Can I run Sigil from Xubuntu?
 

I am not your computer whiz. With the coming demise of XP, a friend helped me convert an XP PC to Xubuntu but I'm really not sure if Sigil will work with it. I saw the Linux Distro Packages but that was pretty much Greek to me. Maybe I should be thinking about getting a cheap refurbished Windows 7 computer to be able to use Sigil?

Cheaper to get your friend to add the following repository (or teach you how):

https://launchpad.net/~rgibert/+archive/ebook

and then just install it from Synaptic. Wouldn't cost you more than a beer.

If you don't know how to use Synaptic, buy him two beers... None of this is hard, and you're going to be amazed at how simple and safe installing software in Linux can be.

Aloha.

May I ask why you chose Xbuntu desktop interface over Ubuntu?

IMHO Ubuntu GUI has become bloated. Linux Mint seems to have the cleaner lines that Ubuntu 10 had while still being up-to-date in other respects. (I am soon going to remove Ubuntu from my laptop and go with Mint)

BTW XP does not stop working just because M$ stops supporting. That just means no more NEW updates. ( I don't think they pull the older ones immediately)

Yes, Sigil will run fine in Xubuntu. At one time I created a virtual Xubuntu machine expressly for running Sigil. I chose Xubuntu because of the relatively light-weight desktop environment (that is, light use of resources).

It will take some adjustment on your part to get used to the slightly different way of doing things on the XFCE desktop vs. the windows desktop, but the basic principles are the same. Kind of like driving a different make of car -- the controls may not all be in the same places, but they are still there.

Anyway, learning new things keeps Alzheimer's at bay! :D

Albert

DiapDealer created an unofficial debian package of Sigil 0.7.3, here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=211754

Just download the correct version (32-bit vs 64-bit) and double-click the .deb you downloaded. It will automatically open in the Software Center and comes with a nice shiny install button! :)

This is the copy I am running, and it works great on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS -- the repository suggested above isn't available for 12.04 only 13.10.

thanks
 

Thanks capidamonte. I'm glad you said it's easy because all the Ubuntu directives said the same thing and then had like 3 pages of very complicated-looking instructions and screenshots explaining the process. Kind of lost touch with my friend but there are plenty of tutorials. The Ubuntu Software Center is of course simple to use. It's just the programs that are not in it that present the challenge. All I really NEED though is to make sure Sigil will work in Xubuntu. (At least I think that's all I'll need. lol) And (I should have said this in my original post, sorry) I have Xubuntu 13.10 and the Sigil I use is 0.7.2. Will I be able to get the same version from the Richard Gibert repository? I noticed 0.7.4 there. Is 0.7.4 pretty close to 0.7.2?

Anyway I have till April to make the transition. Thanks again for the advice.

thx ducks
 

Didn't choose it. My friend said it would be best for my Dell Optiplex computer that runs XP.

Mint is not in the Ubuntu family? I've heard of Mint but very little. I thought it was just "buntus" (U, Xu, Lu etc.). Linux as a whole is still a little foreign to me. (But I'm learning.)

Yeah, but I heard the OS is prone to a virus without the new updates. Isn't that the case?

thanks
 

Thanks for the encouragement, st_albert. Yeah, I'm just going to keep chipping away at it, and then I'm sure one day it will seem routine. (I used to be totally intimidated by Sigil!)

thanks
 

Thanks eschwartz. Like I was saying above, that Ubuntu software center is nice! Click on "install." That I can handle. lol But yeah, I've got the 13.10 version of Xubuntu so it looks like I can't take advantage of DiapDealer's offering. Thanks!

Just another datapoint. I'm running Xubuntu 13.10 also and I use 0.7.4 compiled from the git repository. I'd say that it's "not that hard" to do but I guess I'm very familiar with Linux in general and compilation, command line use etc. If adding a repo to the software sources seems confusing then a series of steps on how to compile might also be daunting.

As for XP and its potential vulnerability post April 1: XP won't magically change overnight but the attacks are always changing and XP will no longer be being updated to protect itself.

With a hardware firewall and up to date antivirus/malware software, I wouldn't hesitate to continue using XP (not that I want to discourage anyone from using Linux). I'd worry more about newer software not functioning properly than I would viruses.

You can, but if you have 13.10, then the Gibert repository will also work. (There is only a 13.10 version there. You could probably still install from there, but I've never tried to trick a repository into giving me the wrong version of a package. :shrug:) Although the changes between 0.7.3 and 0.7.4 are very minor for the most part.

The only difference between 0.7.3 and 0.7.4 I can recall is in the coding of non-breaking spaces, mostly to handle documents coming out of calibre.

Plus OSX builds, which aren't relevant here.

Any Dialect (U,X,E) of Ubuntu runs on Optiplex, Dimension (I have a 4600). . . 512M to 1G RAM is very good

Download the Live CD's (may be DVD's now (some of that bloat I mentioned) ),

Boot each (no install needed) and try the UI for best fit ;)

Mint is a spin off of Ubuntu (back to the cleaner UI roots). Boot the Live CD of that for a spin.

The cost: Blank Optical media and Bandwidth to download

BTW I use the Live CD's to fix Windows

XP is not prone to virus. Users are prone to doing the questionable stuff (windows specific) virus writers love :D

'Look-out' express for mail. YES!
Clicking on 'You have WON!' while browsing. (or any of thousands of other socially engineered messages.)
Visiting XXX sites (who leave you with another kind of STD )

I hear of people running XP totally bare of security SW an surviving. Not me, but I do run minimal configurations and let my Eyes avoid the traps. I also use a Text only e-mail program configuration)
3 virus in 15 years of Windows (the payload for one was delivered by...NAV checking for virus)