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Logos on Linux

"We will not be developing a desktop/offline application for Linux.
https://app.logos.com continues to improve and will be our solution for any platform that supports a web browser."

Which is ONLY available by paid subscription, and ONLY available while online. This is not opening up your library (which must be purchased) to the largest audience possible.

Please consider one of these two better options that could be used in a future version of LOGOS:

  1. AVOID frameworks that are NOT multi-platform (ie: using Internet Explorer components [report display engine]). Instead, use available multi-platform options like Firefox or Chromium.

  2. A two pronged system vaguely reminiscent of RedHat's setup. You would have your in-house proprietary library and extended features (all purchasable items like you have already), and then they would plug into an open sourced GUI that had only basic features (like your Core Engine only has basic features). You could maintain executive control over the project, but by making the core/GUI available to the vast range of multi-platform programmers you would in essence be gaining thousands of hours of free labor. The difference here though, is that everyone benefits.

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  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Any instructions for how to install Logos 9 using Wine (for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS)?

    I installed Logos 8 using the unsupoorted instructions from the google docs file and it worked mostly well (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS) but I updated Ubuntu and tried to run Logos 8 (at an older version that latest L8 version.

    Any help is appreciated, thank you!

  • Al Graham commented  ·   ·  Report

    Logos runs better on Linux (Lubuntu 20.04) than on Windows 10 (1909). Thank you for Logos Bible software and bless you in your ministry!

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Making Logos usable on Linux would be a good move, especially when you look at the situation worldwide. Not everyone is drinking the Microsoft "Koolaid" and like Anonimo, it is literally the only thing keeping me in windows. If Wine will work, I will be free from MS; already dumped Office, only one piece left to completely convert to linux. This should also reduce defection to Accordance.

  • Anónimo commented  ·   ·  Report

    I would personally LOVE to have a Linux version of Logos.
    In fact, I think Logos is currently one of the very few apps that keep me from having Linux in my computer...

  • David van der Wal commented  ·   ·  Report

    As much as I would love to see this, it does make a great deal of work for the developers:
    1) Which desktop manager do they develop for?
    2) Which window manager should they develop for?
    3) Which framework to use? GTK? gtk3? Qt?

    The best option they have, *if* they wanted to go down this route, would be static libraries similar to the .dmg files we see for mac. But there again, which one? Snap? Flatpak? appimage?

    Unfortunately, it's not as easy as "make a release for linux", because linux is too broad and fractured. Would you like the files as RPM? DEB? tar.gz? And it's proprietary code, so you wont get to use the "make install" option...

  • T. H. Wright commented  ·   ·  Report

    I would like to add my support to this. After BibleWorks died, I switched to Logos with their BibleWorks crossover package; while the web app "continues to improve", the most difficult issue is that I cannot use it offline. While this does provide support for every platform that supports a web browser, I will not be able to ever accomplish native offline support. If I was able to download my purchases I could at least open them up in an another reader, but given the encrypted/binary format of Logos resources, this is not an option.

    The closest I can do to accomplish this is run a Windows virtual machine and have Logos installed through this. BibleWorks at least offered Linux compatibility through Wine, but not Logos. Wine is a terrible solution, but at least I wouldn't have to run a full-blown virtual machine to accomplish Logos on Linux. This situation is altogether less than ideal as it requires a high-powered machine which can run the VM as well as Logos itself; I'm looking at upgrading my RAM solely so I can have a better experience, but I would ideally have to also invest in having better graphics support, which is a hassle to think about (e.g. GPU Passthru). Besides TurboTax, the one pain point I have with software is now offline Logos being attached to Windows. I also do not find being able to run Android apps on Linux as a viable alternative; the mobile apps lack basic parity with the desktop app, and even the mobile app. Furthermore, I also take issue with companies like Microsoft and Apple providing support to governments as they do. I fully believe in submission to the government as per Romans 13, but that does not mean I need support companies which do not support people first.

    A future update to Logos (e.g. Logos 9) which enables offline support for other platforms would be lovely and worth an update in and of itself.

    Practically speaking, should I ever find myself in a missionary context where the internet is more tightly monitored, I would not be comfortable accessing my files through a web browser. That and most likely, Logos would be blacklisted anyways, thus further defeating any ability to use it overseas in such contexts.

    I ask that Logos reconsider its position and provide an offline solution for those who do not wish to be under the thumb of large tech companies with anti-Christian agendas.

  • Keith Parker commented  ·   ·  Report

    @aaron cirilo:
    I agree this is frustraiting. Have you heard of (or tried) a program called "E-Sword"? It is a bible study program that has many options and has a decent sized library available. While proprietery, the program is free. Also, there are many free library additions as well as those that can be purchased. It wisely allows you to specify a location for your library files, which allows you to use a service such as Dropbox to always have it available.

    It is built for Windows and Mac, but it works very well via Wine in Linux.

    E-Sword
    http://www.e-sword.net

  • aaron cirilo commented  ·   ·  Report

    an extremely frustrating situation. The web app is sluggish. There are many good languages to build a self contained Logos app for linux. I know the linux desktop marketshare is small and diverse yet if it was thoughtfully designed it could be done in a VM appliance type model. Build it for VirtualBox or such. .. in the meanwhile..i'll let my Logos Now expire..as i search for another Bible program.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    If profit is the number 1 priority (morally bankrupt though that is), surely producing a linux GUI will be profitable, even if not as profitable as the other platforms. Who knows, maybe more profitable if the aforementioned '2 pronged' attackis implemented; that is, let the established open source linux community of developers do the GUI for you.

  • Keith Parker commented  ·   ·  Report

    Here is a third option:

    3. Leave what you have as-is, EXCEPT: create API hooks that would allow an open source implementation of the GUI to function from various platforms.