OpenLP has officially been accepted into openSUSE Factory, which means that in openSUSE 12.2 users will be able to install openLP right out of the box, without having to add any additional repositories. openSUSE 12.2 is scheduled to be released on July 11th.

If you're currently running Factory all you have to do to install OpenLP is run 'zypper install openlp'. For more information, you can visit the OpenLP build page: https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/106648

Many thanks go to Joseph Mulloy who tirelessly working at it for many months. He had to fix bugs in other packages and prod people to compile their packages properly, just so that he could get OpenLP into openSUSE. It really was quite a mission, but he did so anyways.

I'm happy to announce that the software upgrade of the site went well, and things should be mostly back to normal. If you have any issues with the site, please just drop us a line in our IRC channel. Please make sure you mention the page you were going to, the URL you ended up on, and the exact error you got. Also please note that most folks are only awake and active in the afternoon and evening hours of UTC/GMT.

Tomorrow evening we will be giving the OpenLP site a much-needed software upgrade. We will have to take the site offline for a few hours while we perform the upgrade, but don't worry, you can still find us in IRC, and the OpenLP 2.0 manual will still be available.

The site will be offline from around 17:00 UTC until approximately midnight UTC.

A few months ago, we rewrote how media (videos, etc) works in OpenLP. Part of the reason for the rewrite of how media is handled was to be able to use VLC as your video player inside OpenLP. Today we are happy to announce that we now have VLC support in OpenLP, via the nightly builds.

Please keep in mind that the VLC support might contain bugs since it has not yet been fully tested. Feel free, however, to test it out. As usual, please report any bugs you find.

Note: You will need to install VLC and enable VLC support in the media setting (Settings -> Configure OpenLP...) before you can use it.

Hot on the heels of the Christmas 1.9.8 release, an updated version of the Android client has been added to the Android Market.

This release contains two updates:

• The ability to blank the screen to the theme or desktop as well as the screen. *This change requires version 1.9.8 to function fully.*

• A number of translations.

The next release should be available at the same time as 1.9.9 is released.

This weekend we were able to set up the necessary infrastructure for doing test builds for Mac OS X automatically.

Nightly builds are created every day around 10pm GMT. These builds are created on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and should also work on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). These builds include latest development changes in OpenLP. The latest test build is available on the download page.

I would like to encourage Mac OS X users and testers to test OpenLP builds and report bugs periodically since we do not have a lot of Mac OS X developers and the support for Mac platform is not perfect.

Happy testing and reporting!

Hello everyone! OpenLP's popularity is on the rise. We just hit 1,200 fans. That is a large accomplishment in itself for a project like OpenLP. With this rise in popularity we could use some help from the community. As you probably already know we have been hard at work on a manual and support is always available through chat, but OpenLP also has a YouTube channel. Many times a video is worth more than a thousand words when demonstrating a feature or helping out with a technical issue.

We would love for members of the OpenLP community to help out with support. We can always use help with the manual or in chat, but specifically we would love to have your videos. Maybe you would like to document a feature that once found you couldn't live without. Maybe, you are a pro at setting up OpenLP and dual monitors and would like to demonstrate. If you would like a sample of a video please check this video out.

If you have your cameras rolling email us at support@openlp.org with your video and we will link to it on YouTube. If you do not have the video posted online and would still like to get it to us, file syncing services such as Dropbox, UbuntuOne, and Spider Oak (to name a few) all have a way to share a file with a public link. If that isn't your cup of tea you can also use a site such as TransferBigFiles.com to upload a file and have a public link so others can access it.

If you have been looking for a way to help the OpenLP community out this would be a great way and also should be fun in the process!

Looking back over the past year, OpenLP has had quite an eventful year. In 2011 we had the last two releases of openlp.org 1.2.x, had five releases of OpenLP 2.0 (1.9.x), we moved from alpha releases to beta releases, and we end-of-life'd openlp.org 1.x. Not only that, OpenLP even has an Android app!

Both as an application, and as a project, OpenLP has gone from strength to strength during 2011. Since the first beta release (version 1.9.5) we have had over 80,000 downloads, and the new manual has seen steady improvement since it was first put together. There have been a number of favourable reviews of OpenLP, and we've seen people talking about OpenLP more on the Internet this year. The OpenLP site has also seen almost 150,000 visitors this year.

This coming year promises to be even bigger and better. While we don't have a fixed release date for OpenLP 2.0, the general feeling is that it will likely be toward the end of 2012. This means that lots of bug fixing lies ahead of us, we'd like to get things like translations and the manual complete, and look at revamping the web site for the final release too.

Often we make New Years resolutions but in 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul tells us:

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test!"

2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV

A careful self-evaluation is often insightful and motivating, especially for Christians working on their New Year’s resolutions. As we kick off the new year, take time to examine you faith and confirm your commitment to Christ, reflecting on what He has done for you this past year, and thinking of what you can do in the coming year to strengthen your faith and deepen your relationship with Him.

In short, the OpenLP team wishes you a blessed and fruitful new year.

PS: Don't forget to upgrade OpenLP to version 1.9.8.

Another release, another beta... As with most other open source projects, we don't want to release OpenLP until it is ready. So here's our Christmas present to you: another beta version. Don't worry, we are just as eager as you to get the final release out, but we also want to make sure the final release is the best it can be, so we'll continue to release beta versions and then release candidates until we're happy with what we've got.

Last night I added Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin to our PPA, so from today or tomorrow all those early birds who like to run Ubuntu from the first alpha release should be able to download the daily build of OpenLP for 12.04. Unfortunately, OpenLP 1.9.7 will be not available for 12.04, but 1.9.8 and up will be.

Don't forget, we support all flavours of Ubuntu, including Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu. Mint Linux is also supported, as long as you are using the standard edition, not the Debian edition (the Debian edition should work too, but it doesn't work directly from the PPA). We also support all releases from 10.04 and up, so don't worry if you want to stick to the LTS releases of Ubuntu, we still support you!

To download OpenLP 1.9.7 for Ubuntu 10.04 to 11.10, go to our download page and add the PPA to your software sources. To download a nightly build (testers and adventurous users only!) of OpenLP, go to the download page and scroll down to the Developer Downloads section.