Recently, I´ve installed the Linux distribution ubuntu Dapper on my home PC. I´ve installed the free "WINE" module (v. 0.9x), that alllows to run windows programs in Linux. And I've tried to run Biblioscape 6.6... with success! I'm happy for that and I think this could be a good reason to move to Linux... But I have a copule of doubts...
1) with the new XML Word Format announced by Microsoft... Biblioscape will continue to support RTF? Or It will finnally support to Open Office?
2) is there a plan to port Biblioscape to Linux in the near future?
Thanks!
Biblioscape under Wine - "Cannot open AVI"
I installed the 30 day trial version of Biblioscape 6.6 with Wine on Kubuntu Linux (Dapper 6.06) and I'm having a problem getting it to run. It starts up cleanly, but when I try to save changes to any records it pops up an alert saying, "Cannot open AVI". The program then becomes unresponsive, not allowing other records to be openned. The changes to the record are saved, but I have to restart Biblioscape to get the program to work again.
Has anyone else experienced this problem when using Biblioscape under Wine? More importantly, can anyone suggest a solution so that I can get it running?
Thanks!
I had the same problem using
I had the same problem using the version of Wine that was included with my distro (Mandriva 2006). The program would start up correctly, but display the "Cannot open AVI" message when trying to view the contents of a folder.
The problem was fixed by uninstalling the version of Wine included with Mandriva and instead downloading and installing the latest version from www.winehq.org. Maybe this will work for Kubuntu too.
Dennis
The animated icon on the
The animated icon on the right of Biblioscape status bar plays an avi file that is part of windows shell dll. That avi is probably missing in some version of WINE. In Biblioscape 7, we will include an avi file under Biblioscape installation. So it won't depend on the system.
That's probably it, Paul.
That's probably it, Paul. The WINE developers mention on their homepage that some versions of WINE included with certain Linux distributions don't work the way they want them to, and they recommend downloading directly from WineHQ. It worked for me.
Dennis
Summary and more problems/questions
Following from above, if I use the most recent version of Wine (0.9.19, available from the repository given on the Wine webste, http://www.winehq.org/site/download), I can get basic Biblioscape (6.6) functionality on either of the Breezy or Dapper versions of Kubuntu. By "basic" I mean that these menu items have been tested and work: database update lookup index; database update search index; indexed search; advanced search; lookup; manual add,save & delete citations; insert symbol; change font properties; spellcheck (on notes); and link note to reference. All very satisfying.
However, manuscript formatting has problems:
(i) The Wine/Linux implementation of B'Scape 6.6 will not format a *.rtf file generated in Open Office 2.0. The process appears to run smoothly, but the filename+ output does not format the in-text citations nor does it put the citation list into the output file.
(ii) If the same test document is generated in MS Word, the Wine/Linux implementation of B'Scape 6.6 will format the in-text citations in the filename+ output, but it still does not add the citation list.
(iii) The control, same file, generated in MS Word & formatted in Biblioscape running under Windows XP, works smoothly.
Two additional twists:
(iv) If I use OO 2.0, saving the file in *.doc format, and then move it two MS Word before saving it in *.rtf format, then the manuscript formatting option works fine using the Windows Biblioscape; and,
(v) A BiblioWord generated document on the Wine/Kubuntu implementation also appears to have manuscript formatting problems, although I have not tested this so thoroughly.
It would be nice if there were a simple work-around or solution to this problem. Having the database functionality of Biblioscape under Linux is GREAT, but facing dual boot delays to use manuscript formatting and OO files is an unhappy limitation.
Finally, a very specific question, will the "0" entry for machine ID prevent registering a trial copy? (All of this testing has just about used up my 30 boots)
Thank you for the summary.
Thank you for the summary. RTF file generated by OO may be different from Word generated RTF file. Could you email me (support@biblioscape.com) a sample OO generated rtf file with Biblioscape temp citations. So I can try to reproduce the formatting problem? The "Machine ID" depends on the OS. This could be a problem. We will work on this after Biblioscape 7 release. Thanks.
Comments
That's a very thorough test! See my additional point about attachments below.
Paul, I think the RTF generated by OOo may be somewhat different from one generated by Word, but this shouldn't stop Biblioscape working. I've been using Biblioscape 5.4 with OOo for years, and Biblioscape always formats the RTF correctly.
I have found that I sometimes have to do some minor editing of the RTF before Biblioscape can process it - adding a blank line at the end of the document, checking for word wrapping, looking if any fancy formatting in the first line (e.g., the title) of the document might interfere with formatting. But this is no big problem; less than 1 minute of work!
A good test of whether OOo or WINE is the problem would be to format the OOo RTF using Biblioscape running on Windows; and to format the Word RTF using Biblioscape running on WINE.
Because I normally use Win4Lin to run Biblioscape, I have no experience with formatting documents under WINE. I'll give it a try and see if we can get this to work.
Dennis
If there is something
If there is something doesn't work. Please use the sample database to insert temp citations. Then save your test document as RTF and email the rtf to me. I can then test it and see if the problem can be fixed by making rtf formatting engine more robust. Thanks.
This is very good news! Wine
This is very good news! Wine seems to be getting better and better; if it can run Biblioscape - a pretty complex database application - it is doing well. Time I tried it again.
As for document standards, I wonder if the programmers at Biblioscape might consider looking at the OASIS open document standards, which OpenOffice is already using and which are recommended for everyone by the European Commission.
I can't imagine them removing RTF format since the code is all in place now.
Dennis
Biblioscape does not
Biblioscape does not dependent on any system or third party dll. Everything is compiled into a single exe. I think this makes it less likely causing problem under WINE. We will see how well the new standard play out in the real world. Currently, Biblioscape supports rtf and html. I think it is the time to look at xml once version 7 is out.
Problems with WINE
OK, I've played around with Biblioscape under WINE for a bit. Data entry and searches seem to work OK. But here are two limitations:
1.) WINE - on my system at least - gives a machine ID of 0, for which presumably no licence key can be generated.
2.) It is not possible to view attachments at present - even if you have a browser (for HTML attachments) and a PDF viewer (for PDFs) installed under WINE, Biblioscape can't call them from within the program.
SO whilst WINE ensures sufficient compatibility for some uses (for example, modifying references and inserting them into an OpenOffice document), other emulators (e.g. Win4Lin) are still required for serious use. It is also still worthwhile to go ahead with a port to Linux!
Dennis
Win4Lin???
I've tried win4Lin... but it's too slowly in my machine (AMD 2.0, 256 Mb). Untill now, I'm working in the two OS; I'm able to work in Biblioscape (under WINE) and OO for Linux, and I use OO for Windows to make the final steps.
Win4Lin
I've heard that Win4Lin Pro is pretty slow. I use Win4Lin 5 (aka Win4Lin 9x), which is quite fast. Not the right choice if you want to run XP, though.
Dennis