Scripture study tools

[yanick-p40]

Hi, I ended up on this forum because my dad recently asked me to install on his computer a software so he can study the Scriptures, but I couldn't find anything much useful, open source, that I could install. He had installed "LDS Scriptures CD-ROM Resource Edition", but when Vista couldn't connect to his secure wireless network any longer, I installed Ubuntu so he wouldn't have to pay another $200 for a new Operating System... to make a story short, he doesn't know where he got that software and the only place I could find is on some site asking for my unitId and a password, and we tried several times to connect without any success. Also, PAF 5 works fine on Linux using Wine, but he had bought some other software back when Windows 98 was still hot (Gospel Link) and his version can no longer be installed anywhere.

The questions are now: 1) what technologies are being used to develop open source projects on desktop applications that are multiplatform, other than Java, that you are using? I would certainly join an open source project and I would like to know what other people use to develop their project. 2) Why are web projects the main focus on such projects? Of course the appeal of having your studies information at hand on the web is great, but what about when one is not able to connect online to do his study? I'm simply curious about what others thing on this.

I am also a bit concerned about group studies and shared Scriptures commentaries; while being able to read other people's thoughts on a specific verse is nice, but without a moderator, what is being commented can easily get out of hand (especially on open projects and who would be the moderator? Unless to post a comment one must login using lds.org profile credentials... which is unlikely to happen... this feature should be at least limited to be shared with (allow only specific users to view your commentaries, and create users study groups), but then again, this could also mean allowing unsupervised comments to be shared and viewed online. There's a reason why the Church has not yet implemented highlights and user comments on the Scriptures and I believe that they go along these lines.

Other concerns about such an open project are the books available to download/link to the personal library. I was reading that scriptures.lds.org could have an API for downloading the Scriptures with footnotes and all, and while this is great, lds.org cannot provide all the books for an open project, and the software, or web application, should provide ways to import, or even buy, other eBooks. For example, the french Bible cannot be on lds.org because of copyright issues, but can be downloaded for free on many web sites. The problem is that these sites do not have footnotes formatted the same way scriptures.lds.org has. There are other legal issues involved with publishing the Scriptures online, but not on desktop applications. How to cope with this?

There are many projects out there that look good (DAVAR3 for instance) but do not seem to support other books, or do not seem to be platform independant. I would be interested to open a project on Google Code/Assambla, or Github, etc. Personally, I am more inclined to like desktop applications with online connection capabilities than a web application for this kind of project.

Follow this thread for more details on this : http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3474

[lajackson]

"LDS Scriptures CD-ROM Resource Edition", . . .
he doesn't know where he got that software and the only place I could find is on some site asking for my unitId and a password, and we tried several times to connect without any success.

He probably got the CD for $6 from LDS Distribution Services. When it first came out, wards were encouraged to consolidate orders for members. He may have received it that way, rather than through his own distribution center order. Does it not run under Wine?

The site you found is a location where the stake technology specialist can obtain the software to load it on unit administrative computers. It is authorized software for the clerks computers.

[yanick-p40]

He probably got the CD for $6 from LDS Distribution Services. When it first came out, wards were encouraged to consolidate orders for members. He may have received it that way, rather than through his own distribution center order. Does it not run under Wine?

That's the thing, since he can't remember where he got it from, he doesn't have the CD-ROM. He probably got it installed by somebody who didn't gave him a copy of the CD (does this software authorize copies? I mean, for $6, it's merely for the packaging and shipping, is it not?) So I have absolutely no idea if it runs well on Wine. The only links I can find are

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.p ... n&iId=3115

and

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.p ... n&iId=4680

While the last one should run ok, the first one seems to be garbage. I would have to try and test it out... if I ever get a hand on a copy of "LDS Scriptures CD-ROM Resource Edition".

But this does not solve the issue of having french Scriptures loaded into the software. I haven't tried it and, well, haven't read any documentation yet about it, but can it actually display other Scriptures language than english?

That's why I'm all for having an open source project about this (multi platform) and have user contributing more books and articles. Perhaps even have GC and CES talks, and all (if all of these are subject to the same copyrights)

The site you found is a location where the stake technology specialist can obtain the software to load it on unit administrative computers. It is authorized software for the clerks computers.

Good to know. Thank you for the information. This should be noted on the site though. It kind of doesn't tell.

[jdlessley]

That's the thing, since he can't remember where he got it from, he doesn't have the CD-ROM. He probably got it installed by somebody who didn't gave him a copy of the CD (does this software authorize copies?)

No, it is copyrighted.

I mean, for $6, it's merely for the packaging and shipping, is it not?

The Church provides it at cost to members. That is why it is so cheap. You will pay shipping and handling in addition to the item cost. The CD is available at the Distribution Center online site. It is item 50315000.

[lajackson]

But this does not solve the issue of having french Scriptures loaded into the software. I haven't tried it and, well, haven't read any documentation yet about it, but can it actually display other Scriptures language than english?

Yes, and French is one of the languages. I am not at home to look, but I know French and Spanish are available, and I think Italian, German and Hebrew. I think there are about six or eight languages total.

The languages can be displayed independently, or a language can be chosen and displayed side by side with English.

[slloyd-p40]

I have not updated this thread for a while although there have been several improvements to the DearScriptures.com service.

1. Built a mobile site for use on cellphones and PDAs that have access to the internet. The url is http://m.dearscriptures.com. It has the following features:
   1. Search for scriptures that contain a word or phrase or lookup by reference
   2. Search for hymns that contain a word or phrase or lookup by hymn number
   3. Search for primary songs that contain a word or phrase or lookup by number.
   4. Search multiple online dictionaries for the definition of a word or phrase. This searches the LDS Bible Dictionary plus several other public sources. All scripture references returned are linked to that scripture.
2. Built a WordPress plugin that links scripture references in your blog posts and comments so that the scripture shows up in a popup div when you mouse over the reference. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/lds-scripture-linker/This plugin can be configured so the each verse is linked to scriptures.lds.org. The plugin has been downloaded over 200 times this year so far and is being use by LDS blogs including
   1. http://www.templestudy.com
   2. http://www.heavenlyascents.com

Well, That is it for now. There are currently almost 500 people that have registered for dearscriptures.com Many more use the mobile site since it does not require a login. I would love to hear suggestions on how to grow the membership to the thousands

Steven Lloyd

[hawstom-p40]

Stephen,

We are trying out the DearScriptures.com site, and we have some questions. Where can we contact you?

Tom