Quirkos v1.4.1 is now available for Linux

A little later than our Windows and Mac version, we are happy to announce that we have just released Quirkos 1.4.1 for Linux. There are some major changes to the way we release and package our Linux version, so we want to provide some technical details of these, and installation instructions.

Previously our releases had a binary-based and distro independent installer. However, this was based on 32 bit libraries to provide backwards compatibility, and required a long list of dependencies to work on many systems.

From this release forward, we are releasing Quirkos as an AppImage – a single file which contains a complete image of the software. This should improve compatibility across different distros, and also remove some of the dependency hell involved in the previous installer.

Once you download the .AppImage file, you will need to give the file executable permissions (a standard procedure when downloading binaries). You can do this at the command-line just by typing ‘chmod +x Quirkos-1.4.1-x86_64.AppImage’. This step can also be done with a File Manager GUI like Nautilus (the default in Gnome and Ubuntu) by right clicking on the downloaded file, selecting the Permissions tab, and ticking the ‘Allow executing file as program’ box. Then you can start Quirkos from the command-line, or by double clicking on the file.

Since an AppImage is essentially a ‘live’ filesystem contained in a single file, there is no installation needed, and if you want to create a Desktop shortcut to the software stored in a different location, you will have to create one yourself.

Secondly, we have also moved to a 64 bit release for this version of Quirkos. While we initially wanted to provide maximum compatibility with older computers, this actually creates a headache for the vast majority of Linux users with 64 bit installations. They were required to install 32 bit libraries for many common packages (if they did not have them already), creating duplication and huge install requirements. Now Quirkos should run out-of-the-box for a vast majority of users.

Supporting Linux is really important to us, and we are proud to be the only major commercial qualitative software company creating a Linux version, let alone one that is fully feature and project compatible with the Windows and Mac builds. While there are great projects like RQDA which are still supported, TAMS Analyzer and Weft QDA have not been updated for Linux in many years, and are pretty much impossible to build these days. Dedoose is an option in Linux since it is browser based, but sometimes requires some tweaking to get Flash running properly. Adobe AIR for Linux is now no longer supported, so the Dedoose desktop App is sadly no longer an option.

But Quirkos will keep supporting Linux, and provide a real option for qualitative researchers wanting to use free and open platforms.

We REALLY would love to have your feedback on our new Linux release, positive, negative or neutral! We still have a relatively small number of users on Linux, so your experiences are extra important to us. Is the AppImage more convenient? Have you had any dependency problems? Would you prefer we kept providing 32bit packages? E-mail us at support@quirkos.com and let us know!