Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians,
for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the
Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
(Acts 17:11)
Latest version:
Apr 21,'08
- What does the name BerBible mean?
Berean Bible (from Acts 17:11 ... see left side of page) -- to reflect its emphasis on inspired Scripture and lack of commentaries. sola scriptura. - How is BerBible different from other Bible software?
BerBible was intentionally simplifed so as to have a trivial learning curve for people who aren't necessarily techies, and to have very good performance on dinosaur computers that are typically donated to the third world. BerBible is particularly appropriate as the first Bible software package that a person uses. It may be adequate for many people, but power users will probably outgrow its limited capabilities.
See FAQ for Other Software - How does BerBible performance compare to other Bible software?
On older computers, BerBible is typically much faster to load/launch and generally 3x to 50x faster to do searches. On modern computers, it is still significantly faster but you probably won't notice much difference between 1/10 second and 1/100 second. This speed is useful with pda's, such as Pocket-PC's and Palm hand-held devices.
- What is involved to install BerBible?
Very straightforward ... probably one of the simplest installs you will encounter.
See FAQ for Installation - What kind of searches can be done with BerBible?
Fairly elaborate. See FAQ for Searching - What kind of Help is available?
Fairly elaborate. See FAQ for Help (F1 HtmlHelp and Context Sensitive Help CSH) - What enhancements are envisioned for BerBible?
Lots. See FAQ for Roadmap of Envisioned Enhancements - Are there tutorials available?
There is a separate file with a 100+ step tutorial which is oriented to relatively inexperienced computer users. During the first part of this tutorial, each and every mouse click and keystroke are described. There are QwkChecks for each section of the tutorial to help determine if you can skip that part. The embedded HtmlHelp (reached using F1) contains the equivalent of the tutorial in a series of Help pages. However, it isn't that handy to be viewing BerBible and HtmlHelp at the same time unless you have a double monitor setup or a large monitor with very high resolution (1280*1024 or greater). It works better to print out the tutorial and follow along.
Note that while it may seem that an application with a 100+ step tutorial is complicated, that isn't actually the case. You can view a two minute animated slideshow and learn 90% of what you need to know to use BerBible.
Also, there is a NewFeaturesTutorial that deals with newer and more advanced features. - What other documentation is available?
Tip-of-the-Day shown at startup. - What other learning aids exist to get up to speed with BerBible?
An animated slideshow demonstrates basic features of BerBible (corresponds to the BerBible tutorial). - What is freeware? Is BerBible freeware?
There is no charge, no nags, no expiration, no crippled functions, and no spyware. BerBible is freeware. - What is shareware? Is BerBible shareware?
Try before you buy. May be nags, expiration, crippled functions, etc. BerBible is not shareware. Note that we are definitely not anti-capitalist, not against commercial Bible software, and not against charging for published Bibles. There can be enormous expenses in preparing, publishing, and distributing Bibles. - What limitations does BerBible have?
Quite a few. Mea culpa.
As of ver 2.30 [Oct, 2007], there are no provisions for commentaries, note taking, or dictionaries. Only a limited number of Bibles are usable. Other freeware Bible packages have many more Bible texts available. BerBible doesn't use embedded tags for Strong's numbers, cross-references, etc. Realistically, if you are computer literate, want to do relatively sophisticated things with Bible software, have a relatively modern computer, need modern English Bible translation that aren't public domain (NIV, NASB, etc.), and have an adequate budget, there are better choices besides BerBible. Otherwise, BerBible will probably meet your needs quite adequately.
As of Sep, 2006, BerBible is able to include the English Standard Version Bible ©2001 from Good News Publishing as a free download. It is part of the standard StarterKit. Also, BerBible has visual formatting to show words of Christ in red, poetic line breaks, paragraph grouping, italicized added words, headings, and publisher/translator footnotes. - Can multiple BerBible's be running at the same time?
This is possible ... just start BerBible several times. Each instance can be used to show a different translation (if you have more than one translation installed). However, BerBible only saves registry information about the last instance closed. When you restart BerBible, this will be the translation you will see. - Why is the developer making BerBible available?
We have been abundantly blessed, and want to give something back. - Is there a Pro version of BerBible available for a fee with additional features?
No. This would not be freeware, but a variant of shareware. Note that we are are definitely not anti-capitalist, not against commercial Bible software, and not against charging for published Bibles. There can be enormous expenses in preparing, publishing, and distributing Bibles. - How do I report a bug? Make a suggestion? Obtain support?
Send an e-mail to: support at berbible.org - Can a person with software development skills participate in BerBible development?
Yes. Contact us with your experience, skill-set, and interests. BerBible reflects input from techies in Tennessee, Greece, Romania, and Holland. A goal is to have a very collaborative development process using much more Team Programming according to XP (Extreme Programming) recommendations. - Can a person without software development skills participate in BerBible?
Yes, including documentation, support, testing, encouragement, webmaster, iron sharpens iron, etc. Contact us. - What is your evaluation about other Bible software such as ...?
Much is quite good, but generally seems oriented to scholars with modern computers. There tends to be such an abundance of features that they can be baffling for non-techies to use. Basic operations can be less than obvious to figure out. Load/launch and searches can be sluggish, even on relatively modern computers. Realistically, how often do you do more than look-up a particular verse reference or do a search for one or more words? These basic capabilities are very simple, fast, and obvious to accomplish with BerBible. - To what extent do you get what you pay for? Is BerBible a hunk of junk?
IMHO, BerBible does at least a decent job at meeting its rather simplistic objectives. Obviously, there is lots of room for improvement. Q/A-wise, it uses a 8,000+ line Visual Test script for regression testing to avoid bugs and crashes ... BerBible has (so far -- knock wood :-) been relatively bullet-proof with no reported bugs or crashes. There is extensive Doxygen embedded documentation. There is a reasonable alpha + beta test protocol before software is released, taking advantage of cooperative yahoo e-group members who like to break software. - What is XP (Extreme Programming)?
XP is a style of software development aimed at preparing higher quality software in less time. The basic tenets are: team programming, extensive regression testing, release early / release often for user feedback, etc. - Why doesn't BerBible conform more closely to Windows standard behavior?
The biggest differences is the lack of a status bar, and immediate menu-items for Previous-Chapter and Next-Chapter. An overriding objective of BerBible was usability on a computer (or laptop) with only 640*480 resolution, such as an ancient laptop. This argued against having these features, which take up quite a bit of screen real estate. - When will BerBible be finished?
My wife wonders the same thing, especially around dinner time or when some bills come due :-) - What prayers would be appropriate for BerBible?
- God's blessing, power from His Holy Spirit, and more awareness of the limits of our own strength
- continued support by family
- more collaborative team programming, rather than BerBible being primarily a solo effort
- permissions from publishers to make their Bible texts available
- integration with InVerse Scripture memorization freeware
- progress on other aspects of the enhancement roadmap
- Col 3:23 "work as unto the Lord"
- Have you been born again? What does it mean to be born again?
Are there on-line resources for leading someone to saving faith in Jesus Christ?
God is pleased when followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have a growing
knowledge of His Bible, His Son, and His message of salvation and
repentance for a lost and dying world.