From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

I've been trying different Debian-based distributions to see if you can install Trelby on them. Currently there is all kinds of trouble with installing Trelby on Linux. Flatpaks can't use PDF preview (a nice feature
you hate to give up) because of the way Flatpaks use the "sandbox." The regular Debian (.deb files) and Fedora install files aren't currently
working at all. It's frustrating for someone who has known this program from about 2004 (when it was called Blyte and was a commercial application that I beta tested). And, yes, I tried to get the creator to name it something
other than Blyte, but he was European and English wasn't his first language — and he was a bit stubborn about it. I actually suggested the name "Fade In" which later (in 2012) became the name of another screenwriting application. (A pretty well known one.)

At any rate, the person who is "maintaining" Trelby probably has a good
heart, she's a Python programmer — but, basically, every time Python's version changes, the application quits working. And making the "wheel" whatever that is, hardly ever works (for me, at least). She uses Fedora (and basically ONLY Fedora) and that's probably why there is so much trouble. So
I discovered that I could just download the needed files, copy them to the right directory and Trelby worked without "making the wheel."

About 14 months ago, someone put up a script to make a Trelby AppImage. So I ran that script and it resulted in a working package. But, being an
AppImage, it's stuck in time to version 2.4.14. The newest Trelby version is now 2.4.16.2 (not that it makes a lot of difference).

I also figured out what dependencies Trelby needed, and wrote a small shell script to download them and install them in a directory where they would
work. I also included the manual.html, the trelby icon and the
trelby.desktop file needed for the Menu. It worked pretty well, but most people don't want to run a shell script to install an application. (I guess
I can understand why.)

So then I figured out how to make a .deb file that incorporated that shell script and it seems to actually work (all 22 Kbs of it). So now I'm testing Debian based distributions to see if Trelby installs in them. Which finally brings me to Debian 13.4.0 (KDE desktop). First, yes it works with the trelby.deb file (which surprised me as I thought I tested Debian 13 before). But that's not the main reason I'm writing this.

I'm surprised at how well Debian with KDE works. Very "snappy." But I'm also surprised at how well Wayland works in KDE. It has fractional scaling (by 5% increments) from 50% to 300%. That's pretty impressive. So, I'm going to suggest to my friend (who was worried scaling on his laptop) to look into Debian instead of Zorin. And I'm going to find a partition for a Debian KDE install. I'm that impressed. (And Jstar and my Shift-Control-U for Unicode also works in Wayland.)

BTW, if anyone knows a bit about Python programming, I think they could use you on the Trelby GitHub site. Unfortunately they seem more worried about adding unneeded features rather than getting the application to work right. They could use help for the Windows version as well (creating a menu,
instead of having to go to the terminal). And on the Mac (where I've been
able to install Trelby using pipx) works — sort of. It seems to have a scaling problem, though. The cursor and letters don't stay together as you type to the end of the line. I increased the size of the font, now it's the opposite, it "backs into" the letters (much less). I think I read somewhere that Python programmers had to do something different for Mac scaling, but I can't find that post anymore — and I probably wouldn't know what to do with it anyway.

Sorry for rambling.
--
Not all Jews are Zionists. Not all Zionists are Jews. Zionism ≠ Judaism.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 06:44:22 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

She uses Fedora
(and basically ONLY Fedora) and that's probably why there is so much
trouble.

Fedora has been 3.14 since 43 was released last year. I'm running 44 beta
and it's still 3.14. What I ran into is PySide6 hasn't been updated and
won't work. I could use uv to create a 3.13 venv but I've switched back to PyQt6, which does work. PyQt6 has licensing issues for commercial use but that's not a problem for me anymore. There are a few minor differences.

I assume it cuts both ways and a 3.14 package won't work on 3.13.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 2026-03-17, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 06:44:22 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

She uses Fedora
(and basically ONLY Fedora) and that's probably why there is so much
trouble.

Fedora has been 3.14 since 43 was released last year. I'm running 44 beta and it's still 3.14. What I ran into is PySide6 hasn't been updated and won't work. I could use uv to create a 3.13 venv but I've switched back to PyQt6, which does work. PyQt6 has licensing issues for commercial use but that's not a problem for me anymore. There are a few minor differences.

I assume it cuts both ways and a 3.14 package won't work on 3.13.

I just know that, whatever she's doing, it doesn't seem to work right a lot
of the time. What I wish they would do is get together, get a solid working version of Trelby, and make an AppImage of it. It doesn't need to change
every few months.

The development seems erratic. For a few months everyone is jumping in, we need this, this and that... and then all development seems to go into limbo for six months or more. The beauty of this application was that it was clean and simple, too many want to turn it into something more complicated. So
they keep trying to tack on more crap.
--
Not all Jews are Zionists. Not all Zionists are Jews. Zionism ≠ Judaism.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2