I really wish TOS would distinguish themselves from the other trading service and support Linux. Regardless, I have TOS running on 17.10. Here is how I did it. The majority of the instructions are from the TOS website with a minor change or two. Just to be clear this the same as all the other ubuntu directions, but I just want to make sure if someone was having an issue on 17.10 they could find it.
Load your system with Java 8
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:webupd8team/java &&
sudo apt-get update &&
sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
You might need to install the following if you get this error: “No suitable Java Virtual Machine could be found”: sudo apt install openjdk-8-jre
3. install cd /Downloads sh ./thinkorswim_installer.sh
4. When you are going thru the wizard, install the thinkorswim software here:
I believe that is the trick that worked for me, was to install the app into: /usr/local/bin/thinkorswim The installer should start the application for you. The TOS small box will pop up and say that it is installing updates. This seems to take a long time, like 5 minutes? So go do something else for a few. Then you should get login screen after a while.
When it’s time to shutdown and start from scratch use:
sudo ./thinkorswim
Note: If you find any discrepancies or tips please leave them in the comments. I will do my best to post them, as this blog post and the other Ubuntu / TOS get a lot of hits, there are people out there that need hits.
I have been able to get TOS to run however it does not create a desktop icon and sudo ./thinkorswim results in ‘command not found’. I am a beginner level linux user so i am sorry if im missing something very basic, but could you provide some insight on how to create a desktop executable or get the launcher to function properly? Thank you!!!
small update, command sudo ./thinkorswim does work for me (i didnt realize i had to be in the folder terminal -still learning!) The executable file would be nice though 🙂
So I don’t have a desktop icon. So I run TOS from the terminal.
Cd ~
nano .bashrc
at the very bottom put the following alias alias TOS=’ /home/{username}/thinkorswim/thinkorswim’
save file
then type “source bash” to refresh the bash
then from any terminal just type TOS
I get an error after I install and it prompts the “Installing update…” splash screen:
Oracle JRE 8 update 11 or later is required to run application. Please manually update java and ensure it is the first Java abilable in your system path.
I have
$ java -version
java version “11.0.4” 2019-07-16 LTS
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.4+10-LTS)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.4+10-LTS, mixed mode)
I’m also a beginner at Ubuntu. I also have Ubuntu 18.04.3
java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_222"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_222-8u222-b10-1ubuntu1~18.04.1-b10)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.222-b10, mixed mode)
This is what I have, but not sure if that helps. I’m running 18.04.03 as well if that helps.
Ahhhh Thanks! I got it to work. I switch java versions. From java 11 to 8. I didn’t know I could do that.
https://aboullaite.me/switching-between-java-versions-on-ubuntu-linux/
I finally got around to fixing this.
Thanks again! Hope this link would help other people.
I did not have to switch java version. Here is a step by step to get it going. Piece of cake!!!
Step 0
Download and install thinkorswim app from the website (https://www.tdameritrade.com/tools-and-platforms/thinkorswim/download-thinkorswim-desktop.page)
You should see a thinkorswim icon on your desktop once once installation completes
Step 1
In a terminal
sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk
sudo update-alternatives –config java #just note the java 8 path here and quit command 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
in a terminal
cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x thinkswim
./thinkswim
You should see thinkswim running now
Step 4(optional)
if you have a thinkorswim icon on your desktop.
right click > properties
and set command to “~/Desktop/thinkswim.sh”
Now you can run the app by double clicking the icon
Thanks, this works! The quotes around “bin” broke it for me tho.