Installation Instructions - Ubuntu Linux

Extremely Important Note: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ ALL THE INFORMATION IN THIS FILE before attempting to install Factsmith on Linux! Don't just start following the directions immediately.

Step 1. Download the Factsmith files

Download the latest Wine-friendly version of Factsmith, at the bottom of this page (read everything first). It should be a .tar.gz file. Extract this archive to your desired installation location (you must have write access to the install location; somewhere in your Documents folder is recommended.)

Step 2. Install Wine

Using the Ubuntu Software Center or your favorite package manager, install Wine Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer (Beta Release). If you are unable to find this package, you may need to add the WineHQ repository to your software sources list. For details on how to do this, see http://www.winehq.org/download/ubuntu. (For other versions of Linux besides Ubuntu, see http://www.winehq.org/download/.)

Step 3. Install .NET 2.0 on Wine

Open a command-line terminal and navigate to the folder you extracted the Factsmith files to. (Use the "cd" command; i.e. "cd /home/jason/Documents/Factsmith". Note that this IS case-sensitive - you must get the capitalization right.) Then enter the following command:

wget http://winetricks.org/winetricks

Wait until the download is finished, and enter:

sh winetricks dotnet20

Winetricks will download the .NET 2.0 installer and run it. (If the process crashes before the installer appears, press Ctrl+C and try again.) Click through the installer.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Doing this may violate the .NET license agreement, depending on your situation. The .NET framework EULA states, in part:

"If you are licensed to use Microsoft Windows operating system software (the "software"), you may use this supplement. You may not use it if you do not have a license for the software."

This term is actually quite permissive; you just have to have a license to a version of Windows. This would presumably (and logically) include OEM licenses for copies of Windows that came with a computer, even if the computer no longer works. If you have ever owned a Windows computer, or can get your uncle to give you ownership of his old Windows computer that is currently in a landfill, or can get your dad to give you the rights to a copy of Windows 95 he hasn't used since 1998, you should be OK. It shouldn't be too hard to acquire an old license somewhere.

If, however, you have never so much as breathed the same air as a Windows computer, you can't (officially) use the .NET framework. Sorry. (Although Microsoft is definitely not going to stop you from installing it anyway.)

Side note: Another minor sticking point is this vague term in the license:

"You may use a copy of this supplement with each validly licensed copy of the software."

It is not defined in the license exactly what "with" means, or whether this is an exclusive grant of license (there doesn't appear to be anything specifically prohibiting you from using it "with" non-Windows systems.) The consensus among the Wine community is that it is OK to run .NET on non-Windows systems, but only if you have a valid Windows license somewhere.

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: The above "Important Note" does not constitute legal advice, and it not guaranteed to be correct. The author of Factsmith is not liable for any legal or illegal actions taken on the basis of, or in spite of, the above information. For actual advice, consult a lawyer, etc.

Step 4. Running Factsmith

If everything went correctly, you should be able to run Factsmith by simply double-clicking Factsmith.exe from the File Browser. If, for some reason, you cannot run it directly, you can run it from the command line with "wine Factsmith.exe".

Missing Features / Differences from Windows

This is a preliminary version. The Factsmith port for Wine is "Linux-friendly", not "Linux-compatible". Due to system incompatabilities, the Linux-friendly version does not operate exactly the same as the native Windows version, and some advanced features have been disabled or do not work. Key points:

Interface Differences

General Appearance: The user interface looks chunkier and non-native. The main evidence view can also look somewhat squashed.
Windows: On some systems the main Factsmith window will float above all the other windows; the only way to get it out of the way is to minimize it. This is annoying, but not fatal.
Hotkeys: The Add Evidence hotkey doesn't work. In the Windows version, you can press Ctrl+Alt+A in any application to bring up the floating evidence editor window; in Linux, you cannot. Instead, bring up the main Factsmith window and click Add Evidence.
Drag-and-drop: Dragging and dropping text from your web browser to the Evidence Editor and Source Editor will probably not work, depending on your system. Use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V instead.
Authors: Wine does not correctly draw the checkmarks in the author selection box, so selected authors are indicated with symbol before the name instead.

Disabled Features

Images: Due to fundamental deficiencies in the Wine RichTextBox component, you will not be able to see or create images in the Evidence Editor. (Factsmith will correctly preserve and export pre-existing images.)
Paste from Screen: Factsmith has trouble grabbing a screenshot correctly on Wine, so the screen-OCR functionality has been disabled. This may be fixed in a future version.
Explorer Commands: Open Base Folder and Open Location have been disabled (different file manager.)

Broken Features

Printing: The internal Print dialog will probably not recognize your installed printers. Export the brief and print it from your word processor instead.
Emailing: The internal Email dialog will probably not be able to contact your email server. Export the brief and send it with your normal email client instead.

Download Packages

Click here to download the latest Wine-friendly Factsmith release: Factsmith-v1.4-Wine.tar.gz