yWriter on Linux - any success stories?

[Jeff Mai]

My wife is a long time yWriter user.  I'm a long time Linux user.  I've been trying to move her on to Linux, but yWriter is a must have for her.

Windows 10 has been a nightmare for her.  Automatic updates have lost some of her files twice.  Her wifi is flaky and slow.

I'd love to move her on to Linux.

Does anyone have any success stories of using yWriter on Linux?  Last year I tried to set up both wine and mono approaches on a Debian laptop, but I couldn't get either to work.  There was always some problem.

I think using a VM isn't a user friendly option, really.  Plus I'd need a transferable license for Windows 10, which I don't have or wish to buy.

Any help or thoughts are much appreciated.  Has anyone got it working?

Kind regards,

Jeff

[Todd Carnes]

It runs under Mono.

[Simon Haynes]

I did a lot of work on this about 6 months ago, when I eventually discovered the problems on Linux were caused by the image format of the small icons used in the Windows version (e.g. scene, chapter, that sort of thing.)  I added some code to continue past those errors, and that seemed to do the trick. (From memory it came up with a cairo/gtk error of some kind.)

After that, I think the consensus was that it was working ok? Nobody has mentioned it since.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/b3cdb4ce-17ca-493c-aae7-76950243367co%40googlegroups.com.

--

--
Visit Spacejock Software, the home of yWriter, FCharts and more

Visit spacejock.com.au for my articles on writing and publishing novels.

[Simon Haynes]

I would add that exporting to ebook almost certainly won't work. (Not the compiling part, at least.)

I think Calibre is available on Linux, but the 'convert-ebook.exe' would be called something else. Also, yWriter creates a dos .bat file and then runs it.

I did rewrite all that code for the Mac version but it would take quite a lot of work to integrate it into Windows, and it would make the current code a mess of 'if linux then...'

My suggestion would be to get yWriter to export the two html files, one for epub and one for mobi, then write a batch file on Linux to create the actual ebooks, using the Windows version as a template.

Export to Latex should just work though.

On Wed, 19 Aug 2020 at 05:10, Jeff Mai <jma...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/b3cdb4ce-17ca-493c-aae7-76950243367co%40googlegroups.com.

[Jeff Mai]

Thanks all.  Let me try mono once again.  I think it was about a year ago that I last tried.

[Simon Haynes]

If yWriter 7 doesn't work, yWriter 6 is the same only it's compiled against the older dotnet 4.5.2

On Wed, 19 Aug 2020 at 05:36, Jeff Mai <jma...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks all.  Let me try mono once again.  I think it was about a year ago that I last tried.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/162d47f8-5fdd-46dc-9835-d51ff894bc8do%40googlegroups.com.

[Vidyut]

I use yWriter with Ubuntu with Wine. I've never used it on Windows. Works well enough for writing purposes at least. Never exported an epub, so no idea. If you can explain what problems you are having, I may be able to help.

[Jeff Mai]

mono-vbnc is not in the Debian 10 repo

Instead I installed from mono repos instead following these instructions:

https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-mono-on-debian-10/

After the above I installed mono-vbnc

sudo apt install mono-vbnc

So far, so good.  It launches but I'll have to get my wife to test drive it.

Cheers

[Simon Haynes]

I had to use something like apt install mono-complete on Ubuntu

VB is going the way of the dinosaurs, unfortunately. (Not evolving into birds, just vanishing.)

Luckily there's a one-click 'convert project to C#' in Visual Studio now. Also, strangely, there's a 'Convert C# project to VB'

I guess eventually I'll be forced to switch. I'm fine with coding in C# but it's like trying to write a novel in your second language. Slower, prone to a few more errors, and a lot more searching required. On the other hand, VB is like English to me.

At least dotnet 5 will support VB, so there's no rush.

Ironically I was reading Paul Allen's bio the other day (co-founder of Microsoft) and their entire business grew out of putting their version of Basic onto all the newfangled computers being released at the time. Later, of course, MSDos and Windows 1.0 sealed the deal. I wonder what Allen and Gates think about Microsoft kicking VB to the kerb though? I think Allen would be more upset about it than Gates.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/679c8a85-d56a-402d-b3ed-e225bb7c3856o%40googlegroups.com.

[Jeff Mai]

On Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 3:26:25 PM UTC+10, Simon Haynes wrote:

I had to use something like apt install mono-complete on Ubuntu

That was part of the instructions in the link.  I just had to additionally install the mono-vbnc package.

I believe one of the first microsoft products I ever used was Basic on a CPM-80 machine.

[Simon Haynes]

Mine was flight sim 2 on the Atari ST, although I was selling Windows 2 and MS Word 5.5 at work.

Paul Allen's autobiography covers the time they wrote and released Basic on CPM.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/09c92f60-76c6-425e-960f-0ea8427d3faco%40googlegroups.com.

[Todd Carnes]

You don't need to specify mono-vnbc specifically on Debian. Just use
sudo apt-get install mono-complete.

[Jeff Mai]

Can't open the project in version 7.  Get an empty main screen followed by bombing out if you attempt to do anything with an array index out of bounds error in the console.

Will try version 6

[Jeff Mai]

Got further with yWriter 6 and mono, however many, many issues are apparent.

Is there some configuration tweaks required to get it to play nice?

This is using Debian 10 and the latest version of mono from the mono repos.

[Simon Haynes]

Can you email me the log.txt from yWriter 7?  I'm keen to find and fix any and all errors.

Cheers

Simon

On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 09:58, Jeff Mai <jma...@gmail.com> wrote:

Can't open the project in version 7.  Get an empty main screen followed by bombing out if you attempt to do anything with an array index out of bounds error in the console.

Will try version 6

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/32712c6c-a175-4b20-90ed-5ba0c6178a62o%40googlegroups.com.

[Simon Haynes]

Is that yWriter 6 release, or beta?

Beta is the one you might want to try, as it's very very close to replacing the release. It's a long story, but the release version of yWriter 6 has not been updated in while, whereas the beta is the same code as yWriter 7 only recompiled with dotnet 4.5.2, which may be more compatible with Mono.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/076f4caf-b3e9-4d1d-b232-985abd4fb5cdo%40googlegroups.com.

[pat]

Just read there was a situation where a Steam install in Linux would wipe out all your personal files. Just like life, in computing, anything can happen. 

[pat]

Windows 10 shouldn't be a problem. Automatic updates don't force restarts - that's a choice. There has been a couple of times where some users have lost files. It doesn't sound like it was an endemic problem and it once happened on Mac OS X many years ago. Hopefully, people are backing up with regularity regardless of operating system or updates. And People should always backup anything the have on their computers due to hardware failure, theft, accidental deletion by user. Backups to a least a couple of cloud services and offline. It's not hard to do and it's a failure on the user to not do so (if they know better).

On a Mac, Time Machine is very, very easy to use. It's braindead easy. I'm on Windows now, former Mac, and with Google Drive and OneDrive, it's too easy to backup. I have iCloud for family, but it's only good for downloading photos on Windows. Otherwise, unfortunately, it's pretty worthless. At least with the stock iCloud software.

As for flaky wifi, sounds like a hardware problem. 

On Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 2:10:04 PM UTC-7 jma...@gmail.com wrote:

[Simon Haynes]

I remember years ago, when one version of a certain program (not mine!) was known for deleting the entire applications branch of the user's Windows Registry on uninstall. Someone left a variable off the registry path, I guess. Fortunately I'm not an early adopter, and I usually install a new version without uninstalling the old first.

Computers are great, but most of the time they're only one mistyped command from complete disaster.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/d07e0324-af61-40c3-a9eb-61a7aaabfbbdn%40googlegroups.com.

[Simon Haynes]

True, but what if Microsoft moves to an annual payment model for Windows 11?  I have (counts) four machines here running Windows 10, all legit paid-for installs which I would hope would keep working until I decide otherwise.

Big tech companies love to sign people up for regular payments - look at Adobe. I'm still using Indesign 5.5 and Photoshop Elements 9, which were pay-once. If I'm forced to upgrade to pay-per-month I'll switch to Inkscape, Gimp, Scribus and Krita - and I believe all four are cross-platform. I still use Corel Draw 12 to access my old files, but that no longer runs on Windows 10 so I have to run it on a Windows XP virtual machine. That virtual machine would run just as well on Linux.

Closer to home, I still use Visual Basic 6 for occasional maintenance, and that won't run on Windows 10 either. I have it set up in the same virtual machine as Corel Draw.

Come to think of it, I have a spare Windows 7 retail key from a decommissioned PC. I've been considering setting up a Win 7 virtual machine so I can install my go-to Windows apps, and then if need be I can run that whole thing on a linux machine. Time to dig out the disk!

Anyway, the point is that it's good to have a strong alternative. Linux gets closer and closer all the time, and Dotnet 5 will only help to bridge the gap.

Cheers

Simon

[Jeff Mai]

Windows is malware. 

And I've got backups covered, thanks.  Solaris based NAS.  My wife also has Dropbox and a USB hard drive as options and she uses them.

Getting back on topic, Simon, I'll ask my wife to try the yWriter6 beta.  I can also send the log.txt from yWriter7.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/ywriter/6cjb3_14ldQ/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/9add13cc-a0b3-4fef-bf2b-ef0ce92afd19n%40googlegroups.com.

[Simon Haynes]

Thanks re- the log file.

For years, Mono used to have an issue where declaring 'dialogresult = dialogresult.ok' would instantly close the parent form, even though in Windows it's just setting a variable prior to the next command, which would be me.hide() (or a string of other commands).  This caused me endless headaches until it was finally fixed.

The out of bounds issue may be similar.

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/CAHbE3a%2BYKjXPAz6cc2dqhrZaYTA3ihr3YGd8_Zr8-p9mqPZoSQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Wayne Connolly]

On Thu, 20 Aug 2020 at 19:11, Jeff Mai <jma...@gmail.com> wrote:

Windows is malware.  

hahahha.

 

[Todd Carnes]

That "choice" is an illusion. Eventually, if you don't do what they want, Microsoft can, and will, force a reboot.

Also, the wifi issue is most likely not a hardware problem, but a well-known Windows problem that has been going on for some time now. My wifi is giving me fits I'm not alone. Unfortunately, I am one of the people for whom the registry fix mentioned in the article did NOT work.

Microsoft tests fix for Windows 10’s major bug that breaks Wi-Fi (Windows Latest, 6 Aug 2020)

Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Update Can Cause Internet Connectivity Problems (Forbes, last updated 7/21)

There is also a weird printer bug right now that is blocking random apps from using the printer. I'm also dealing with that one right now.

[Dain Unicorn]

There was rumors that one of the first rounds of counterfeit detecting packages was included with an update that was specifically desired to crash your system while verifying the download, but AFTER it was scheduled for silent reboot install.  

Poof, mystery blue-screen crash, and reboot to non-working system or a returning of the activate windows notices. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 20, 2020, at 09:43, Todd Carnes <toddc...@gmail.com> wrote:



--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/b81367eb-571a-8c35-95e8-0cfb054f3e64%40gmail.com.

[Todd Carnes]

I agree completely that Windows is a steaming pile of sh--. The only
reason I still use it at all is because of a couple games I like to play
that are Windows only. (Well, also because the wife is computer
challenged and doesn't want to change.)

I was thinking I might try it on a fresh install of Debian and see what
I find. Unless, you and Simon gets it sorted before then of course.

I'm not saying I'll do any better, but I'm willing to give it a shot. :)

Todd

[Todd Carnes]

I created a fresh install of Debian 10.5.

Then I made sure everything was updated

Next, I installed the Mono repository per step 1 of the instructions at https://www.mono-project.com/download/stable/#download-lin-debian.

On step two instead of typing "sudo apt install mono-devel", I typed "sudo apt install mono-complete mono-vbnc".

Then I downloaded yWriter 7.0.7.0 from http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter7_Linux.html.

I created a subdirectory under my home directory and unzip yWriter into it.

I didn't even have to run it from the command line. When I double-clicked on yWriter7.exe in the file manager it came right up.

What specific issues are you having?

I did notice the new project wizard was greyed out on the file menu and I couldn't find Simon's sample project. I was, however, able to create an empty project and the import menus were not greyed out.

[Todd Carnes]

Nevermind, upon further investigation, I think I see why you were saying yWriter 7 was unusable. (Note to Simon: There were several things going wrong. I'll experiment more and post what I've found later this weekend when I have more time, but it eventually froze up completely and had to be killed from the task manager.)

I've downloaded yWriter6Beta. The first thing I notice is that the new project wizard is now available. That may be a promising sign. I'll investigate more.

Todd

[Simon Haynes]

The greyed-out project wizard is a bug - I've fixed that for the next release.

I also tried yWriter7 on Linux Mint just now, and it worked. I created a project, added chapters and scenes, moved them around.

The only popup was in regard to creating an object type, and that's where Linux can't handle the graphics on the splash window for some reason.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/1dd8e92f-41c5-c774-95b8-27ce4888f37f%40gmail.com.

[Simon Haynes]

If you run mono ./yWriter 7.exe from the console you should see more error messages in the console window.

Cheers

Simon

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/80fe20e2-2929-9fb0-5c30-a77d3fc5a5cc%40gmail.com.

[Simon Haynes]

I noticed that highlighting doesn't work in the rtf box, and boldface text wrecks the font display.

It seems the RichTextBox in mono's winforms also has RTF problems - what a surprise.

On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 at 02:42, Todd Carnes <toddc...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/80fe20e2-2929-9fb0-5c30-a77d3fc5a5cc%40gmail.com.

[Todd Carnes]

I have now tried all versions from yWriter5 on up to yWriter7Beta.

ALL version will eventually freeze up (usually quite quickly).

The quickest way I've found to freeze up yWriter is to do the following:

    1. Open and close the About dialog.

    2. Open and cancel the Registration dialog.

That's the quickest way I've found to freeze it up, but eventually they always freeze.

I'm beginning to suspect this is a Debian 10.5 thing.

I suppose it could be a VirtualBox thing too. I'm using VirtualBox to test.

Todd

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/CAN0R%3DkT-Ga-zBdG3Pkrw0Nga73bXVea9jOYJA03LjMM7j_7aBA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Simon Haynes]

Can you share the log.txt file? If there are repeated error messages in there it might be something I can work around.

Also, please ignore yWriter5 and 6 release versions, as they're on the way out. If anything, try the beta versions.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/1c392f0e-51f3-5f09-c525-1cb1d72afd77%40gmail.com.

[Todd Carnes]

Log file attached.

One note. The log says the project wizard was cancelled. It was not. The wizard appeared to complete, then yWriter froze and had to be killed.

Todd

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/CAN0R%3DkRjBSndTo%3DgZugnVV8zrRotzoxSY%2BcHhGi_a6Wdcd%3DyOQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Todd Carnes]

I tried ALL versions, including the beta versions. They all crashed.

I will only worry about yWriter7Beta in the future.

Todd

On 8/20/2020 12:35 PM, Simon Haynes wrote:

[Todd Carnes]

By the way, the Beta of yWriter7 has a lower version number (7.0.6.5),
than the official release (7.0.7.0).

Is that intentional?

Todd

On 8/20/2020 12:35 PM, Simon Haynes wrote:

[Simon Haynes]

Mine does the same.

I was going to say it might be the same 'dialogresult' bug in Mono I mentioned earlier... except now that I'm looking at the code, I've already got a workaround in there from all those years ago.

I did find one spot where it tries to save into a new, empty folder if the user's default documents folder doesn't exist (this has happened to me in the past, where someone hard-linked their Documents folder to a removable drive... and then didn't plug it in)

I've added a lot more logging and error handling - will try a build on Ubuntu now.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/5a6d14b4-a592-2978-1fc4-8bc9a6f24be2%40gmail.com.

[Simon Haynes]

I haven't replaced it yet.  I'll be uploading another whole series of betas soon.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/a17fe8f9-4311-d624-3322-7522528053a9%40gmail.com.

[Simon Haynes]

Thanks - that's the one I normally update most often, except when I'm releasing bug-fix Release versions in which case the beta lags behind for a while.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/513891d4-99fd-ec41-d8e8-6eb0275eae7f%40gmail.com.

[Simon Haynes]

Might have to wait until dotnet 5 on Linux. I got the project wizard going, but right-clicking the scene list and clicking 'add scene' sometimes adds two (one of which vanishes later).  A bit further on, the app crashed with a gdi drawing error, which might be related to the use of icons in the scene list.

On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 at 03:55, Todd Carnes <toddc...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/a17fe8f9-4311-d624-3322-7522528053a9%40gmail.com.

[jma...@gmail.com]

It looks as though mono is not an option from subsequent posts.  I will try using Wine.  Do you have any notes you can share?

On Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 7:47:35 AM UTC+10 wide....@gmail.com wrote:

I use yWriter with Ubuntu with Wine. I've never used it on Windows. Works well enough for writing purposes at least. Never exported an epub, so no idea. If you can explain what problems you are having, I may be able to help.

[jma...@gmail.com]

I would set up yWriter on a Windows VM however all of my Windows licenses are OEM and not transferable to new hardware.  There is zero chance I'd ever pay for a retail Windows license.

If I were using yWriter myself I could probably accommodate a lot of effort to get it working / keep it working on Linux.  My wife has limited patience for that.  She just wants to write.

[Simon Haynes]

After I finished installing a windows 7 VM tonight, activating it using a retail key that I bought for my daughter over a decade ago (not been used for about 6 years), I discovered to my surprise that it was actually an OEM key.

Still working, but as it's only a test install it won't be the end of the world if it starts complaining.

Cheers

Simon

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/5f3c568c-f654-4618-9ba5-448f4b838d1an%40googlegroups.com.

[jma...@gmail.com]

For testing purposes microsoft offers pre-installed VM images:

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/

They expire eventually, but saves the hassle of an install which is useful for testing.

[pat]

Not sure about the Windows as malware, but even Linus Torvalds considers desktop Linux a failure.

[jma...@gmail.com]

Not failing on my desktop.  I've been Windows free for more than 5 years now.  I do understand the comment in terms of "just works" for non-technical users, but things have gotten a lot better recently.  Printers now often "just work" which was not the case a few years ago.

Windows = spyware = malware.  My opinion, of course, but strongly held.

[Simon Haynes]

Funny you should mention printers ;-)

I had some fun with a friend's printer just this week. It's an older Brother multifunction laser he was given last year, and at the time I plugged it into his Windows 10 PC and installed a driver from Brother's website. He's been using it just fine ever since - scanning, printing, etc.

A couple of weeks ago I helped him to find a second-hand gaming PC, again with Windows 10, but with some more powerful components. I got everything working except that printer, which Windows refused to recognise. I found a post from a few years back saying that particular model would only work with Windows 10 if you flashed the firmware to a newer version.

I've never flashed printer firmware before, and it required running the software on a Windows 7 machine - luckily, he had an old laptop lying around. Anyway, it worked, but I still don't understand why the printer connected and worked with his old Windows 10 machine but not with the new one. (The old one was up to date with patches.).

Printers have always been a bugbear for me, ever since I struggled to wire up a custom serial cable to connect a Brother M-1109 9-pin dot matrix printer to my Sinclair Spectrum so I could print out my university assignment on time. In the end I showed the lecturer a roll of silver toilet paper from a ZX Printer, covered in huge 40-column print, and promised the essay was finished, but I needed another day for tech reasons.

Cheers

Simon

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/64b0741b-28f7-4bf9-b64e-b8032852eaabn%40googlegroups.com.

[Simon Haynes]

I've just been messing around with gtksharp and the portable version of yWriter. It's taken me a few hours, but I've got a cross-platform version running:

Obviously a lot of the code is still 'if android do this or if IOS do that' - with no allowance for GTK - so icons are missing and some things look a bit odd.

Behind the basic UI are the same libraries that drive the windows version though.

It's only a tech demo at the moment, but could become more useful when dotnet 5 arrives.

This is the portable version running on Windows, using the cross-platform gtk-sharp library for the user interface:

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "yWriter" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ywriter+u...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ywriter/8e7e6ec8-c53a-4043-9f2f-8b13b71e981fn%40googlegroups.com.

[Peter T.]

Now I can also contribute a success story. yWriter 5.6.1.9 runs fine for me under Xubuntu 20.04. 

For the installation I largely followed Simon's instructions, i.e. unpacked the zipfile in the home directory after installing dotnet 3.5 via Winetricks. 

On the xfce desktop I created a program launcher that runs the command 

wine /home/peter/yWriter5/bin/yWriter5.exe %f  

Thus drag/drop also works with yw7 files. To open such files with a double click, I entered the same command in the mimetype settings.

 
With yWriter 5 I loaded my current project as well as created a new project via wizard without any problems. The RTF export works. A file manager window opens like on Windows, and after clicking, the RTF file will be opened with Wine's Notepad replacement.

My Python conversion and reporting tools are now all adapted to Linux, I replaced the installation batch files with Python setup scripts that work on multiple operating systems.

My LibreOffice extension has worked operating system independent so far, but the OpenOffice extension unfortunately only works on Windows.

I did notice one thing, though: The program takes a long time to start. I can't say whether this is due to Wine in general or the fact that I've only tried Xubuntu under a virtual machine so far. I'm thinking about writing a file viewer with Python, so that I can quickly view my yWriter projects under Linux. 

By the way, what also worked is the exe installer for ywriter 5 under Wine. Wine then even creates an icon on the xfce desktop. But since my own installation with the zip file seems to be easier to configure, I'll stick with it.

Happy New Year to everyone, 

Peter

[2Wordy]

I followed Simon's instructions and had no problems installing ver.5. I'm running the Zorin 15 Lite version, and installed yWriter on both the desktop and laptop. I have no issues using v.5 so am not motivated to experiment with ver. 6 or 7.

- Rick