Electric Prayer

We got a question earlier today:

“I have been a Universalis user for several years, but this week – every day the Mass reading is the same – Isaiah for the first reading, Psalm 89 for the response, a second reading from revelation and Luke 4:16-21 for the Gospel,. The readings are correct on your website, but the download – nope. I’ve gone back and forth, closed and re-opened – always the same thing. I used to download a month at a time, but this year downloaded the whole year – but I have lots of memory.”

This is the kind of technical support question it is impossible to answer. It may help you to get help quickly (if you ever need it) if I list the reasons:

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There are versions for the downloadable Universalis program for Windows and for Mac, but there is no specific version for Linux. However, some people have reported success in using the Windows download on Linux (see the earlier blog post). Today I have received an email from another user:

I don’t run Windows or Apple Mac but instead use Ubuntu Linux.  Linux has a Windows emulator program called Wine and I tried your program using this emulator.  It works perfectly.

I’d just thought I would let you know in case you get any queries form other Linux users.

We don’t support running the Windows Universalis on Linux, in that if you have a problem with it then there is nothing we can do to help. On the other hand we are very happy to hear that it does work and we encourage you to try it. We will certainly not do anything intentionally to stop it working in the future.

It has been suggested that we should mention Linux on the Universalis web page. We feel we can’t do this because it might make people think that Universalis on Linux is supported, which it isn’t. But we’re still glad to hear that it seems to work.

A few versions ago, we changed the iPhone version of Universalis so that the Invitatory is part of each Hour rather than a separate page. We did this partly to remove the need to jump around and find it and partly because we needed extra space in the Hours list for the “Order of Mass” page.

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The new version of the Universalis program for Windows is now available for download.

It contains the new English translation of the Order of Mass, and various other improvements.

You will notice blue arrows on the right-hand side of some of the pages. These let you choose between various options. For instance:

• Optional memorials: which saint (if any) you want to celebrate.
• Invitatory psalm: which hour you want to precede with the Invitatory Psalm.
• Daytime psalms: whether you want to use the psalms of the day or the complementary psalms.
• Order of Mass: many options, such as the choice of Penitential Rite, Creed, and Eucharistic Prayer.

For the blind and partially sighted who are using a screen reader, blue arrows do not appear. Instead, all these options are selectable from the menu bar, in the new View menu.

The equivalent iPhone application will be updated soon: it has already been submitted to Apple. The Mac version of Universalis will be updated next week.

NOTE: As of Sunday 4 September, the downloadable program for Windows includes an option to create an e-book for the Order of Mass.