Linux version of Logos Bible Software

Sunday's pretty busy for me but I'll give more detail asap... mod the ferion script to do the quick install option but running on Proton instead of wine. i.e. search through for wine / wineserver commands and give them a prefix path. You shouldn't need any dependencies installed to do that, but it might be dependent on what games have already installed windows components etc. From memory I think I am running Proton experimental but anything recent should work...

My guess is your .net install failed.

Logos 10 Release notes for Linux users (Unofficial): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NZx2lktFOTpGH3Kzxcmdzbd6rOqRoQcNcAjWhCni6w8/edit?usp=sharing

I've been looking over Verbum 10.  before today, I wondered if there'd be any serious reason to upgrade.  I've found a few! I have an M1 MacBook Air.  Verbum 10 runs natively on M1 Macs. And now, thanks to you, I see that the folks at Logos/Verbum have simplified the process of installation on Linux, even though Linux is still not officially supported.  Besides that, Faithlife has added some interesting resources to just about every level of Verbum.  

Hmmmm....  It may not be a matter of if but of when!

In the 12 years I've been using Logos Bible Software, I haven't seen a more compelling upgrade than Logos 10. It's a truly remarkable step forward. My journey with Logos Bible Software began while studying for the ministry - over the years, I've grown to love it as a dependable tool for the real-life challenges of day-to-day ministry. I fell into using it quite by accident because, at the time, I found it difficult to obtain a copy of the required Hebrew textbook and faithlife provided the convenience of a quick download. What began with one book has grown over the years to a large collection of well-used and well-loved classics of theology, a rich library of Bible commentaries and some quite remarkable study tools and original language resources. I love the flexibility to sit at home in my office with a big 4k monitor and study in depth with many useful panels open on one day and then sit in a cafe with my iPad between pastoral visits or before meeting up with someone for lunch.

Over the years we've had some great updates and some of which were solid but not exciting and a half-baked one. This upgrade to Logos 10 is one of those special times when they hit the ball right out of the park. I've been using it for a couple of months now and I am truly delighted with the upgrade. They have carefully listened to their customers and come up with some fantastic changes which make a huge difference. 

The first thing I notice straight away is the speed. Mac users will be pleased with native M1 support and I hear great things about performance there, but on older hardware like my 2017 MacBook Pro, it has a fresh new zing: indexing is quicker, load times are quicker, panels more responsive, it seems to have been tuned up everywhere. Speed is a crucial feature and not just on the desktop where they have made a giant leap forward, mobile and the web app are much faster too. Remarkably, the web app is now usable on a Raspberry Pi computer! There were many times when I was listening to a talk and would try to open my Bible on my phone only to find it was too slow and the speaker had moved on to talking about the next thing before I got there. Now it just pops open in a snap and everything just works very quickly.

The desktop has a welcome visual refresh but the mobile app is what I'm most excited about. Just reading a Bible, highlighting and searching all got a lot simpler. I don't need to search for verses on google any more, the fuzzy search has me covered. I used to have to try to remember an accurate quote to find the verse but now simple searches like 'Joseph's coat' will take you to the right place quickly. For complicated searches, like every time Jesus spoke about money, things got a lot easier too - no more angle brackets etc. It used to feel like coding more than searching sometimes... 

A lot of thought has gone into redesigning Logos to better facilitate different ways of working with the text. I'm a visual thinker - when I write a sermon I have a 4 step process: I begin with prayer, and then I study the passage in depth at my desk. Once I have that done, I print the passage to PDF and put it into the Notability app on my iPad where I draw all over it while I pray and think some more. Finally, I go on a walk and compose the message orally, preaching to the wind as I walk my dog. The theory is that if I can't remember the sermon, then my congregation won't either so it has to be memorized. In Logos 10 for iPad, I no longer need to mess about creating a google doc, exporting it to pdf and syncing it to my iPad to be added to my notes. I simply open the toolbox and start drawing on my passage! The next time I study the passage, my hand-drawn notes are linked and tagged so I will find them again. This is a huge game-changer. It means that Logos works the way I work with the text. It frees up my time to focus on the task of communicating God's word.

Sticking with mobile, my favourite feature ever is the new read-aloud function. I've been asking for this on the forums and UserVoice for over a decade and it has finally landed! No longer are we reliant on the quirks of accessibility tools to listen to our books in audio. Text-to-speech has come on a long way and I have listened to quite a few books using the synthesized voices from my iPhone. It was never easy before but the functionality is now baked right in. It means I can listen through my AirPods on the go, while commuting, walking the dog etc. 

Logos is not supported on Linux so it is a lesser-known thing that it works very well using the wine compatibility layer. I have been very involved in the community effort to get a Linux port working. Logos 10 now uses .net 6 which is a sort of under-the-hood change many people won't notice, it's what makes M1 mac compatibility possible for example. For this release, faithlife has been very generous in providing us with information and assistance to get it working in time for launch day. Logos 10 is now easier than ever to install on Linux and although we still have some minor issues many folks who are depending on it every day for Bible study will be delighted to know it already works from day zero. Officially it is supported on Windows, Mac, and Web for the desktop as well as iOS, Android and Web for mobile so if Linux users need support they should reach out to us on our Telegram channel: https://t.me/linux_logos

I do have some niggles - the library is still in need of a visual refresh and more screen space. I'd like to be able to sort the library by size and remove some of the bigger resources to free up disk space. On the web app, it is insufficient to view six out of nine-thousand titles without far more filtering options. The web app could also do with being built for wider screens. For the English, we could do with more Anglicised Bibles, the Common Worship lectionary and resources as well as more British content. There are still some really important books which are not in the faithlife catalogue. Projects for Logos 11 no doubt!

However, there are plenty of new features I haven't mentioned like on-the-fly translation, print library, the timeline, etc, but I wanted to focus on the things which have impacted me as I use the software day to day. With this update to Logos 10, I have repeatedly found myself surprised and delighted by how much it has made it easier for me to do my ministry and to enjoy my reading and listening.

Release notes for Linux: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NZx2lktFOTpGH3Kzxcmdzbd6rOqRoQcNcAjWhCni6w8/edit?usp=sharing

John Goodman said:

To run on steamdeck just download a wine build... https://github.com/Kron4ek/Wine-Builds/releases/download/7.18/wine-7.18-staging-amd64.tar.xz

Extract the file in a dir and run the Logos Installer. instead of typing wine type /full/path/to/wine64 and its that simple.

I have the wine build downloaded and extracted into a dir called Verbum 10. Do you mean that I can ignore the Logos/Verbum 10 for Linux release notes entirely? Simply running the Verbum installer in that dir doesn't seem to accomplish anything.  Is there anything I need to do to install the wine build? I'm missing something here!  Thanks!  

In fact I have a modded ferion script which works but I haven't sent Daniel a pull request. The problem is the download link for Logos 10 seems to be private to paying customers at the moment. I think we can only do the script once we can distribute the installer link as before.

For many users: e.g. Ubuntu. They may feel a script is no longer needed.

E.g. if you are on Ubuntu and you can install wine 7.18 staging. And it must be the staging version.

You can probably then simply double click the LogosSetup.exe installer and you are good to go. I believe it will actually sort you out a desktop and menu shortcut too!

The login page may be a bit garbled but if you can manage to enter your email address and password its all fine from there. I recommend choosing minimal install and then adding more resources later. Later you can turn off hardware acceleration in Logos program settings to remove black boxes from the startup but I don't think its worth it to sacrifice the acceleration.

This approach would put Logos into the default .wine prefix but its beautifully GUI centred.

I hope that is helpful.

Try this: https://github.com/jg00dman/LogosLinuxInstaller/blob/master/install_Logos10_download.sh

It requires you to download the installer and place it in the LogosBible10 folder... can do app image or not. This is only tested by me so far. You understand this is early days. It only changes stuff in ~/LogosBible10 and only if that folder doesn't exist so should be safe.

John Goodman said:

I removed the above just to be able to make a set of different pull requests to Daniel. You can now find...

A Logos 10 installer here: https://github.com/jg00dman/LogosLinuxInstaller/blob/Logos-10/install_Logos10_download.sh

A Verbum 10 installer here: https://github.com/jg00dman/LogosLinuxInstaller/blob/Verbum-10/install_Verbum10_download.sh

Download the raw version of the script and then type chmod u+x ./install_Verbum10_download.sh or Logos etc to make it executable.

Then run it with ./install_Verbum10_download.sh

You get a choice to use an appImage for wine which is a good idea because it keeps it separate from whatever is on your system.

You have to download the actual installer for Logos or Verbum and place them in the directory the script creates called LogosBible10 or VerbumBible10 in your home directory. The script will then run the installer for you having set everything up.

For support use Telegram or Matrix. Telegram and Matrix are bridged.

John, I installed Logos 10 using your script. Does your script install a .desktop file? If so, where is it located?

Thanks to John's generous help, I have Verbum 10 running on my Steam Deck.  It is in the process of indexing resources, having completed downloads. I haven't had a chance to really try Verbum out yet. After installation, it crashed a couple of times.  Restarting my device made Verbum much more stable. The Steam Deck is designed to be a (relatively large) handheld gaming device.  Its specs are good enough to enable it to be used as a Linux PC, so it should be able to handle Verbum reasonably well.  It's a safe bet that the Deck's designers never imagined this use for their device!  

So I have Logos 10 put on my Ubuntu laptop (I just did the minimal Install). Is there a way to just move the library from the logos 9 folder to the logos 10 to minimize downloading?

Jared A Warner said:

So I have Logos 10 put on my Ubuntu laptop (I just did the minimal Install). Is there a way to just move the library from the logos 9 folder to the logos 10 to minimize downloading?

Yes, you can copy your user, data, and documents folders from a Windows/Mac installation into your Logos 10 installation. In my Debian installation, I copied them to /home/{username}/LogosBible10/data/wine64_bottle/drive_c/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Logos/. I did this when installing Logos 10 but before I signed in to the app. 

My experience with the new Logos 10 installation in Linux is that load times are much longer than on my Windows desktop. Also mouse scrolling in the main windows also is noticeably slower, but in search results it is fine.

I have the Linux Logos 10 installed on a desktop computer with an i7 8900K, I believe, with 32 gb RAM and a fast NVMe SSD. I also have it installed on a chromebook with an i7 1165, 16 gb RAM and an NVMe SSD in a Debian container. I am used to some overhead with the container with Logos 9.

My Windows desktop has an i7 12700, 48 gb RAM and an NVMe SSD. Logos on Windows screams.

I hope you guys get your wish someday, but at this point, even Accordance isn’t bothering with a Linux app.  The best solution they’ve found is to provide a web app like Logos does.  Their web app will release soon with their v.14 

DAL

Hello, I have been using Logos 9 on Linux for the past year thanks to your helpful guide. I am not able to install Verbum 10. When I try to install I get the following error:

./install_Verbum10_download.sh: line 8: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'
./install_Verbum10_download.sh: line 8: `<!DOCTYPE html>'

This mistake is probably due to my own ignorance regarding Linux and not to any problems with your guide, so please excuse my lack of expertise. Thanks.

John Goodman said:

DAL said:

I hope you guys get your wish someday, but at this point, even Accordance isn’t bothering with a Linux app.  The best solution they’ve found is to provide a web app like Logos does.  Their web app will release soon with their v.14 

DAL

We have our wish... its in daily use by hundreds of people on Linux.

I meant like a native app for Linux.  Something that installs normal and seamlessly without all the hoops and loops that don’t always work. 

DAL

Bill, this was fixed in a recent commit. Update your script version and you should be good to go.

If anybody like the internet application (which is far better than the mobile app if there's great web link), you could wish to transform the internet application into a native-like app via Appokart. ( https://appokart.com/ additionally does the exact same point without needing to set up anything. I have not tried it nonetheless as well as honestly I would just trust the one created in your area.).

Make indisputable, it is foreign in the feeling that it runs without internet. It basically is a wrapper utilizing the Electron structure to transform any kind of website/web-app into a standalone application. The advantage is that you can run it independent of your browser/tabs, and also has a larger "screen real estate" since there's no toolbars up there.

Simply to ensure nobody misunderstand this, what I stated is potentially beneficial to Linux users who currently satisfied with the web application. Offered Faithlife's official setting in sustaining Linux is via the internet app, this is a mild improvement to the official service.

( The logic is like this: start with what Logos deals-- macOS, Windows, iphone, Android, Web, (overlooking VM) remove all options that can not be worked on Linux (no compatibility layer exists for macOS/iOS). We're left with Windows with A glass of wine as compatibility layer, Android with Anbox as container sharing the same kernel, Web with Nativefier using Electron framework to deliver internet app as desktop experience. I believe this list is an extensive list of what one can run Logos on Linux.).

When there's great net connection and the Android app through Anbox as the fall back solution when there aren't, for me I would utilize both-- the internet application in Electron.

Al, update your script version. The download link for the AppImage no longer exists; I have added our own archived version of the AppImage and updated the link in the most recent script versions.

Taylor thank you for your help.

What would be the link for the latest script.

Al Graham

I've been lurking this thread for a while and I'm amazed with all the work and effort you have put into this. I congratulate you!

I'm still using Windows 10 and don't want to switch to Windows 11. I have not switch to Linux because I have 5 paid applications, Logos being the main one. I've been testing in a very very limited fashion some Linux native programs using WSL. I hope that when the time comes (I think Win10 EOL is 2025), I'll be able to switch to Linux and that I'm going to be able to use Logos in Linux thanks to your excellent work. Question, Does the WINE script also applies to Verbum?

Mark Nolette said:

There are other installation options as well. 

Question:

Being that I am considering running Logos in Linux. I found the solution to a problem that I had with the Read Aloud tool, as explained in this post. That's one of the options that would be completely lost when using Logos in Linux, right? Since Logos just use what is offered by the operating system, it would be something that could not be emulated with WINE, isn't it?

I expect we will get Speech working, speech input works. I’ve managed to get other apps for Windows that do speaking working.  But so far, no success  with Logos.

I am very eager to use TTS on Linux - either natively or in WINE. But sadly, interest/support for text to speech seems to be far behind other systems - even Andriod.  It also appears to be a low priority for WINE.

Apparently, some have had success installing Windows SAPI 5.1 in WINE to use some of the better voices available for that. I have not been able to get that to work since WINE vv3.17.

I have had success installing 'Windows Speech Platform 11' in WINE (Crossover). The few voices I've found for that engine work well in the app: 'Balabolka.' I haven't tried this with Logos.

In the event that anybody like the web application (which is superior to the portable application assuming there's great web association), you should transform the web application into a local-like application through Nativefier. (https://www.apporio.com/services/devops-consulting/ additionally does likewise without expecting to introduce anything. I haven't attempted it anyway and honestly I would just believe the one produced locally.)

Commit no errors, it isn't local as in it runs without the web. It basically is a covering utilizing the Electron system to turn any site/web application into an independent application. The benefit is that you can run it free of your program/tabs, and has a greater "screen land" since there are no toolbars up there.

Just to ensure nobody misconstrues this, what I said is possibly valuable to Linux clients who were previously happy with the web application. Given Faithlife's true situation in supporting Linux is through the web application, this is a slight improvement to the authority arrangement.

(The rationale is this way: begin with what Logos offers — macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Web, (disregarding VM) dispose of all decisions that can't be run on Linux (no similarity layer exists for macOS/iOS). Then we're left with Windows with WINE as a similarity layer, Android with Anbox as a holder having a similar bit, and Web with Nativefier utilizing Electron system to convey web application as work area experience. I accept this rundown is a comprehensive rundown of what one can run Logos on Linux.)

For me, I would utilize both — the web application in Electron when there's a great web association and the Android application through Anbox as the backup arrangement when there isn't.

What data loss issue are you having?