I see my computer as a tool. It helps me accomplish all kinds of tasks. I would be remise if I didn’t use it for the most important task of all: building a relationship with my Savior. I just wish I could be disciplined enough to use it for this task more!
This article explores what I did to install Bible software…
Installing Xiphos
Xiphos is what I have used most in the past. It easily installs from the Software Center.
First Run
On the first run, it asks about sword urls. I answered Yes because I don’t have anything else that should use the sword urls.
After all of the welcome messages and overviews, you will come to the module manager.
First, go to the Install/Update option, and click Refresh
Select the modules
Modules that I installed:
Adding Maps
Before, I used Crosswire as the source for installing the modules. For the maps, we need to change the source…
First, go to Edit > Modules Manager. Choose Xiphos as the source.
Then, you can select the maps that you want:
Bible Desktop
Bible Desktop is a Java-based version of the Sword Project. JSword is the back-end and Bible Desktop is the GUI. Unfortunately, it is not in the respositories, but you can download it:
Click on the Linux icon to download the Linux tarball.
Then, I used the following commands to extract it into the bin directory:
mkdir bin cd bin tar -xzvf ~/Downloads/bibledesktop-latest-bin.tar.gz chmod +x jsword-1.6/BibleDesktop.sh ln -s jsword-1.6/BibleDesktop.sh BibleDesktop.sh
Then, you can launch Bible Desktop by running BibleDesktop.sh:
You should have the books that you loaded from Xiphos, but if you want to use Bible Desktop to load modules, you can do so with Tools > Books…
You’ll also want to add a shortcut to your menu so you can easily launch the program. If you haven’t already installed the menu editor, you can do so from the Software Center.
I put the shortcut in the Education folder where it would be next to the Xiphos shortcut.
Here are the options that I chose:
- Name: Bible Desktop
- Command: ~/bin/BibleDesktop.sh
- Comment: Java-based Sword Bible Reader
- Icon: ~/bin/Bible/jsword-1.6/BibleDesktop.ico
Other Options
If you don’t like these two options, you can check out the Crosswire Linux Software List. It has a number of other options. BibleTime is another version you could try. I didn’t choose it because it is designed for Qt and KDE. BPBible and AlKitab are options I just haven’t heard of.
FireBible is another option that they list for FireFox. If you are going to use the browser, you could consider online options. The Chrome Web Store has a whole list of plugins.