best option for running Scrivener on Mint 19?

RCentros, Well I tried it and the libpng worked and installed OK, but the gstreamer had broken dependencies. So what do I do now? Try Appimage? It’s still not starting up. Since it’s the same file as you said, both came up broken dependencies. Rats! Sad, now and really frustrated. BTW, I’m not sure I mentioned it, but I"m in a VM(VirtualBox)

I’m not really sure how to use these Appimages. I’m not opposed to using the Appimage, but I’m not sure exactly how they are expected to work. OK in the /usr folder or the `/local folder. Anywhere in those folder, in particular or just inside the folder? I assume it’s one or the other, not both. Any advice? I’ll just uninstall the beta and the libpng thing. Again, any suggestions, and can I uninstall the libpng and how so that it’s off the system?

Thanks again, and looking forward to your reply. BTW, I did read that post, but was more than a little confused and overwhelmed, so thus the questions.

Maghdalena

Well, rats, sorry to hear that. Running Linux in a Virtual Box shouldn’t be an issue. So don’t worry about that (unless I’m wrong about that). At this point there are two options — either figure out what dependencies are needed and get them or try the AppImage option.

But first, maybe I was wrong about the two gstreamer files being the same. If you just downloaded one of the gstreamer files and installed it with the package manager, it might be better to do it the original way suggested in the article.

copy and paste the two wget lines into a terminal (ENTER) and download both files, and then copy and paste the command (dpkg) line into the terminal and run it from there. Maybe there’s something I’m missing and that’s why the dependencies didn’t get met.

If you try the wget and dpkg route (as described in my first post) and that still doesn’t work, go to to the terminal and type in “scrivener” (without the quotes) and ENTER. If Scrivener doesn’t run this will tell you the issue (or at least the first issue) — once you fix this issue, you may have more as Linux will quit trying to load the application on the first error it hits.

It may be a simple dependency to fix, so I would try reloading the gstreamer files (using wget and dpkg in the terminal) and trying scrivener in the terminal. If it doesn’t work, you can copy the error in a message and I’ll see if its fairly simple to fix.

OR …

You could just go straight to the AppImage instead. One (other) advantage of that route is that it already has the spell checker issue fixed.

If you go this route, just download the Scrivener AppImage tar ball, the file ends with a “.gz” — ( I’m guessing you’re using 64-bit) and then, using your file manager, move it to your .local directory. (Please note the period in front of “local.” That means the directory is normally hidden, I’m pretty sure Linux Mint Xfce works the same as Cinnamon and Mate, so just hit CNTROL+H to show hidden files in your file manager.) The AppImage will probably download to your Downloads folder. Just right-click on the downloaded file, copy it, and then paste it your .local folder (this is in your home directory), i.e., /home/yourname/.local. Then left-click the tar ball image you’ve just copied, and Extract. One done, right click the the extracted file (Scrivener … AppImage), go to Properties>Permissions and set Executable ON. (It’s just a tick box near the bottom of the dialogue). Once that’s done, just left-click on the Image and follow the prompt(s). I think there is only one prompt, something about integrating Scrivener into your system.

I know it sounds complicated and the instructions on the linked website are probably clearer than mine. The reason I would go with the ~/.local option (the tilde is Linux shorthand for /home/yourname) instead of the /usr is because you may run into permission issues in the /usr directory.

Again, good luck. I want to see you get this going, so don’t worry about bringing up any further issues or asking any questions.

EDIT: I just tried copying and pasting the wget lines into my terminal and found that the "middle"part has been cut out of them (since this forum is treating them as html instead of wget links). So you’ll have to go to the website linked and move down a few messages to find Spurios’ original wget lines. I should have tried this before.

The link you need … github.com/toggl/toggldesktop/issues/1894
You’ll have to triple click and copy on each of his long lines that he’s posted as code.

EDIT 2: This might work, I think I can post as code here as well… just copy and paste each of these lines (one at a time) in a terminal and hit ENTER.

[code]wget http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gst-plugins-base0.10/libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0_0.10.36-1_amd64.deb

wget http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/g/gstreamer0.10/libgstreamer0.10-0_0.10.36-1.5ubuntu1_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i libgstreamer*.deb
[/code]

My posts are sometimes as clear as mud. Sorry. I think I would go with the AppImage option. I tried it on my laptop using a Live USB Linux Mint Cinnamon 19.1 “install.” (I’m actually using this “install” now.)

Using the AppImage install, without loading any dependencies took about three minutes.

I’ll try to simply the steps here:

[b]1. Download the AppImage file at this site wayoflinux.com/blog/scrivener-returns (use the TOP 64-bit link, there’s actually two different files here. The one you want says “Erkus” at the end.

2. In your file manager, right click on the downloaded file and copy it.

3. Using your file manager move to your /home/yourname/.local directory and paste the file there (remember the period in front of .local, which means you’ll need to click ctrl+h to see hidden files.)

4. Right click on the tar ball file you just pasted and go to Properties > Permissions and click “Executable.”

5. Double click on the tar ball and Extract the files in the current directory (i.e. in ~/.local).

6. Double click on the extracted AppImage file and click “yes” at the prompt.

Scrivener should automatically start and run.[/b]

The only thing you might have to do is make a desktop icon and/or menu entry if the process doesn’t do it automatically.

The latest Beta version runs under Mint 19.1 if you’ve got WINE installed. PlayOnLinux is just an automated “shell” with WINE underneath. You must install PlayOnLinux or other WINE compilation before you can install Scrivener.

I run Mint 19.1 on an old laptop. I use CodeWeaver’s “CrossOver” which is a commercial version of WINE that fully automates the installation of “shims” that are necessary to run Windows apps on WINE under Linux (or MacOS). Crossover also provides technical phone support for any question. IIRC, Crossover, Scrivener, and Scapple are the only non-free programs I run anymore. If that’s not the case, they are the only ones I use nearly everyday.

I tried PlayOnLinux, but found that with some installations of Linux, Scrivener would run fine and on others it didn’t and that was on the same laptop after a rebuild!

I’ve never had that issue with Crossover. But definitely try PlayOnLinux. If it works on your HW platform, it makes WINE so much easier to configure.

RCentros:

OK. I downloaded it and found the .local folder and copied it as you said, but when I right-clicked on the tar-ball, unextracted and went to the permissions, I couldn’t find 'executable" What I found was::

Owner-
Access: None, read only, write only, read and write.

Then: Group: (maghdalena, that’s me)
Access: None, read only, write only, read and write

then,
Others: none, write only, read only, read and write, The default is for owner and group, which are both me, read and write, and for others: read-only, so which is the “executable” am I looking in the wrong place. I’m in the properties, and in the permissions tab, so what do I do next to make it executable or is it already? Sorry, I’m just so new to all this AppImage thing. Still trying to be positive here. Am I in the right place? So far it’s still hasn’t been extracted until I figure the executable thing. it’s in the /home/yourname/.local so I’m pretty sure I"m in the right folder, but not finding any executable or make executable command, so maybe I don’t recognize which selection is “executable” New to Linux too, so there you are.

Katherine (Maghdalena) Logan

Edit: 1:53: I found the appimage. apparently, the tarball is not the appimage itself, so didn’t have the little box to make executable. I found it at the App Hub (appimagehub.com/p/1262832/) and downloaded that, and tested it by making it executable, and double clicked it and it opened right up for me. I’m good now. I got to thinking and found it the other day in Windows, (I’m in a Virtual Machine for Linux for right now till I get a second hard drive, but thanks for bringing the App Image to my attention. Do I still put a copy of it in the .local folder, or the opt folder/scrivener, and how do I put it in the menu? At least this way I can run Scrivener till 2023 at least.

The only other thing I can think what I didn’t do is extract it to .local then locate the appimage and make that executable, but I couldn’t do it with the compressed file. Still, I’m happy, and I can at least use it. Thanks again.

I have Play on Linux installed and Wine 1.6 and 3.0 which were in the Software Manager, but not really sure how to set up Play on Linux. How do I set it up and install Scrivener on it or do I download it into Play on Linux then install it or what? I’m really new to all of this. I’ve spent most of my time in Windows. I was in Mac from around 1996, then from 2004 or so in Windows, but since Windows 7 is reaching the end of life next Janurary, decided to move to Linux. Scrivener, and David RM’s The Journal are the only things in Windows that I can’t live without. That and OneNote, but I can access it on Microsoft’s website. But I do most of my researching for my first book in Scrivener, so can’t really give it up. So can you walk me through the steps. I have the MS true type fonts already installed. They’re showing up in LibreOffice Writer, anyway.

Thanks for your patience.

Glad to hear you got it working. Sorry it took so long to respond. I didn’t even know about the AppImage hub. I’m not sure where you put the image, but it should work from anywhere. I just personally prefer it in the ~/.local directory because I “feel” that I’m more in “control” of it there. But, since I’m the only user on the machine, it really doesn’t matter. It’s just a personal preference. Does the spell-checker work in the AppImage you downloaded from the Hub? If it doesn’t the fix is listed (as a sticky) in this forum. As for setting up a desktop launcher on the desktop, I’m not completely sure how to do that in Xfce (since I don’t use that desktop), but I think you just right-click on the desktop and create a new launcher. You’ll have to fill in the information (tell the launcher where your file is, name it, etc.). The tough part is finding the right icon image. I actually found (and downloaded) a .png image of the new round logo, but right now I can’t find it. I like the new logo. I’ll keep looking for where I found it.

electronza.com/exagear-the-end/

Not being free libre means it will disappear. It’s only a matter of time. That is actually the main worry I have with Scrivener as well; I don’t mind paying, but I know it has a limited lifetime.

There are plenty of free libre software packages that have disappeared as well, and there are many paid software packages that I wish would disappear.

My point is, non free libre means they WILL disappear (as in become unsupported by newer OS’es and platforms). No exceptions. It will always happen.

Free libre is no guarantee that will not happen, but if it’s software I want to keep using it gives me a choice to pick up the source and do something with it. Work on it myself, pay someone to adapt it, or ship bottles of wine to my favorite OSS developer begging them to fix it for me. I have choices. And I have those choices up front. As long as I have the source, the software will not disappear.

Spare me the free software indoctrination speech, I was around for the debut and I didn’t find it any more convincing of a piece of dogma then as I do now. The incongruity of yelling about a non-free software emulator pulling the plug when you’re on a forum that is trying to find ways to run non-free software (and no longer developed for that platform) on your blessed OS is decidedly non-zero. If you really stuck to your principles, you wouldn’t be using Scrivener because you don’t get the source code for it. Since you can make that leap of logic and accept Scrivener…what is the difference in accepting another piece of non-free dependency code?

I have provided nothing of the kind. I’m making an observation, that is all.

You know nothing about my principles.

Now stop assuming, and let’s talk about Scrivener like civilized people.

There is a problem: if you want to activate the last version of scrivener on linux, this is not possible because a new version of .net that is not supported by Wine libraries.
I wrote Literature and latte asking for some technical help; but I wasn’t a lucky one! The only answers they could give to me was what that I should install an older version of Scrivener and work with it (in addition, they gave to me the URL of this blog). The problem is that I have a handful of Scrivener projects created with a newer version that can’t be opened with the older software.
Otherwise, the beta release of the software for linux neither is a good choice, because work with obsolete libraries, not available on newer distros.
THE SOLUTION
I did it in these way: first, I’ve installed the 1.8 windows version, via wine; then I activated the copy. After activation, all you must do is update the software to the latest version.
After all thes steps, you will have the latest version of scrivener running on your linux mint (or another distro else)
I hope you find this useful.

You can also install dotnet45 with winetricks, and it’ll activate the new version.

That problem is solved with the AppImage.

Just to add a datapoint to this discussion, I just installed Scrivener 3 beta 23 on Mint 19 using Crossover, into a 64-bit Windows 10 bottle. It installed as easily as it does under straight Windows, and works just fine.

I am running XFCE 19.2 Linux Mint, so I am in the same boat as you. I am not runnning Play on Linux. I am running Wine Stable 4.02 from wine’s repository, not Mint’s. I couldn’t get Mint’s version to run scrivener. But everything runs nice with Wine in my setup now.

Just follow this post. itsfoss.com/install-latest-wine/

Then type “sudo apt-get install winetricks”

Then type “winetricks dotnet462” which should get you the .Net stuff needed to run Paddle

If the winetricks thing doesn’t work, download the latest .Net from Microsoft and install it
“wine <.net-executable>” I recommend trying to install 4.7.1 in that case because it is the newest.

Then download Scrivener for Windows and type wine Scrivener-installer.exe

It should work okay. I have no problem with this and it seems to work okay with my setup.

I even installed it in a bar while flirting and following a conversation with a strange woman I met there. However, you might want to give this your undivided attention.

I just found your reply. I’m running Linux Mint Mate, in a VM, now, not XFCE, but I’ll try it the Wine Tricks thing. One thing I found about the AppImage, I can run Scrivener just fine, and the launcher is working OK, but I can’t download one of my backups from Dropbox and have the AppImage find it, and if I double-click on the file, it’s read as an HTML file. Is there a way it can find the file(I extracted it–no wait, I forgot to extract it. Now it can find it and it opens it OK. I’ll still try to do what you suggested too. Thanks a million for your suggestion and help. That’s Awesome! Is there a way you can back it up to Dropbox. I can’t seem to get the Dropbox to link up with the Scrivener AppImage. Is there a way to do that or does anyone know?

Katherine “Maghdalena” Logan

Hey, Lee,

I’m thinking about Crossover, and I tried it in VirtualBox, but none of the programs would install. I’m thinking either it doesn’t work in VMs, or there wasn’t enough memory to install it. It just stalled and didn’t move. Can it install in VirtualBox and Mint 19.2 Mate or do I need more memory and/or “bare metal”?

Thanks. I do like that program.
Katherine “Maghdalena” Logan

Maghdalena:
I run Scrivener, both the current Windows version 1.9.1.14 and the Betas for Version 3. I have successfully run 1.9 under Play on LInux. Currently, however, I use CodeWeaver’s Crossover for Linux, which has always worked more reliably for me. Scrivener should work with no issues using either Play On Linux or Crossover.

Andrew