Installing it
Ready-made programs for Linux, macOS and Windows are on the Releases page of the project. Open the newest release and download the file for your computer. Nothing else needs installing: the sounds, the fonts and the video encoder come with the app.
| Download | For |
|---|---|
ferrous-lineup-…-linux-x86_64.AppImage | Linux on a PC: one file, nothing to unpack |
ferrous-lineup_…_amd64.deb | Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and their relatives |
ferrous-lineup-…-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | Linux on a PC, as a plain folder |
ferrous-lineup-…-windows-x86_64-setup.exe | Windows: installs it, with an uninstaller |
ferrous-lineup-…-windows-x86_64.zip | Windows, portable: unzip and run |
ferrous-lineup-…-macos-arm64.dmg | Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 and later) |
ferrous-lineup-…-macos-x86_64.dmg | Macs with an Intel processor |
The … is the version, such as v0.4.1. Help > About Ferrous
Lineup in the app shows the version you are running.
Linux
The AppImage. A downloaded file is not allowed to run until you say so. In a file manager, open the file’s Properties, and under Permissions tick Allow executing file as program; then double-click it. In a terminal:
chmod +x ferrous-lineup-v0.4.1-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./ferrous-lineup-v0.4.1-linux-x86_64.AppImage
If it does not start and mentions FUSE, install the FUSE 2 library
(libfuse2, or libfuse2t64 on newer Ubuntu), or start it with
--appimage-extract-and-run after its name.
The .deb. Install it with:
sudo apt install ./ferrous-lineup_0.4.0-1_amd64.deb
It adds Ferrous Lineup to the applications menu, and file managers open
.lineup projects with it. sudo apt remove ferrous-lineup removes it;
your songs stay where you saved them.
The .tar.gz. Unpack it and start ferrous-lineup in the folder:
tar -xzf ferrous-lineup-v0.4.1-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
./ferrous-lineup-v0.4.1-linux-x86_64/ferrous-lineup
Every desktop Linux has the sound and window libraries the app needs.
The plain folder also needs the keyboard library libxkbcommon-x11-0,
which the other two bring along or install.
Windows
The Setup program installs Ferrous Lineup with a Start menu entry
and an uninstaller (in Settings > Apps), and double-clicking a
.lineup project opens it. The program is not signed, so the first
time Windows may show a blue window, “Windows protected your PC”:
choose More info, then Run anyway.
The .zip is the same program without an installer: unzip it
anywhere and double-click ferrous-lineup.exe.
macOS
Open the .dmg and drag Ferrous Lineup onto the Applications
folder next to it, then start it from Applications.
The app is not notarized by Apple, so the first time macOS may say it cannot check it for malicious software. Try to open it once, then open System Settings > Privacy & Security and allow it there. On older versions of macOS, right-click the app and choose Open instead.
Once the app is in Applications, double-clicking a .lineup file in
the Finder opens it in Ferrous Lineup.
The first start
Ferrous Lineup opens with a short song and its chord sheet, ready to play: press Space. The first time, it offers to download a set of real instrument sounds, about 30 MB, as soon as it opens; Sounds says what that is. Then go on with The main window and Your first song.
The app starts in English. It also speaks Spanish: **Edit > Settings…
Appearance > Language > Español** switches it at once, and it starts in Spanish from then on.
Checking a download
Each release lists a SHA256SUMS.txt file: a fingerprint of every
download. If you want to be sure a download arrived whole, put it in a
folder with that file and run, on Linux:
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS.txt
On a Mac, shasum -a 256 <file> prints a file’s fingerprint, and in
Windows PowerShell Get-FileHash <file> does; it must match the line
for that file.
Building it yourself
You can also build Ferrous Lineup from its source code, on any of the three systems. The book Inside Ferrous Lineup says how.