A Beta 13 update for the Linux edition of Plant Base is available on the Downloads page. This fixes a scaling bug with the Print Preview display, which was introduced in version 2.1.15 Beta 12 due to a last minute attempt to improve the print quality problem that is a known issue for Linux program. The bug fix is the only change and the other editions are not affected.
Tag Archives: Linux
Plant Base new version – 2.1.15
A new update of Plant Base has been released today and available on the Download page. This is for desktop/laptop editions – Windows, MacOS and Linux.
Primarily a maintenance release with the main objective of cleaning up and optimising some of the code. It also improves synchonisation between OS editions where a few sections had got out of step. The changes result in some improvement in run-time efficiency but the end-user will be very unlikely to notice any difference!
Plant Base update version – 2.1.14
An updated version of Plant Base has been released and is available on the Download page. This is for desktop/laptop editions – Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It is another maintenance update with a few small bug fixes plus some other little changes.
On the Plant List Details tab, the records can now be sorted by almost any of the fields (all except the GPS co-ords). This can be useful when doing project planning and was requested by several users.
There is also an enhancement to the local language selection, which has an additional option to replace common data records with translations, that is for things like colour names and plant types. It’s important to understand that this updates the database, so “power” users who make a lot of changes might need to consider this. Just like the text translation files, these new common data translation files can be created or amended by end-users – information is in the Help.
The Linux edition is now at Beta 11 and a free life-time licence is still available on request. This version has a few tweaks to the user interface to improve appearance for some desktop environments and themes. Certainly will not be perfect on every system, but looks very good on many! The more traditional DE’s such as Xcfe, MATE and Cinnamon tend to give the best appearance out of the box, but it’s often worth experimenting with the theme settings.
A revision of the plant data is included, bringing the database release to 31. There are some new plant records and pictures along with a large number of updates. Many of these are for plant name changes and plant family classifications. Some familiar plants now have different names – please don’t blame us for these, we are just trying to follow the main taxonomic authorities who make changes according to the latest scientific research (there are even more in the pipeline!). Of course we always include the older names as synonyms, so they can still be found in the database!
We recommend that all existing users update the new program version – easy, quick and safe. Loading the new database files is an optional choice, as usual all recent database releases are compatible with all program versions. Instructions to merge personal data are in the support section of the website.
Plant Base – new version 2.1.13
New update of Plant Base was released today and is available on the Download page. For all desktop/laptop editions – Windows, MacOS and Linux.
This is only a minor maintenance update with a few small bug fixes and other minor changes. For the Windows edition this includes support for the recently released update of Extra Keys.
However, there is one significant addition which is a new UI language option for Swedish. This excellent contribution was made Plant Base user Kenneth Williams and I’m very happy to include it in this release.
The Linux edition is now at Beta 10 and a free life-time licence is still available on request.
There is no change to the plant data at this time, it’s the same as the last two versions – but work on the next database release is in progress!
Plant Base for Linux – new Beta 9 update
There is an updated Linux program for Plant Base – Beta 9, which is still based on version 2.1.12. It’s now available on the Downloads page.
There are no functional changes but many small adjustments to the user interface. These are mainly to improve compatibility with a wider range of Desktop Environments and display themes.
Although the UI displayed fine on several common DE’s some others were quite ugly. The changes in this Beta make it a bit more forgiving, but it’s worth remembering that different theme settings can dramatically affect the display. Sometimes a few small tweaks to the theme settings can improve the appearance considerably!
As always a small update file is available for existing users as well as the full install file. The database itself is the same as the previous 2.1.11 and 2.1.12 releases.
Plant Base – new version 2.1.12
New update of Plant Base was released today and is available on the Download page. This is for all desktop/laptop editions – Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It is another maintenance release with some bug fixes and small changes for the user interface. Probably the most notable changes are a much improved method to enter multiple common names or synonyms when adding or editing a plant record and also a very small but handy feature of the colour selector tool window, allowing a simple double-click on the required colour.
The Linux edition has a lot more small adjustments to the user interface. They are not very noticeable but improve compatibility with a wider range of desktop environment and themes. For example running on some KDE Plasma distros caused horrible window colouring that made it unusable, this has now been fixed and looks good on our test system. Having said that – please bear in mind that Linux DE and theme settings can have a dramatic effect on the window appearance!
There is no change to the plant data this time around, the database files are the same as with the previous version.
All existing users are recommended to update to the new program version. As always this is very quick and easy, needing only the small download.
Plant Base for Linux – Beta 7 update
Beta 7 of Plant Base for Linux is released and available for download. This a minor update still based on version 2.1.11
It fixes for a few late-breaking bugs that only occurred in the Beta 6 release. Almost all are related to situations where pictures are resized to fit on the screen and the problems were due to small issues with the latest version of the build software that is used to generate the program. There are no other significant changes since Beta 6.
As usual a small update file is available for existing users and also a full install file. The database itself is the same as the previous 2.1.11 Beta 6 release.
Plant Base – new version 2.1.11
A new update of Plant Base for desktop/laptop systems is available for download today. This covers all editions – Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It is essentially a maintenance release with some bug fixes plus a few small changes for the user interface.
It also includes updated plant database files, data release 30, which has some new plant records and pictures as well as many amendments to existing records. A lot of these are due to more plant name changes and reclassifications from the taxonomy authorities such as the RHS and Kew. Some of the name changes are quite controversial and maybe not welcomed by traditional gardeners. For example rosemary is now a Salvia rather than Rosmarinus. However, they do have a scientic basis and I guess that we will all have to get used to them! In all cases the previous names are kept in the database as synonyms.
For existing users updating the program version is, as always, very quick and easy. To update the database files please follow the instructions on the website and in the Help file.
Plant Base for Linux new Beta 6 version 2.1.11
There is a new update for the Plant Base Linux edition – 2.1.11 Beta 6
To clarify – the program version 2.1.11 means that this is equivalent to the version releases for Windows and Mac. It is also the Linux Beta release number 6. In this particular case the Beta release and the version number are not associated. As this Beta phase is a long term thing, the releases will span the general version updates!
As well as the changes common to the other platform editions, there have been a lot of small bug fixes and many user interface adjustments specific to the Linux program. I would therefore recommend that all Plant Base Linux users update to this release.
There are also updates to the plant database files, which can be regarded as optional (all program versions will work with all database release files).
As previously, this Beta was developed and initially tested under MX Linux 19 with Xfce. It has also been tested with Mint and Manjaro and is expected to work with the various distributions tested before. In some cases the appearance on screen should be improved.
I am continuing to provide free life-time licences for the Linux edition of Plant Base – see my previous post about this!
Free licences for Plant Base on Linux !
Anyone who wants to use Plant Base on Linux can get a free licence by simply asking for one.
It is proof of concept – Plant Base can run on pretty much any type of system!
The same programming language used for Windows and Mac also supports Linux – so why not!
Perhaps a more serious reason – although the percentage of desktop computers running Linux remains very low, I believe around 2%, it is still the most obvious alternative to the two dominant commercial operating systems. With increasing concern about data privacy and the level of control exerted by big business, more and more discerning users are looking for greater choice.
Modern versions of Linux will run on old, obsolete computers no longer supported by software from the big companies. Tech hardware wastage is excessive and appalling – reuse and recycle. Plant Base runs fine on old computers!
This offer is available right now and probably remain at least while the Linux edition is in the Beta phase. Once issued, the licence is permanent, will never expire and may be used for all future versions of Plant Base. The licence registration code will only work for the Linux edition – unlike the full paid licence it will not enable the Windows or Mac editions, or in certain cases Android.
How to get it? – send an email, for instance via the Contact page, requesting a licence for Linux and saying which Linux distro(s) you will be running under. Please include the distro version number and unless obvious, the type of desktop environment (Xfce, KDE, Gnome, Cinammon or whatever). A user-name and valid email address is also needed for the licence code. This can be your actual name or something you choose, up to 20 characters. The email address of your request will be used unless you specify a different one. All details will be treated with total privacy and never shared.
Why? – with the recent release of the last Beta, the program should run on most, if not all, popular Linux distros and it would be valuable to know if that is true in the real world. Also, I expect interest in the Linux edition to be very limited. So I’m happy to encourage its use, at no cost, by the small number of users involved.
Why bother at all with a Linux edition? – several reasons!