Gnomesword vs. Bibletime...thoughts??

[Robertjm]

Hi all,

I haven't looked at the linux world's bible software too closely as of yet, having been a user of eSword in the Windows world.

Besides the obvious desktop difference, are there any use differences that would make one prefer either program?

Right now I'm using Gnome, but my prefered desktop environment would be KDE, providing I can solve some nagging issues about sound and mounting USB devices like ipods and external hdd!!.

Both programs have pretty small so you could install both and play around with them, but I was wondering what experience other people have had.

Thoughts?

Robert

[mhancoc7]

I prefer BibleTime. It is a little more polished to me and adding modules is easier. I decided to include GnomeSword as the default in Ubuntu CE since it is gnome. I added BibleTime to the Ubuntu CE Installer so those who would rather have it or just want to try it can easily find and install it.
Jereme

[Isoss]

I prefer bibltime. It's really cool and make it easy to study the bible the way you can compare translations, the easiness of getting the original (hebrew/greek) meaning when pointing the curser on any work in KJV. I used gnome before on many machines and always installed bibletime. And now that I am using icthux which is really cool, I have a completely cool distro :) Never used Ubuntu CE yet but soon I'll do ... but will never give up using bibltime though :)

[Raphink]

Just an annoucement, since this thread is about BibleTime:

BibleTime 1.6 is out, together with Sword 1.5.9!

They will soon be packaged and available in Ubuntu Edgy (6.10), so Ichthux 6.10 will include them :)


God bless


Raphaël

[theorem_hunter]

i was looking for screen shots of bibletime but cant find any, any help?
thanks

[silvagroup]

I like Bibletime better. But if you are used to E-sword, like I was, you will probably want E-sword. I tried the others but after having used E-sword for so long, it was back to E-sword. It runs fine under wine there are other posts on that subject.

[aysiu]

i was looking for screen shots of bibletime but cant find any, any help?
thanks
Here are some (http://images.google.com/images?q=bibletime&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=N&tab=wi)

By the way, I prefer Bibletime, too.

Gnome programs are usually simpler and easier to use, but I found GnomeSword an exception to the rule (very confusing!), especially when it came to having parallel views.

[ReaderRat]

providing I can solve some nagging issues about sound
This may help:
Sound Solutions - Comprehensive Guide
http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Comprehensive_Sound_Problems_Solutions_Guide
...depends on what onboard chipset or sound card you use...

[thibeaz]

well for me Bible time and gnomesword are using the same api so it makes no difference for me becuase I used all 3 from sword project, to gnomesword and bible time

[shane2peru]

I guess I may need to look at Bibletime again. I prefer GnomeSword. I have used it because I run Gnome. Bibletime didn't work well for me back in Breezy, so I just stuck to GnomeSword and learned it. Works fine for me.
I definitly prefer e-Sword, but beg to differ about it running fine under wine. I crash it often, and it still runs slow, faster than it does in Windows, however it is still slow compared to GnomeSword. I crash it using the Strongs numbers (have to be turned off :confused:, and no nice background color that I liked in windows -- I know minor things, but still.) I have found The Word - (www.theword.gr) to run very fast under wine, and they are coming out with version 3 that will offer many of the study materials that is lacking now.

That is my $0.02 worth.

Shane

[Isoss]

I guess I may need to look at Bibletime again. I prefer GnomeSword. I have used it because I run Gnome. Bibletime didn't work well for me back in Breezy, so I just stuck to GnomeSword and learned it. Works fine for me.
I definitly prefer e-Sword, but beg to differ about it running fine under wine. I crash it often, and it still runs slow, faster than it does in Windows, however it is still slow compared to GnomeSword. I crash it using the Strongs numbers (have to be turned off :confused:, and no nice background color that I liked in windows -- I know minor things, but still.) I have found The Word - (www.theword.gr) to run very fast under wine, and they are coming out with version 3 that will offer many of the study materials that is lacking now.

That is my $0.02 worth.

Shane

Sorry for deviating from the topic, but since you have e-sword at least working I'd like you to tell me how you got it to work because I tried before with wine using a new version (can't remember what it was cuz that was too long ago) and it only opened the interface of e-sword with no data in it!

I prefer e-sword, although bibletime is cooler but e-sword provides some stuff that bibletime doesn't provide such as the original hebrew and greek writing of words!

So I hope I can get a help on this .. sorry again, but I searched a lot and posted a lot about this to no avail.

[silvagroup]

but beg to differ about it running fine under wine. I crash it often, and it still runs slow, faster than it does in Windows, however it is still slow compared to GnomeSword. I crash it using the Strongs numbers (have to be turned off , and no nice background color that I liked in windows -- I know minor things, but still.)
I'd like you to tell me how you got it to work because I tried before with wine using a new version (can't remember what it was cuz that was too long ago) and it only opened the interface of e-sword with no data in it!
Make sure you have wine 9.25 and wincfg set up with e-sword.exe added to applications and in libraries add riched20 to native, that should take care of your problems. You can also check http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=4786 for more information.
Like I mentioned it works great in wine. Also remember that the libraries have to be extracted they will not install with wine installer. Also drop a line to the developer asking to please consider porting to GNU/Linux or to at least provide the libraries in zip or tar for easier installs. His email is .http://www.e-sword.net/feedback.html

[shane2peru]

I think I need to down grade wine, because yesterday I tried to open e-Sword, and it didn't work.:confused: I know it is installed, and worked before. Is version 9.25 in the repos? Or do I need to get a deb? Thanks.

Shane

[silvagroup]

Not currently being in CE I am not sure what version is in the repos. It should be 9.23 or 9.24 at a minimum. Wine release is at 9.25 nad this distro I am currently running is at 9.24.
What seems to be the problem, what is it doing or not doing.
Have you set your config for xp and the others mentioned in previous posts?
If you want current release from wine go here for repo setup from winehq http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb
Just thought of something else, if I remember I got an msls31.dll error when I first installed e-sword. That just means that you would have to place a copy of msls31.dll in the .wine/drive_c/windows/system32 folder and your off and running.

[shane2peru]

Here is the problem I'm having wine e-Sword.exe
fixme:ole:CoRegisterMessageFilter message filter has been registered, but will not be used
fixme:ole:OleLoadPictureEx (0xd05924,177214,1,{7bf80980-bf32-101a-8bbb-00aa00300cab},x=0,y=0,f=0,0x33f9a0), partially implemented.
fixme:ole:OleLoadPictureEx (0xd05924,177214,1,{7bf80980-bf32-101a-8bbb-00aa00300cab},x=0,y=0,f=0,0x33f9a0), partially implemented.
fixme:ole:OleLoadPictureEx (0xd08424,774,0,{7bf80980-bf32-101a-8bbb-00aa00300cab},x=0,y=0,f=0,0x33f984), partially implemented.
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject no class object {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} could be created for context 0x3
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject no class object {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} could be created for context 0x3
shane@shane-laptop:~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/e-Sword$

I do have it set to Win XP, and the two riched20, and 32 set to the native, buletin thing. Oh, and I have 0.9.24 installed. ???

I don't know much about these things. I kept my /home when I downgraded from Edgy, is it possible I need to completly remove wine and try again?

Shane

[silvagroup]

OK 9.24 will work.
You do not need riched32 so remove it.
I kept my /home when I downgraded it maybe a really good idea to start with a clean wine you may try in terminal
mv .wine .wine.old . Should give you a clean .wine directory to start with.

[shane2peru]

Ok, thanks for the help! I got rid of riched32. I moved my .wine to .wine.old ran winecfg, and added the riched20. Set it to XP - it was setup as Win 2000, didn't work, tried Win 2000, Win ME, and Win 98, and nothing worked. It seems as though I keep getting the same error:


wine e-Sword.exe
fixme:ole:CoRegisterMessageFilter message filter has been registered, but will not be used
fixme:ole:OleLoadPictureEx (0xd05924,177214,1,{7bf80980-bf32-101a-8bbb-00aa00300cab},x=0,y=0,f=0,0x33f9a0), partially implemented.
fixme:ole:OleLoadPictureEx (0xd05924,177214,1,{7bf80980-bf32-101a-8bbb-00aa00300cab},x=0,y=0,f=0,0x33f9a0), partially implemented.
fixme:ole:OleLoadPictureEx (0xd08424,774,0,{7bf80980-bf32-101a-8bbb-00aa00300cab},x=0,y=0,f=0,0x33f984), partially implemented.
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject no class object {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} could be created for context 0x3
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject class {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} not registered
err:ole:CoGetClassObject no class object {860f9e77-4cf7-11d4-ad41-00b0d014c786} could be created for context 0x3


Shane

[shane2peru]

Ok, got it! aptitude purge wine That wiped out wine, and all the configuration files. Then I ran aptitude clean then aptitude update then aptitude install wine then deleted my .wine directory in my /home then winecfg added the riched20 to the libraries, I left it in win 2000 which it was setup as defualt. Installed e-Sword, and presto worked like a charm. Now I will just copy all my e-Sword Bibles, Notes, Commentaries etc over from my .wine.old directory. Thanks for the help! -- Sorry to chase rabbits with this thread, we can now get back to the topic at hand "Gnomesword vs. Bibletime...thoughts??"

Shane

[silvagroup]

Installed e-Sword, and presto worked like a charm. Great to hear.
back to the topic at hand "Gnomesword vs. Bibletime...thoughts?? Probably should have been a new thread.:-k

[Afkpuz]

I'm actually a student of the Bible at a Christian University and am currently studing Koine Greek. I can't say enough good things about Bible Time. I definitely prefer it over Gnome sword for this reason: side by side comparison. In gnomesowrd, you cannot (at least I haven't figured out how) view 2 versions at the same time. All you can do is select "Parallel" view. This view only shows that verse in all the versions you've asked for. It doesn't show you the whole chapter side by side. In Bible time, all you do is click on the version in your bookshelf manager and it opens up right next to the already open version. Also, you can easily link versions together in Bibletime. I use that to read KJV and the Greek side by side. Also, Bibletime's search feature seems to be more powerful in general.

[Robertjm]

Honestly, as the original thread starter it was great to see all those posts on getting e-sword working under Linux! I'd much prefer to stick with one program than play hopscotch between my Windows Mobile device and Linux Dekstop and it adds to the original discussion of how people study The Word.

Robert

Great to hear.
Probably should have been a new thread.:-k

[aonegodman]

I'm new to Linux and have just installed Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10.

Been adding to it and trying out various programs and just learning the system. So far I like what I see.

I'm a user of Online Bible for years, but I haven't been able to get Wine to run to good in my Ubuntu yet so decide to look for other options and found GnomeSword.

Dl's the x386.deb and install with Package Manager.

It appears in my pulldown menu under Accessories as "GnomeSword2 Bible Guide".

I click on it, loading timer thingy appears on desktop, but nothing happens. What's up? Need another package or lib. Any ideas or help appreciated. Thanks!

[shane2peru]

Wow you dug up an old thread! :) Here is the easiest way to install GnomeSword for a newbie. You can choose between the command line and the graphical way, you don't need to do both. Even though you installed it with a deb, this way is the best way to install software in Linux, you don't need to go searching the web for programs, look in Synaptic, it will manage all your packages for you and help you get them properly installed.

Command Line way
I prefer command line and if you like learning then do this:
Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal and type:
sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install gnomesword

Graphical way
System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager
Click on the search icon at the top, and type, GnomeSword it should show you one package called GnomeSword, just right click no it and select install package. Now click on apply and let it install. When it is done you can close synaptic, and you are set to go.

After it is installed you will find it under Applications -> Accessories -> GnomeSword2 Enjoy!

Shane

[James_L]

I have a problem i installed GnomeSword and Bible time but when i click on it.... under applications (for GnomeSword) and education (Bible Time) The program doesn't seem to work even though it seems to be installed perfectly...has this ever happened before? what am i missing? :shock:

[Sef]

I have a problem i installed GnomeSword and Bible time but when i click on it.... under applications (for GnomeSword) and education (Bible Time) The program doesn't seem to work even though it seems to be installed perfectly...has this ever happened before? what am i missing? :shock:

Applications > Accessories > Terminal

In the Terminal, type in GnomeSword and post any errors that come up; repeat the process with Bible time. You will need the exact spelling of their names.

[73ckn797]

I am considering installing a Linux Bible program. I think I would prefer Gnome-Sword. What translations are available to install into the program?

I have Bible Navigator, a Windows version. It will not run in WINE. I have VirtualBox running XP and installed it there but there were a number of modules that did not load. I get a stack of error message telling me all of the missing modules. Once past that the program runs and I have the default Bible translations to use. I may just need to do a re-install as a first fix.

I prefer the HCSB and NASB which both are included with Navigator. Are these available for Gnome-Sword?

[Eutaw]

http://www.berbible.org/
Berean Bible gives you NASB, NKJV, ESV. It's set up for Doze, works in Wine on mine. Free downloads.

[silvagroup]

73ckn797 Check here for translations - http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnomesword/.

[zerubbabel]

Is there a way in Bibletime to automatically show the Strongs definition for a word in the KJV without having to manually type in the Strongs number? In BibleWorks I can just press the shift key while hovering over a particular word, and the Greek or Hebrew word pops into the Strongs window automatically.

[cmckdub]

Is there a way in Bibletime to automatically show the Strongs definition for a word in the KJV without having to manually type in the Strongs number? In BibleWorks I can just press the shift key while hovering over a particular word, and the Greek or Hebrew word pops into the Strongs window automatically.
I have not used Bibletime myself, though I have seen it working, and it seems to be based on the same sword project as Gnomesword. I also was disappointed that Gnomesword as it appears in the Ubuntu repositories also does not have that feature of easily looking up Strong numbers. I used the Sword project repository to update Gnomesword to version 2.4.1, and the very feature you have described is now working. (I think it was included before, but just not working). I am not sure why the Ubuntu repositories had not been updated.
You may find the issue solved for you by performing such an update to Bibletime. (Take care it may stop Biblememorizer from working though - see separate post).

[ransom1982]

Hi all,

Just a quick note to inform you all that GnomeSword has just changed names to Xiphos (Greek for sword), and we have just released version 3.0 with several new features and lots of bug fixes. In addition, we now have a Windows port if someone you know is still stuck in Windows :)

Someone mentioned the lack of a chapter parallel view function. That has actually been a feature of the program for a long time, but it was hidden away. Right click on the parallel view and choose "detach" to see the full chapter in up to 5 versions side by side. In addition, in 3.0 you can have the chapter view in a separate tab; just go to the View menu and choose "view in separate tab".

Updated packages for libsword and Xiphos should soon be making their way into the repos. Until then, just add this ppa to your sources: https://edge.launchpad.net/~pkgcrosswire/+archive/ppa

Finally, if anyone has any specific features that are in e-sword but not in Xiphos, please let us know what they are.

Thanks,
Matthew Talbert

[shane2peru]

wow, this is exciting!!! Development taking place on a Bible program for Linux. Yes we would like to have strongs numbers easily accessible, and have a better interface. It is hard to explain, but if you take a look at some screen shots of e-Sword, or The Word (www.theword.gr) you can see what 'we' are used to using. It is nice to have the windows linked to each other, or de-link them when we like. But when you are in John 10:30 it would be nice for the commentary to automagically display that passage as well. That is just my 2 cents worth. :)

Shane

I will be checking it out! Thanks.

[ransom1982]

Yes we would like to have strongs numbers easily accessible,

I do not know how strongs numbers could be more accessible than they are. It is very similar (but nicer even) than e-sword does. Check out how to turn them on here(http://xiphos.org/manual/interface#xiphos-bible-options) and then scroll down a little bit to see how they actually appear in the text. On linux, the screenshot on the right (mozembed) is the one to look at. Notice the nice pseudo-interlinear strongs.


It is hard to explain, but if you take a look at some screen shots of e-Sword, or The Word (www.theword.gr) you can see what 'we' are used to using.


I have used e-Sword, so I'm familiar with the interface. I believe the Xiphos interface is better in almost every way, being familiar with both. Please list specifics, if you could.



It is nice to have the windows linked to each other, or de-link them when we like.


Xiphos does this. See here http://xiphos.org/manual/interface#xiphos-view-options.


But when you are in John 10:30 it would be nice for the commentary to automagically display that passage as well.


Xiphos does this. As far as I know, this has always been the behavior.

So just to summarize, I believe Xiphos does everything that you think it doesn't :) And it does lots more besides. For instance, if you have Festival installed, Xiphos can read the text out loud to you. If you're into studying Greek, there are modules available with the Greek accents that display nicely. If you're interested in morphology, that's available too. If you'd like to create your own modules, for use as a daily journal or prayer list, it's all built in, along with a personal commentary (or have more than one if you like). You can search for words or phrases in your entire library of books at once, or any set of them (make sure you index them first). You can even search with regular expressions if you like that :) In addition, we have excellent support for maps and images either as separate modules or embedded into the text. We have available several maps modules along with Dore's woodcuts and several other interesting modules.

I almost forgot. We have a few videos up here http://www.youtube.com/user/GnomeSwordBibleStudy, slightly out of date now with the name change, but still essentially correct. One shows how strong's numbers works. Check them out!

Thanks for taking time to reply.

Matthew

[shane2peru]

I do not know how strongs numbers could be more accessible than they are. It is very similar (but nicer even) than e-sword does. Check out how to turn them on here(http://xiphos.org/manual/interface#xiphos-bible-options) and then scroll down a little bit to see how they actually appear in the text. On linux, the screenshot on the right (mozembed) is the one to look at. Notice the nice pseudo-interlinear strongs.



I have used e-Sword, so I'm familiar with the interface. I believe the Xiphos interface is better in almost every way, being familiar with both. Please list specifics, if you could.




Xiphos does this. See here http://xiphos.org/manual/interface#xiphos-view-options.



Xiphos does this. As far as I know, this has always been the behavior.

So just to summarize, I believe Xiphos does everything that you think it doesn't :) And it does lots more besides. For instance, if you have Festival installed, Xiphos can read the text out loud to you. If you're into studying Greek, there are modules available with the Greek accents that display nicely. If you're interested in morphology, that's available too. If you'd like to create your own modules, for use as a daily journal or prayer list, it's all built in, along with a personal commentary (or have more than one if you like). You can search for words or phrases in your entire library of books at once, or any set of them (make sure you index them first). You can even search with regular expressions if you like that :) In addition, we have excellent support for maps and images either as separate modules or embedded into the text. We have available several maps modules along with Dore's woodcuts and several other interesting modules.

I almost forgot. We have a few videos up here http://www.youtube.com/user/GnomeSwordBibleStudy, slightly out of date now with the name change, but still essentially correct. One shows how strong's numbers works. Check them out!

Thanks for taking time to reply.

Matthew

Matthew,

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about Xiphos. After downloading it and checking it out I must say it is a good face lift to Gnomesword, and you are right about all of the above! It has been a while since I used Gnomesword, I had given it up for 'The Word' which I really like because of the great support for the original Greek modules. The really only thing that I can see that Xiphos is lacking in comparison to e-Sword or the Word, is the ability to have the tabbed commentaries, and dictionaries. That really is a handy item. Perhaps this is a feature and once again I just didn't see it, but if not, that would be a major feature request. It just makes it that much easier to change to a new commentary and read a few.

I did notice the festival part, and that is really cool. I stumbled across this thread to make festival talk even better in English: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=751169 which may be good reference for those who plan on using the festival with Xiphos. It adds more voices and better voices to festival. Just a side note.

Thanks for letting us know about Xiphos!!! I will give it serious consideration, really my Bible program is about the only thing I use wine with! This would/could make me 100% Linux. :) Although I really love 'The Word'. Oh, they have a module that I'm about 99% sure is not available for The Sword Project, it is here: http://www.theword.gr/en/index.php/w/download?ws=bibletexts#orig The very first one combines 4 different greek texts to show the variances between each text. A very very handy module to have.

Shane

[silvagroup]

WOW, looking through the project it really looks wonderful and there has been some great work done !!!!

However, there is still a loomimg problem plaquing the Linux Bible programs, and that is the avialability of materials; commentaries, Bible versions, ebooks, lectionaries... that are prevelant in all the Windows versions.

Of course we know that has to do with licensing, but if they can do it in Windows I am sure it can be done in Linux.
And if I own the lincense for the material on Windows should it matter that I am using it under a Linux OS instead?

I know there is a large amount of propietary software for Linux so then the issue has to be the accessibility.

I have no answers for this but I know there are much greater minds out there that can make this happen.

I use Logos software most of the time, occasionally using e-sword under wine because of the overwhelming content available, in which I already have a substantial investment in. I use it because it greatly enhances my ability to study and to prapre for my teaching and messgaes.

I continue to email both the Libronix folk and e-sword folk for Linux versions, but of course we know money talks, and with over 95% of pastoral and church computers running Windows they have no intrest in addressing the Linux issues, but I continue to email and pray for those changes.

So until that happens I still have to use an emulator to unfortunately run Windows so I can run Logos, and Wine to run e-sword.

Just my 1/2 cent worth,

[ransom1982]

Silvagroup,

Would you care to share exactly what materials you would like that aren't available through The SWORD Project? For modern English translations, there are ESV and NET (which is also available in a paid version with 60,000 translation notes, quite a valuable resource), as well as some lesser known versions. In addition, the NASB will soon be available as well. There is a large collection of Greek texts available, see herehttp://xiphos.org/manual/originallanguage for more details.

Thanks,
Matthew

[silvagroup]

ransom 1982 the list is well into the hundreds, and the available resources number into the thousand and more being added every day. But it's not just the resources but the features. You would have to go to the website to get an idea for yourself.

As for the features it's nothing that any of the great minds working on the Linux projects could not also do, but again we come back to the issue of the resouces, materials availbale which are licensed.
Even E-Sword a "free' but propietary software program is now offering licensed materials. For over a dacade they did not because it was "free" software.

Now please note that Im not advocating that everyone should get any of these afore mentined products.

I actaully rarely recommend that to anyone, becasue there are excellent free resources abvailable.
But what I am avocating is that the Linux products need to figure out how to, as E-Sword which is a "free" product, offer the same licensed materials. If they can do it, I would imagine, so can we in Linux.

[ransom1982]

Licensed materials is something that the SWORD Project, and Xiphos support. The aforementioned NET Bible has both a free and a paid (licensed) version, protected with an encryption key. I believe there is a German module available as well. The upcoming NASB will also be a licensed product, and I have heard that more premium licensed content is in the pipeline. Admittedly the amount of content available this way is limited at the moment, but I believe the situation will improve. What publishers need to hear is folks like you asking them to consider publishing their content in this manner.

Thanks for the feedback,

Matthew

[shane2peru]

Feature Request. :)

This is a feature request that would be nice to see. I was using Xiphos this morning, and read something I really liked. I went to underline it, like I do in The Word (www.theword.gr) and discovered, ahh, no ability to underline, highlight text in the passage. I believe that e-Sword has this ability as well. Another thing that I thought of is, perhaps make a way for easy module development for average (non-programmers) to use and make modules. Xiphos is a good improvement over GnomeSword, and I think you are on the right track. These things will only help make it better, and put it up there on the same level as the Windows Bible applications.

I Want to help improve Xiphos, because I would like to see a great Bible program for Linux. Thank you for the work you are doing on it!!!

Shane

(I was going to post this on the SourceForge Tracker page for Xiphos, but I don't have an account, and I really don't want to sign up for yet another account on yet another tracker/bug/forum/discussion type thing. I already cannot keep track of all the ones I have signed up on.)

[shane2peru]

Please don't think I'm really down on Xiphos, I'm very glad there is a team of dev's working on it. This is yet another thing that I noticed about it. The lack of pop up verses. I really find it extremely helpful be able to scroll over a verse reference and have it pop up in a small window to see what it says, rather than changing my study window to that verse and then flipping back. It is little things like that, but they do make a difference for everyday use, and studying. Once again, just some observations for the improvement of Xiphos! :)

Shane

[ransom1982]

Xiphos does this in a slightly different way than you are accustomed to. First of all, make sure that you have cross-references, notes, etc turned on in your Bible (right-click->module options). Then, hovering over notes and cross-references will bring them up in the previewer. Note that our system allows having more than one cross-reference per verse, as many Bibles (including ESV) have multiple cross-references. This would be hard to implement properly in the traditional popup. You can have the previewer directly under the text, or in the sidebar (choose from the View menu).

See http://xiphos.org/manual/interface#xiphos-viewer and http://xiphos.org/manual/interface#xiphos-bible-options

[ransom1982]

Feature Request. :)

This is a feature request that would be nice to see. I was using Xiphos this morning, and read something I really liked. I went to underline it, like I do in The Word (www.theword.gr) and discovered, ahh, no ability to underline, highlight text in the passage. I believe that e-Sword has this ability as well.


e-sword does not have this capability. Unfortunately, neither do we. I agree it would be a helpful addition.


Another thing that I thought of is, perhaps make a way for easy module development for average (non-programmers) to use and make modules.


As with most of the other things you've mentioned as being "missing", Xiphos does indeed allow you to easily create modules. See http://xiphos.org/manual/journals.


I Want to help improve Xiphos, because I would like to see a great Bible program for Linux. Thank you for the work you are doing on it!!!

Shane

(I was going to post this on the SourceForge Tracker page for Xiphos, but I don't have an account, and I really don't want to sign up for yet another account on yet another tracker/bug/forum/discussion type thing. I already cannot keep track of all the ones I have signed up on.)

How about joining the users' mailing list instead? Help->Mailing List.

Matthew

[ransom1982]

The really only thing that I can see that Xiphos is lacking in comparison to e-Sword or the Word, is the ability to have the tabbed commentaries, and dictionaries. That really is a handy item. Perhaps this is a feature and once again I just didn't see it, but if not, that would be a major feature request.


This is another one of those things that be done but just a little differently than how e-Sword does it. Find the commentary(ies) you want to have open, right-click on them one at a time and choose "Open in New Tab". Then from the view menu, choose "Link Tabs". That's all there is to it. For Xiphos, configurability is king. We don't think you should be locked into one way of looking at things. So experiment with tabs, etc, until it is laid out like you want, then go to File-Save Session, to save this session for another time. You can open Xiphos multiple times, each running a different session.


Thanks for letting us know about Xiphos!!! I will give it serious consideration, really my Bible program is about the only thing I use wine with! This would/could make me 100% Linux. :) Although I really love 'The Word'. Oh, they have a module that I'm about 99% sure is not available for The Sword Project, it is here: http://www.theword.gr/en/index.php/w/download?ws=bibletexts#orig The very first one combines 4 different greek texts to show the variances between each text. A very very handy module to have.


I'm not entirely sure I understand what is special about this module, so please inform me. In Xiphos, you could have a parallel view of up to five different Greek texts at once. Wouldn't this accomplish the same thing? In addition, the Greek texts we have available typically have Greek accents, Strong's numbers, and Morphology embedded.

One last comment in regards to 'The Word'. I'm sure it's a very nice product, but one thing I think it can't do is search in more than just Bibles. In Xiphos, you can search your entire library, including Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries, at one time. With indexing, this is lightning fast. You can do a search for "lemma:" (ie, embedded strongs), and return all the verses, commentary sections, general book sections where that particular Greek word is used across your entire library at once.

Matthew

[shane2peru]

I'm not entirely sure I understand what is special about this module, so please inform me. In Xiphos, you could have a parallel view of up to five different Greek texts at once. Wouldn't this accomplish the same thing? In addition, the Greek texts we have available typically have Greek accents, Strong's numbers, and Morphology embedded.

One last comment in regards to 'The Word'. I'm sure it's a very nice product, but one thing I think it can't do is search in more than just Bibles. In Xiphos, you can search your entire library, including Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries, at one time. With indexing, this is lightning fast. You can do a search for "lemma:" (ie, embedded strongs), and return all the verses, commentary sections, general book sections where that particular Greek word is used across your entire library at once.

Matthew

Matthew,

Thank you very much for your responses, you have been very patient with my ignorance of Xiphos, and helped me to understand somethings. I do appreciate that. I have joined the user-list so you will be seeing me there, and we can continue this discussion on the list. I will answer you above question about the module for "The Word" and it's search features.

The Greek module that I referenced is really great. It shows the variances between the: 1. Stephanus Textus Receptus 2. Byzantine 3. Alexandrian 4. and Scrivner's TR. Below is the quote from info on the Bible for that module.



Public Domain Greek New Testament
With variants identified and tagged for reference to source of transmission and schools of emphasis.
Textus Receptus
Stephens 1550 Textus Receptus
Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus
Byzantine Majority
as identified by Von Soden and Hoskier, and utilized by Hodges & Farstad, Robinson & Pierpont. [these editions agree on 99.75 percent of the Byzantine texts, and greater than 98 percent with the TR.];
Alexandrian
as identified by United Bible Society, 3rd ed., and utilized by modern translations such as the NIV and NASB.
VARIANT TAGGING METHOD
The following tags have been applied to those words peculiar to one stream of transmission, or scholarly group which emphasizes a particular variant word. Those words with no tag are do not differ in the various printings of the Greek.
? = Stephens 1550 Textus Receptus.
The text used is George Ricker Berry's edition of "The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament." This text is virtually identical to Erasmus 1516, Beza 1598, and the actual Textus Receptus: Elzevir 1633. Berry states that "In the main they are one and the same; and [any] of them may be referred to as the Textus Receptus" (Berry, p.ii).
These early printed Greek New Testaments closely parallel the text of the English King James Authorized Version of 1611, since that version was based closely upon Beza 1598, which differed little from its "Textus Receptus" predecessors. These Textus Receptus editions follow the Byzantine Majority mss., which was predominant during the period of manual copying of Greek New Testament manuscripts.
? = Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus
The text used is "K???? ???????: The New Testament. The Greek Text underlying the English Authorised Version of 1611" (London: Trinitarian Bible Society, 1977). This is an unchanged reprint of Scrivener's "The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text followed in the Authorised Version" (Cambridge: University Press, 1894, 1902).
Scrivner attempted to reconstruct the Greek text underlying the English 1611 KJV for comparison to the 1881 English R.V. In those places where the KJV followed the Latin Vulgate (Joh 10:16), Scrivener inserted the greek reading, as opposed to back-translating the Latin to Greek--which would have produced a Greek word with no Greek mss. evidence. Scrivner's work follows the Byzantine Majority texts, and in many places matches the modern Alexandrian based editions.
ß= Byzantine Majority
The text is that identified by Freiherr Von Soden, "Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer altesten erreichbaren Textgestalt" (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1911) and Herman C. Hoskier, "Concerning the Text of the Apocalypse" (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1929). This technique of Byzantine identification and weighting, was utilized by Hodges and Farsted in "The Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text" (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982; 1985). It was subsequently utilized by Robinson and Pierpont, resulting in 99.75 percent agreement between the two texts.
The Byzantine Majority text is closely identified with the Textus Receptus editions, and well it should with greater than 98% agreement. As Maurice Robinson pointed out in his edition of the Byzantine Majority: "George Ricker Berry correctly noted that 'in the main they are one and the same; and [any] of them may be referred to as the Textus Receptus' (George Ricker Berry, ed., _The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament_ [New York: Hinds & Noble, 1897], p.ii).;
?= Alexandrian
The differences are those identified by United Bible Society 3rd ed., and utilized by modern translations such as NIV and NASB. While these variants come from mss. with less textual evidence than the Byzantine Majority, many of the differences are exactly the same as those identified by the Byzantine Majority and Scrivner. The percentage of variants are quite small and occur mainly in word placement, and spelling. Many of the variations identified are omitted or bracketed words, which is not surprising due to a significantly smaller base of text from this stream of transmission.

I attached a screen shot of it. The gray words are the variants the red letter tells which text it belongs to. Really neat, takes all the comparison work out of it for me.

As for the search feature I am able to search my library as well. It is a separate function to search all books, or search the Bible. Honestly some may use it, I usually find myself searching the Bible more than anything. I guess I have used it once or twice, but not on a regular basis.

I have attached a second screen shot showing what I mean about the pop up verses, that is for the commentaries, not the footnotes of the text. I can mouse over the reference and the verse pops up, great for quick research. Also for the tabs, I meant the tabs in the main window. You will notice I have whatever commentary at a single click of the tab, and still maintain my view of the Bible much like the commentary view and book view of Xiphos. Only the tabs correspond to different commentaries. I'm not sure if it is very clear what I mean but it is slightly different than what you explained for the tabs in Xiphos. Just a minor clarifying on my part.

Thank you again for the time and info you have put in for Xiphos. I will continue to use it and learn more about it.

Shane

[ransom1982]

And to you, thanks for taking the time to look at Xiphos. The commentaries and tabs are different than how Xiphos works. I think that there are enhancements that we could add to Xiphos to get much the same result however. I've thought of including a button on the commentary tab that would take you to the next commentary that had content for that verse. Still thinking about how to implement that in a user-friendly way.

As far as the Greek, no I don't believe there is a module available that does what you want. It would be possible to create such a module, although it would require someone with a good knowledge of Greek (ie, not me :) )

Look forward to hearing suggestions/comments on the users' list.

[mikemv3]

Bibletime is good but there aren't any help files for it. It is pretty easy to get around but no help files. Gnomesword is complete with helps files and seems to work with the same books.

[kennete]

Davar3 http://www.davar3.net/ can play sound (narration) synchronised with book verses with

MP3 files from http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt00.htm#mp3

Can you do this with Bibletime or Xiphos?

[jonathonblake]

e-sword does not have this capability.

e-Sword has the ability to underline text in Bibles. (Four different ways.) It also offers the ability to highlight words. (Six colours in the default palette. Forty-six colours in the optional palette. Sixteen colours in the custom palette.)


jonathon

[James Willis]

I prefer Bibletime, however, I find it very useful to use Gnomesword also.

Bibletime and Gnomesword, both automatically use the same default resources directory so you can use either the Bookshelf Manager(Bibletime) or the Module Manager(Gnomesword) to make changes to your resources.

Both have been updated and the latest stable current release of Bibletime is 1.7. Gnomesword has changed names and is now called Xiphos. The current Xiphos Bible Guide is version 3.01 (see http://xiphos.org/).

I encourage everyone to use both since they complement each other very well and will work perfectly in Kubuntu and Ubuntu and other linux distrubutions.

[Edk]

Sorry to continue this thread, but I have a query about installation / dependencies.

I run Ubuntu 9.04. I assume that I needed to install the new Xiphos, so I followed the instructions

here
http://xiphos.org/download/

and here:
https://edge.launchpad.net/~pkgcrosswire/+archive/ppa and downloaded crosswire-ppa_1.6~09.04_all.deb and installed this

All went well, and in Synaptic Package manager I assumed that I install "bibletime"

HOWEVER it seems to require "... a working KDE environment.." which I do not want to install. Is there a work-around for this please?

Thanks in advance

Ed

[dmitrijledkov]

Bibletime is an application written with KDE in mind, but no you do not need to install a "full working KDE environment"

If you want to use install bibletime, just go into synaptic and install it as usuall. It will install a few qt/kde dependencies but it will not install full KDE environment.

Where did you read "... a working KDE environment.." ?

As matter of fact all Gnome and KDE applications work equally well in both Gnome and KDE.

Hope this helps.

[eelik]

All went well, and in Synaptic Package manager I assumed that I install "bibletime"

HOWEVER it seems to require "... a working KDE environment.." which I do not want to install. Is there a work-around for this please?

Thanks in advance

Ed

BibleTime 2.0 upwards doesn't require anything from KDE, only the Qt library. 2.0 should be in the repository you mentioned. If you still see KDE mentioned somewhere, you can report it to a proper place - if it's in the package description, to the packager team.

http://devel.bibletime.info/wiki/Release_announcements#2009-05-30_BibleTime_2.0_final_release.21 has pointers to the mailing list, irc channel etc. where you can find more help if needed.

[Edk]

Thanks for your help.

My sincere apologies for the delay in replying - I have been tied up with other things. Sorry!

Ed

[ransom1982]

If you actually want to install "Xiphos" rather than "Bibletime", you need to search for "xiphos" in Synaptic and install that. Bibletime is a separate (though related) program.

[Stig1959]

Thanks for the work and effort you are putting into Xiphos. One question that I have is with regard to the Bible pane view and Commentary pane view. I have done as you instructed in another post re opening commentaries and linking them. But I discover that when I click on any commentary tab, except the first one, that the Bible pane view is not available. Is there a way that you can make the Bible pane view always able to be viewed no matter what commentary tab you click on? I've tried various things but perhaps what to do is staring me in the face!

I hope the above makes sense and thanks in advance for any help.

Continue the good work!

[ransom1982]

Click on each tab, go to the View menu, and check the "Bible" menu item (do this for each tab you would like to contain a Bible pane).

Matthew

[Stig1959]

Matthew,

Thank you so much for the quick reply and the answer to my question. As I thought, what to do was staring me in the face:) Everything works well. Keep up the good work.

Stig1959

[Edk]

Just in case someone is still following this!

Apologies for the amazing delay(!) in getting back to you all! But here is my journey to install a Bible!!

I started Here:
http://xiphos.org/download/

This took me to here:
https://edge.launchpad.net/~pkgcrosswire/+archive/ppa and downloaded crosswire-ppa_1.6~09.04_all.deb and installed this

This added the two launchpad references to the bottom of sources.list

Still having problems as bibletime seems to require KDE!! However I did not fully understand that Xiphos was different to Bibletime, so I aborted. This is an excellent example of User Error - BIG TIME! Left it.

BUT ...............

Today 12-07-09 I did a search for Xiphos in Synaptic. Selected it, it also selected Xiphos-data. I am SURE this was not present previously. Perhaps the sources list got updated in the intervening time?

Downloaded and installed - faultless.

On running it it politely asked me if I wanted to install any Bible modules as none were installed. Off I went and selected a few from a brilliant range

All my selections were downloaded and installed - faultless.

Brilliant! Thanks to you all

Ed

[kodako]

Bibletime is good but there aren't any help files for it. It is pretty easy to get around but no help files. Gnomesword is complete with helps files and seems to work with the same books.

bibletime has an amazing handbook for helpfiles okay