Go Bible

Infobox Software
name = Go Bible



caption =
collapsible =
author = Jolon Faichney
developer = Jolon Faichney
released = 2003-09-28
latest_release_version = 2.2.6
latest_release_date = 2008-03-31
operating_system = Java Platform, Micro Edition
operating_system_desc =
size = 1.5MB (typical for a whole Bible)
language = English, and with translated user interfaces
status = Active
genre = Bible Study Tools
license = Freeware, New BSD License
website = [http://go-bible.org/ Go Bible]

Go Bible is a free Bible viewer application for Java mobile phones (J2ME MIDP 1.0 and MIDP 2.0). It was developed by Jolon Faichney in Surf City, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, with help from several other people who assisted in making versions for other languages and translations. Go Bible is installed like any other midlet by copying the .jar and .jad file to the cell phone by USB or Bluetooth. The English KJV Go Bible 1.1 can also be installed using WAP download.

Features

Go Bible 2.2.6 features:
* Christ’s Words in red
* SMS scriptures
* Bookmarks
* History
* Coloured themes
* Fast search [Search results are limited to a maximum of 200.]

Releases

:"The news page on the Go Bible website provides more details. For more detailed development history up to March 2005, see also [http://www.onthenet.com.au/~jolon/news.html] ".
* 2008-03-31 Go Bible 2.2.6 – "latest version of English KJV Go Bible and twenty two other languages" [ [http://code.google.com/p/gobible/wiki/Release_Notes Go Bible Code release notes] ]
* 2008-03-26 Go Bible 2.2.5
* 2007-08-09 Go Bible 2.2.4 – "improvement to Go Bible Creator" [Available from http://groups.google.com/group/go-bible/files]
* 2007-04-12 Go Bible 2.2.3
* 2007-02-06 Go Bible 2.2.2 ["This date was deduced from the Internet Archive".]
* 2006-07-30 Go Bible 2.2.1
* 2006-03-16 Go Bible 2.2
* 2004-06-28 Go Bible 2.0
* 2003-09-28 Go Bible 1.01

Languages

Go Bible site

Including the King James Version which heads the list, Go Bible is already available in 23 languages. These include:

English - Afrikaans - Arabic - Bulgarian - Chinese - Danish - Dutch - Finnish - French - German - Hungarian - Indonesian - Norwegian - Portuguese - Romani (Gypsy) - Romanian - Russian - Spanish - Swedish - Tagalog (Filipino) - Ukrainian - Vietnamese -

Other websites

Third-party developers [ [http://dfhmch.googlepages.com/linkstoothergobiblesites GoBible - Links to other Go Bible sites ] ] have already published Go Bible translations in the following further languages:

Albanian -Armenian - Basque - Breton (NT) - Burmese - Cebuano - Chamorro (portions) - Croatian - Czech - Esperanto - Estonian [ [http://www.biblephone.net/article.php?id=126 International Bibles on the Mobile Phone : Estonian Bibles ] ] - Farsi - Georgian [ [http://www.biblephone.net/article.php?id=60 International Bibles on the Mobile Phone : Georgian Bibles ] ] - Greek - Haitian Creole - Hebrew (OT) - Hindi [ [http://wordofgod.in/softs_mob_en_default.html Word Of God - Tamil Mobile Bible, Hindi Mobile Bible, WOGs Tamil Mobile Bible, English GoBible ] ] - Icelandic - Japanese - Kabyle - Kekchi - Korean - Latin (Vulgate) - Latvian - Lithuanian [ [http://www.biblephone.net/article.php?id=124 International Bibles on the Mobile Phone : Lithuanian Bibles ] ] - Malayalam [ [http://www.christiansmobile.com/Default.aspx?tabid=78 ChristiansMobile.com - Download Free Christian Malayalam Mobile Bible Software for your mobile phone] ] - Manx Gaelic (portions) - Maori - Mizo [ [http://m.khampat.com/mgb/ Mizo Go Bible] ] - Nepali [ [http://www.box.net/shared/ja8iaxilry Box.net - Free Online File Storage, Internet File Sharing, RSS Sharing, Access Documents & Files Anywhere, Backup Data, Share Files ] ] - Polish - Potawatomi (portions) - Serbian - Shuar - Slovak - Slovenian [ [http://www.biblija.net/mobi.php mobi BIBLIJA.net - BIBLIJA.net za mobilne naprave ] ] - Swahili - Uma - Tamajaq (portions) - Tamil [ [http://wordofgod.in/softs_mob_en_default.html Word Of God - Tamil Mobile Bible, Hindi Mobile Bible, WOGs Tamil Mobile Bible, English GoBible ] ] - Thai - Turkish -Wolof - Xhosa -

"These lists are likely to grow as more people become involved in using the developer application".

Many of the Go Bible translations still use English for the Bible book names, and for the user interface, though that is now starting to change as developers become more familiar with the features of the developer application.

Unicode fonts

Go Bible uses the Unicode fonts installed by the mobile phone manufacturer. Some translations may not display correctly on all phones due to missing code pages or individual codes. Also, there are problems with some Sony Ericsson phones with regard to displaying Arabic script and other right-to-left languages. Rendering such languages properly depends on having a correct implementation of the bidirectional algorithm.

Phones with limited memory

It is possible to divide Go Bible into several smaller collections so that the JAR files can be installed in mobile phones with limited memory. For some models, splitting into Old Testament and New Testament is sufficient. For older models, splitting into files smaller than 1MB, 512KB, 256KB or 128KB may be necessary. Go Bible 1.0 is suitable for phones with 64KB JAR file limit.

Developer application

The author has also provided a developer kit called Go Bible Creator. This enables further translations and language versions to be generated by users. Go Bible Creator takes as data input Bible files in Theological Markup Language (ThML) or Open Scripture Information Standard (OSIS). Go Bible Creator supports two useful additional features:
* Book name mapping – this enables translated Bible book names to be mapped to English book names.
* Translated user interface – this requires the translation of 72 words or short phrases from the English default UI.

Go Bible Creator was used successfully by the author of the [http://www.mobible.be/ Mobile Bible] site in Belgium to create several Go Bible collections in various languages. [ [http://www.mobible.be/download.html The Mobile Bible ] ]

Another user has started a Go Bible Google Group [ [http://groups.google.com/group/go-bible Go Bible | Google Groups ] ] , from which several more Go Bible collections may be downloaded.

The author has subsequently started a separate Go Bible Dev Google Group [ [http://groups.google.com/group/go-bible-dev Go Bible Dev | Google Groups] ] , for discussing the Go Bible source code.

Go Bible Creator is not limited to making Bible collections. It can also be used to create other types of e-Book, such as an electronic hymn book (words only).

The source code for both GoBibleCore and GoBibleCreator is now available online under the new BSD license. [ [http://code.google.com/p/gobible/ gobible - Google Code ] ]

One member of the Theologische Initiative Freiburg [ [http://wp1066500.wp101.webpack.hosteurope.de/zef/ Zefania XML - Home ] ] has written software scripts to convert Zefania XML Bible modules into the ThML format for use with Go Bible Creator. Though the description is "Converts a Zefania XML bible modul to a SWORD -modul", the download includes a tool for Go Bible. "The host language is German".

Distribution

Go Bible is listed in a number of free and open source software distributor sites, such as:
* Softpedia [ [http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Educational/Bible/KJV-Go-Bible-28716.shtml Download KJV Go Bible 2.2 for Java - Softpedia ] ]
* GetJar [ [http://www.getjar.com/products/6306/KJVGoBible KJV Go Bible / free download ] ] [ [http://www.getjar.com/products/7858/ChineseTraditionalGoBible Chinese Traditional Go Bible / free download ] ]
* HandyByte [ [http://en.handybyte.com/cat/educational/the-bible/kjv-go-bible/ KJV Go Bible 2.2 handy download. Go Bible is a Free Bible viewer application for Java mobile phones (J2ME MIDP 1 ] ]
* Game-Thing [ [http://game-thing.com/dwi_application.php?g=2 GoBible King James Version ] ]

Go Bible is also being used on a number of Christian websites. [ [http://www.biblephone.net/ Bible Phone] in Romania] [ [http://www.mobible.be/ Mobile Bible] in Belgium]

Go Bible in Java ME emulators

The Go Bible application can be previewed in the following Java ME emulators:
* [http://www.microemu.org/ MicroEmulator]
* MpowerplayerIt is also possible to run Go Bible applications on a Pocket PC by installing the following: [ [http://jolon.org/vanillaforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=404 Go Bible Forum - Samsung IP830w Installation ] ]
* [http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Emulators/IBM-MIDP-2-0-Java-Emulator-38910.shtml IBM MIDP 2.0 Java Emulator] It is even possible to run Go Bible in a Sony PlayStation Portable by installing a Java emulator for the PSP. [ [http://jolon.org/vanillaforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=491 Go Bible Forum - GoBible In Sony PSP ] ] See:
* [http://www.pspkvm.com PSPKVM]

Similar products

* [http://www.phoneybible.org/ PhoneyBible] is a similar application - also for Java enabled mobile phones, but unlike Go Bible, it is not freeware. It is completely independent from Go Bible. [ [http://jolon.org/vanillaforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=30&page=1#Item_3 Go Bible Forum - PhoneyBible ] ]
* [http://www.christianmobile.co.za/ ChristianMobile] offers some copyrighted versions of the Bible for Java enabled mobile phones.
* [http://www.bibleseurope.com/ IBS-STL] has the NIV for mobile phones that can be downloaded through over the air installation.
* [http://www.olivetree.com/ OliveTree Bible Software] has a number of Bible Reader applications for various mobile phone and PDA platforms.
* [http://rostovchurch.ru/jbible/ jBible] is a Russian website with free Bible reading applications for Java mobile phones. Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian Bibles are available.

References

See also

* e-Sword Bibles, including Pocket e-Sword for Pocket PCs
* The SWORD Project, cross-platform open source Bible software
* Zefania XML Bible Markup Language – "German"

External links

* [http://go-bible.org/ Go Bible] official website
* [http://jolon.org/vanillaforum/ Go Bible Forum]