Running thinkorswim

I just started using ubuntu, and yesterday I managed to install thinkorswim software on my desktop. It was working yesterday, but now it doesn't work. I click it and nothing happens. Also the icon has changed to just a plain folder.

Other than going into settings I don't know what else to try.

How do I get this back working?

Solution 1:

Instructions for Lubuntu / Ubuntu 19.04

Thanks to Michael in tech support at Thinkorswim.

The following instructions should help you to install thinkorswim with the proper version of Java:

Installing Zulu OpenJDK:

1. Log in as root or use sudo

2. Import Azul's public key

   $ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 0xB1998361219BD9C9
   

3. Add the Azul package to the APT repository

   For Ubuntu

   $ sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://repos.azulsystems.com/ubuntu stable main'
   

   For Debian

   $ sudo apt-add-repository 'deb http://repos.azulsystems.com/debian stable main'
   

4. Update the information about available packages.

   $ sudo apt-get update
   

5. Install Zulu by using the following command:

   $ sudo apt-get install zulu-8
   

Once Zulu is installed move on to installing ThinkorSwim:

1. Navigate to downloads and right click "thinkorswim_installer.sh", select "Properties"
2. Select the "Permissions" tab, and make sure "Allow executing file as program" is selected
3. Close the window
4. Double click "thinkorswim_installer.sh"

-IF ONLY A TEXT EDITOR OPENS, CLOSE IT AND CONTINUE BELOW-

5. Click back onto the file explorer
6. Open from the top menu bar: Edit > Preferences OR Files > Preferences
7. Select the "Behavior" tab
8. Select "Ask each time" OR "Ask what to do" under "Executable Text Files"
9. Close the window and launch "thinkorswim.sh" and select "Run" from the prompt

Solution 2:

I had trouble getting this to run on Mint 19 due to having Java 11 installed by default and not wanting to set 8 as the default Java. Solved this here: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/545041/running-thinkorswim-on-linux-mint-19

Copying answer here for ease of use:

I tried a variety of things but the one thing that seemed to work best is by making my own executable script and replacing the desktop shortcut with it.

So open a text editor/nano/vi/etc file and name it thinkorswim2 (or whatever you want). In that put the following:

#!/bin/sh

export PATH=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/:$PATH
exec  /home/user/thinkorswim/thinkorswim "$@"

Double check and make sure that the export path does match up on your system by following it. It just goes to the directory of the java executable.

If you followed the install script defaults then change user to be your home directory username. It installed to this directory by default for my version.

Now make that script executable. If you aren't used to the terminal than right click -> properties -> permissions -> allow executing file as program (or similar).

If your like me you want the same icon too so (in mint cinnamon) go to the basic tab in properties. Click the icon. Click browse and go to "/home/user/thinkorswim" then press ctrl + H while browsing to reveal hidden folders. go into "install4j" and pick "thinkorswim.png"

Hopefully this saves someone time in the future.

Solution 3:

Piece of cake!!!

Step 0
Download and install thinkorswim app from the website.

You should see a thinkorswim icon on your desktop once installation completes

Step 1
Run in a terminal:

sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk 

sudo update-alternatives --config java #just note the java 8 path here and quit using Ctrl+Z

Step2:
Create a file (thinkswim.sh) on desktop, with the following content:

#! /bin/bash
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre  "this path should be set to what you get in step 1"

export PATH=$JAVA_HOME"/bin":$PATH

exec  ~/thinkorswim/thinkorswim "$@"

Step 3:
Run in a terminal

cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x  thinkswim.sh
./thinkswim.sh

You should see thinkorswim running now

Step 4(optional)
If you have a thinkorswim icon on your desktop:
Right click it -> properties -> set command to ~/Desktop/thinkswim.sh

Now you can run the app by double clicking the icon