My Windows readers will be perplexed by this post, so as a brief preface, let me just say feel more than free to skip this one (and any other “Linux how to” posts that might pop-up in the future). I spend most of my computer time in Linux, but there are a couple of Windows applications that I use regularly. Bibleworks is one of them. This post explains how I got Bibleworks to run in Linux (Ubuntu 8.04 and Ubuntu 8.10) using Wine. This guide is confirmed to work with Bibleworks 7 and Bibleworks 8 using any Wine version 1.0 and up (Bibleworks 6 has worked fine for years).
Here are the steps I used to run Bibleworks in Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10 (though the instructions should also work in any Linux distro, like Fedora or OpenSUSE, that includes Wine 1.0 and later).
Step 1: Install Wine
You will need to most recent version (1.0 or higher). Use your distribution’s package-manager or follow the instructions for your distribution here (for Ubuntu, use this guide.
Step 2: Tell Wine to Play Nice
There are a few modifications that you will want to make to ensure that Wine plays well with Bibleworks. First, and most important, make certain that you are emulating XP. To do this, type “winecfg” in the command line, and make sure XP is the selected version.
Second, the default settings for Internet Explorer will not work with Bibleworks. We will need to change it. Do the following in a terminal to backup the default setup:
mv ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Internet\ Explorer ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/IE6BACKUP
Now we need to use the winetricks script to set up a fake Internet Explorer. In the command line:
wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks
chmod +x winetricks
./winetricks
This will bring up the following window. There are a lot of great options here. The only one that you need to worry about at the moment is fakeie6. Select it and let winetricks do its work.
Step 3: Install Bibleworks 7
Now the fun part. Pop in your first Bibleworks disc. Open you favorite file manager and explore the CD. The application you want is “autorun.exe,” and it is best not to run it from the command line (since you will have to switch discs several times). Select the modules you want and start installing.
The only difficulty I ran into here is being a little trigger happy on the disc switching. When the window for exchanging disc opens, go ahead an put in the requested disc. Do not click OK until the disc is fully loaded. Once the disc icon shows up on your desktop (or “Computer” folder), it’s ready to go, and only then should you click OK. Jumping the gun here could result in Bibleworks never recognizing the disc, and you will have to start over. (If this does not work, you can copy the contents of each disc into a folder in your home directory, then use the command line and run wine /path/to/folder/setup.exe).
Once it’s installed, you will have a Bibleworks icon on your desktop. Drag and drop this to whatever launcher or menu you want, or just doubleclick to launch Bibleworks.
Step 4: Updates.
Shutdown Bibleworks and then start it up again. This saves your settings, which is necessary if you have a crash. You should do this anytime you make changes to Bibleworks, such as setting options or default versions.
Before tailoring Bibleworks to your personal needs, it’s a good idea to download all the updates. Sometimes an update can reset your settings, so update before your tweek.
You should be able to check for automatic online updates (this is why we ran the winetricks script). Do not use the dialog for this in the Options menu. Instead, go to Help – Bibleworks on the Internet – Check for updates. This should bring up the window to the left. Check all that you want (I recommend everything), and then click “Apply.”
It should work, and will eventually restart Bibleworks on its own.
Step 5: Getting Pretty
Check out this screenshot. Not pretty, right? That’s because the standard fonts are not really good in Wine. Go to Tools – Options. Select the Font Tab. Adjust as necessary. I used the default font for my Ubuntu theme, which looks very nice. You may also want to change your Greek and Hebrew fonts. For recommendations, check out this post.
Also, while you are in this dialog, set up the “Export” fonts for Unicode support. Use the screenshot to the left as a guide.
You can “pretty up” the rest of the interface by using the aforementioned winetricks script to install the “Core Fonts” package and “Tahoma.”
Step 6: Fixing Smaller Bugs
One minor annoyance occurs when Bibleworks starts and the Welcome Screen appears. In the bottom right hand corner of this dialog box you can uncheck the “Appear at Startup” button, but it won’t do any good. To keep this screen from appearing you need to manually change a line in the bw700.ini file. Located this file in your Wine/BibleWorks 7/ directory and change the following line:
ishowgetstart=1
Change the value to 0.
Step 7: Enduring Problems
There are several issues, but only one of them is major. The most obvious is the lack of any icons on the toolbar. This is really not a problem, however, since Bibleworks gives you many ways to get to the dialogs you need.
Update: Some of what follows is not an issue in Bibleworks 8, but help files do still crash Bibleworks.
The biggest issue is that modules that require Windows Help files (.chm) will crash Bibleworks when you close them. This includes many of the various “books” that Bibleworks provides, such a Gesenius’s Hebrew Grammar. There is a work around, however: don’t close the window after you open it. As long as you do not close the window, you can browse, read, copy/paste to your heart’s content. Bibleworks lets you have as many of these windows open as you want, so when you are done with them, just minimize them.
Work Around: You can always view the resource in a native Linux CHM viewer, such as gnochm. I have linked all the .chm files in the Bibleworks “databases” directory into a separate folder to make accessing these resources easier.
Finally, if you do have a crash, you will see the screen to your right. Make sure you select the last option. Bibleworks is a little over-protective. Do not allow it to delete your .ini file, as you will have to reset all your settings. Instead, select “Let the operating system handle the error” and just restart.
I very much recommend backing up your settings file, particularly if you make heavy modifications to the default options (such as specialized search versions, font choices, etc). Despite Bibleworks’s claim to the contrary, the bw700.ini file in the Bibleworks directory is not the file to backup. Bibleworks creates an .ini file in the Windows directory, and that is the one you need (this has been fixed in a recent update). To backup, simply browse to that directory and copy the bw700.ini file, or use the terminal:
cp ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/bw700.ini ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/bw700.ini_BAK
Do the same for the file in the Bibleworks directory, since the most recent version does use that file:
cp ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Bibleworks\ 7/bw700.ini ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Bibleworks\ 7/bw700.ini_BAK
Should you have any problems in the future, just restore your backup file. Windows users will benefit from this as well (I get the occasional crash there too).
I have not had too many crashes. It is pretty stable, for a Wine app, and you can always use something like VirtualBox if you need more stability. Also, whenever you spend a good amount of time changing your settings (such as default search versions, etc.), shutdown and restart to save your settings.
Conclusion
I hope this helps Linux users use this wonderful software. Please post problems (and solutions) in the comments. Here is one last screenshot, with everything running:
Related posts:
[...] Keene talks about how to run BibleWorks 7 on Linux with Wine. It sort of runs, if you can live without the toolbar (there are other ways to access the [...]
Thanks for posting this Tommy. I’m sure I’ll be coming back to it once I get around to setting up the dual boot system.
I have found it easier on Ubuntu to set-up VirtualBox with Windows XP as a guest OS and just load BibleWorks in Windows. Works flawlessly and much better than Wine.
Yes, VirtualBox is great, and up until the release of Wine 1.0 was my preferred method as well. But it requires HUGE overhead, both in terms of disc space (about 5 gigs just for the OS) and in other system resources (extra memory, processing power, etc). Also, of course, it requires you to purchase Windows. That’s a lot to sacrifice to run just one program. Wine is faster, smaller, more economical, cheaper, and now runs Bibleworks just fine.
But I did reference VirtualBox in the post. If you have trouble with Wine, it is an excellent solution. And, since Bibleworks 7 runs on Windows 2000, you can limit the install size by using that OS instead.
http://www.virtualbox.org/
Hi Tommy,
Its interesting to listen in to your thread,
I have run xp for years and tried linux a few years ago. Now, I have a new laptop with Vista on it and I am just entering the world of ubuntu to see which of my old software I can still run. For financial reasons most of my biblical software is pretty old but my worship software is newer. You probably haven’t used all of these, but do you know which of the following works in linux? I have
Bibleworks 95
Libronix 2.1b
Wordsearch 7
Pradis 5.1
Hymnquest 2008
Virtual Liturgy Live
Zionworx 2.6
Songpro 4.1.35
Thanks,
Mike
Thanks for your comments Mike. I confess I have only used two of the programs on your list. Bibleworks 95 should work in Linux (all versions prior to 6 seem to work fine with Wine). Libronix 2.1b should also work (again, older software usually works better in Wine).
If all the software listed is older, you should not run into too many problems with Wine. Older software usually does better than cutting edge stuff. Also, programs that are not massively reliant on Windows-specific products do better than those that make heavy use of Windows .dlls (Bibleworks wants Internet Explorer and Windows Help, for example).
You can always check to see if your app is listed in the Wine app database: http://appdb.winehq.org/
Maybe other readers can comment more. Has anyone tested any of these with wine.
How are you "entering" the world of Ubuntu? Have you installed it seperate, or are you running it through Windows? The guide here should work for other software as well; why not try them under Wine?
Keep us updated. I would be interested to hear your results.
I have been running BibleWorks 7 under Ubuntu 8.10 and Wine for several months, and am quite happy with it except for one problem. When scrolling back a line at a time in the Bible text (center) pane, the lines of text scrolling in from the top are cut off, so that only the top half of the characters in any given line are visible. If I scroll back in jumps (by clicking above the slider in the scroll bar), the text is rendered properly. I wonder whether anyone else has observed this behavior, and has found a solution for it.
Not sure how to solve that problem. I usually browse in parallel mode, so that has never really bothered me, but I can confirm that it does this. I don't know what the problem might be here, though. Sorry!
Thanks for a good guide. I just installed Bibleworks 8 using your guide, and BW8 seems to work just as well as Bibleworks 7.
That is very good news! Thanks! I will update this post to reflect it.
One thing I forgot to mention, there is no problem closing the resource windows.
You mean in Bibleworks 8? That doesn't surprise me. The bug was in Wine's handling of Windows Help files, which I presume Bibleworks 8 would either upgrade or not rely on at all (since it is bad programming practice).
[...] I posted a guide awhile back walking Linux users through the steps required to get Bibleworks 7 up-and-running in Linux (using Wine). It has recently been confirmed that the steps used in that guide also work for Bibleworks 8. If you are interested in running Bibleworks in Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE) you can find the guide here. [...]
I'd also be interested to know if the Bibleworks toolbars are visible in version 8, and if anything else works better.
I know this was from a while ago, but I did not see if anyone else had answered this question. I have been successful in getting the toolbars on BW8 to work on Linux. The thing is, I'm not sure how I did it (I am still a newbie really). I am running Ubuntu 9.04 with Wine and I installed some of the other things in winetricks. I just don't know for sure which one did it. It looks just like it does in windows now for me. Anyway, the toolbars do work and might even work with 7 with the right things installed. (I want to say it was Direct X but I'm not sure. . .)
Glad to hear things are working for you! It's always good to get feedback.
Probably has nothing to do with DirectX though, which is strictly 3D stuff.
I have done so more testing. Unfortunately, I was too quick to say that it is possible to close the resource windows. It is not… BW8 behaves exactly as BW7. The lexicons, though, they can be closed. The toolbar is not visible either. Otherwise, it seems to run without any problems I have noticed so far.
Thanks so much for the research! A big help.
Tommy,
Your article convinced me to give Wine another try. I've been using BW7 in VirtualBox for almost a year, but it's slow to load and I'd rather not have Windoze at all. With Wine 1.1.15 and your Winetricks IE fix, I can now update OK, but still have very annoying problems. I have the same scrolling problem noted by David Burleigh above, but found an easy workaround: Just toggle the Browse button and the text is restored to readable form. My biggest annoyance is when I try to navigate to another book of the Bible. When I click on the bookname menu, the list "drops" UP instead of down. It was OK when I first installed BW7, but started "dropping" UP after I updated the BW executable. Now I can't see any but the last few books of the NT. I have to move the whole BW window down to the bottom of the screen to be able to see more books, even then I can't get very far back into the OT. I think I'll keep using VirtualBox until I can afford BW8, then try again.
Hmmm. You're right. These are problems I have not noticed because I never use the drop-drown. I get to a book by using the search bar (F2) and then typing in the first three letters of the book I want (Heb, 1ki, Jam, etc.). I find this much more efficient than using a mouse.
Having said that, VirtualBox is a wonderful solution to the problem. Since Bibleworks is the only Windows app I use, the hard-drive overhead is a little much for me. But if I ran more than one or two apps I would definitely consider VirtualBox again.
Tommy,
Have you had any problems running modules via wine, like Bdag or HALOT? I can unlock them, but BW in wine does not seem recognize the fact that i have installed them. Any thoughts would be great.
Hey Mike, no experience with this. I've never unlocked anything on Bibleworks. I have added user-created modules, however, and they seem to work fine. You might want to check the location of the file–make sure it's there.
If problems reach critical mass, you could always try VirtualBox.
I'd love to help more, but would be difficult without your comp. Stop by some time?
im having the same problem. cant load BDAG or HALOT onto the program. codes are fine. load is fine. just won’t find the books. every time i start my bibleworks 7 it’s like the first time you open the program. can any one help would love to get BDAG working
I have followed this to get 8 working on Ubuntu 9.04 but when I load it has the Greek keyboard turned on and when I tried to change this it says the English Keyboard layout is not available. PLease go to the windows control panel and use the keyboard applet to install the appropriate keyboard.
Since I don't have Bibleworks 8, I can't really comment. Bibleworks 7 runs fine for me in the newest version of Ubuntu. Has anybody else tried the latest version of Bibleworks in the latest version of Ubuntu?
just to want to say "thank you"! you helped me a lot with this post to install BibleWorks 6 on Ubuntu 9.04 – I was missing the "system-fonts" like arial and had to read the whole program in hebrew
many greetings from germany
Great tutorial and love the website! I have two questions though…
1) You said the graphics (or fonts) looked better on Linux? Not mine! My Hebrew font looks bad. What did you do to make it look nicer?
2) I cannot seem to find the correct file to disable the startup screen (for BW7). Where is this file located exactly? I looked everywhere but with no luck!
Thanks again,
John
Oh… btw… my tool bar works!
Just another word of thanks from a grateful, BibleWorks-dependent Ubuntu newbie! This got me going beautifully (BWks 7 under Ubuntu 9.04) and I am quite sure I could not have managed without these instructions!
Blessings! David.
Glad to hear it was helpful!
I install Bibleworks7 in my ubuntu 9.04, everything works ok but I can't avoid the appearing of the Welcome Screen. I don't have the bw700.ini file. What can I do?
Thanks
Miguel Coelho
The one thing I don't understand is how you don't have a bw700.ini file. That's not possible. Look in ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Bibleworks
Hi Tom,
thanks for your good advices. Do you know, if there is a chance to run bibleworks 8 while
firefox instead of Microsoft Internet Explorer is installed? I am using ubuntu 9.10.
Thanks,
Timo from Germany
Well, Bibleworks is designed to work with Internet Explorer to access updates. Why? I have no idea. You can "trick" Bibleworks into thinking you have IE installed by download winetricks and using the script to install fakeie. This is described in step 2 above. Good luck!
Thanks! Unfortunalety, it seems to be not the only problem. Is it possibile that ubuntu/wine somehow changes the code which bible works sent to me? And therefore it is not able to run? Do you know how to handle that? Thanks a lot! Timo
Sorry, no idea, but I doubt that it changed the code. I guess FakeIE is not working for you? Can you describe the error you are getting?
it doesnt accept my confirmation code, although its a brand new one from the bibleworks company.
i have no clue. Timo
Timo,
I had the same problem. Call Bible Works and report it. For some reason, they had to give me a new code.
I don't know if this will happen again when I buy my new laptop and install Ubuntu 10.04. This was a test-install to see what would happened on my husband's Ubuntu desktop.
Margaret Aymer Oget
Thank you, Margaret!
I'll call Bible Works once again.
Bye,
Timo
Just so you know, I just uploaded BW 8 to Ubuntu 10.4 and had to have my husband override the Ubuntu block on unsecured programs through the command line. (It's good to live with a software engineer).
Many thanx for this useful manual. I used it years ago when I installed BW7 in Ubuntu 8.04 and very recently I’ve used it again in Ubuntu 10.4.1.
Note that the Wine-version for Ubuntu 10.4.1 requires one to install .exe files with the option “uninstall Wine programs”: applications > Wine > Uninstall Wine programs (a bit odd). When you choose that option you get an install button with which you can install BW very easily.
There is however a new problem: I cannot open any .chm file using Ubuntu 10.4.1 (in Ubuntu 8.04 I could). I checked if Ubuntu or Wine was authorized to open the .chm files and they were. The moment I click upon say Matthew Henry’s commentary BW7 crashes. Can anyone help me out?
I don't get the crash when I open the file, but it also doesn't show me any text, just an empty CHM window. It does crash if I try to close the window. I really hate that BW still uses CHM files!
This isn't really a fix, but all the materials that BW provides through CHM files are, to my knowledge, available through the web as PDFs or other types of documents. Matthew Henry, for example, is available through Google Books, which you can download as a PDF or as a eBook.
I'll look into the CHM bug, though. I'll post back here if I find anything.
Another thought: you can use a CHM viewer to view the files independently of Biblelworks. Here's a post on that: http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-view-chm-files-in-u…
The files are located in your Bibleworks folder under the "Databases" subfolder.
When I tried to install Gnochm Ubuntu 10.4.1 won't install it. Is it compatible with Ubuntu 10.4.1?
This will bring up the following window. There are a lot of great options here. The only one that you need to worry about at the moment is fakeie6. Select it and let winetricks do its work.
I don't have a fakeie6 option.
Apparently fakeie6 has been removed from winetricks because ‘it hasn’t been needed for a long time’. If I try to install BW8 under Ubuntu Netbook 10.10 and wine the ‘preparing to install’ screen comes up but it then disappears and nothing else happens. I’m not sure if it’s because I had to skip the fakeie6 step (since it doesn’t exist anymore) or if there’s another problem….
Please let me know if you find a work around ….
I’ve been able to complete the installation by reinstating iexplore.exe from the backup directory in Step 2, skipping the fakeie6/winetricks step altogether and changing the option in winecfg to run wine in a virtual window (on the Graphics tab). I can now run BW8 ok.
However, it crashes whenever it wants to access the internet (eg for updates), telling me that Internet Explorer is not installed. So there are still problems with this approach – can anyone help?
Hmm. Turns out my version of iexplore.exe was somehow corrupted, because I copied a backup across and everything works on now. So there you go….
I installed it on Arch Linux: wine-1.3.9
First I installed corefonts, flash and ie7 with winetricks
Started the Bibleworks installer from the dvd, the first screen appears, nothing happend
The fix for this problem after searching for hours was very easy, use the alt + left mouse button to move the window, another window with the installer is there !!
There are still some problems with the chm files especially with links/popups. Maybe it's possible to use external chm viewers within wine..
Thanks for the guide. I have been using a separate chm viewer for those files. The Bibleworks naming conventions make it easy to figure out which is which, though I still can't understand why they use chm files in the first place.
ps: you have to press next first in the first screen
and: sorry for my bad english
i am looking into http://www.jrnguyen.com/2009/11/16/windows-file-a… but it doesn't work unfortunaly
another thing, in Arch, if you install lib32-lcms, the software is more stable (no idea why)