create discrete separate chapters and coherent organization w/in them. Nevertheless, once I am done, I intend to compile them in ODT format for final composition and, then, finalization - since I am more familiar w/ Open Office formatting. If I can *confidently* open the current 1.9.16 file in 1.9.0.1 Beta, insert additional text and use the Corkboard for rearrangement, I would be a "happy camper" indeed.]

[tyr26]

As I heard it is going well

[theswede]

My only concern is whether the binder categories and text (including footnotes) for a file composed under the former will fully and accurately open under the latter.

In my experience, moving back and forth between 1.9.16 on Windows and 1.9.0.1 on Linux works flawlessly. There are no issues what so ever. That said, I stick to functionality which is in 1.9.0.1 since my main writing platforms are Linux based, and I can't be bothered to deal with the .NET issue any more.

The only time I have had any weird issues is when I have done edits on the iOS version of Scrivener. Then the 1.9.0.1 will get confused, and lose those edits. They are not gone from inside the project, and can be recovered, but that version will not see them. Thus, I am no longer using the iOS version.

[WAS8097]

Thanks for the comment.

I perhaps shouldn't have been so worried about the compatibility and thereby wasted so much time. The fact the essay appears it will be approaching 200 pages (w/ numerous footnotes), using a 6" x 9" page format, is the reason it concerned me. But, from the brief review of the 1.9.16 version opened in 1.9.0.1, it seemed the same and maybe I should just have proceeded w/ the latter.

I've already compiled it into ODT and now am doing the "polishing" using OpenOffice. (I'm going to try to start using LibreOffice more so I can get used to the differences in appearance.

And from now on 1.9.0.1 will be the, _only_ version i use. In addition to your advice, the text (at least in the way both of them are configured on my systems) is certainly clearer and larger in 1.9.0.1., (an important issue for my 75 year old eyes.)

Thanks.

[theswede]

Thanks for the comment.

Apologies it was so late. I got really sick, and haven't been active with anything online, really.

Glad to hear you're working the project out though. Best of luck with it!

[garpu]

Thanks for the comment.

Apologies it was so late. I got really sick, and haven't been active with anything online, really.

Glad to hear you're working the project out though. Best of luck with it!

Ack. Hopefully it's not covid-19. How you feeling now? I had a friend with La 'Rona, and he was pretty damn sick for a good month or two.

[theswede]

Ack. Hopefully it's not covid-19.

It was. I was down and out for weeks. Really did a number on me.

How you feeling now?

Better, but not great. Still very weak, and problems focusing. No energy to even do things I enjoy. But it's getting better, so I have hope.

I had a friend with La 'Rona, and he was pretty damn sick for a good month or two.

Yeah, it can hit like that. Was a very long trip for me, and it's not quite over yet.

[garpu]

Yeah, it can hit like that. Was a very long trip for me, and it's not quite over yet.

Ugh. Here's hoping it goes and stays gone, and the next brain swab comes out clean! Or are they doing antibody testing there yet?