Freemind is a utility available in open source version. It is mainly developed for mind mapping purpose. We will start with one node which is located in the center as the main idea. It can be developed further by adding another child nodes which contain items, data or information. Those child nodes will generally viewed as an integrated concept related with the parent node.
Freemind is written in Java and can be downloaded by the time this article is posted in 26th March 2016 in the following link.
We are going to give detail on freemind installation in Ubuntu 16.04. Basically, the installation itself involves downloading and extracting freemind and placing it in /opt directory. Below are the steps and details of installation :
1. Download freemind in the following link.
We can get freemind by downloading it without any java bundling. But we have to make sure that the prerequisite which is needed for freemind to be executed properly is available. One of the most important thing is availability of java program or java runtime environment to be more specific. Assuming that we already know the direct link to download freemind, first of all, in every UNIX or Linux Distribution which has any download utilities such as ‘wget’, we can get freemind by executing the following command :
user@hostname:~/Downloads$ wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/freemind/files/freemind/1.0.1/freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip/download --2016-03-26 08:57:33-- https://sourceforge.net/projects/freemind/files/freemind/1.0.1/freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip/download Resolving sourceforge.net (sourceforge.net)... 216.34.181.60 Connecting to sourceforge.net (sourceforge.net)|216.34.181.60|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found Location: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/freemind/freemind/1.0.1/freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip?r=&ts=1458957454&use_mirror=iweb [following] --2016-03-26 08:57:34-- http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/freemind/freemind/1.0.1/freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip?r=&ts=1458957454&use_mirror=iweb Resolving downloads.sourceforge.net (downloads.sourceforge.net)... 216.34.181.59 Connecting to downloads.sourceforge.net (downloads.sourceforge.net)|216.34.181.59|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found Location: http://iweb.dl.sourceforge.net/project/freemind/freemind/1.0.1/freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip [following] --2016-03-26 08:57:35-- http://iweb.dl.sourceforge.net/project/freemind/freemind/1.0.1/freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip Resolving iweb.dl.sourceforge.net (iweb.dl.sourceforge.net)... 70.38.0.134, 2607:f748:10:12::5f:2 Connecting to iweb.dl.sourceforge.net (iweb.dl.sourceforge.net)|70.38.0.134|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 28651919 (27M) [application/octet-stream] Saving to: ‘download’ download 100%[=========================================================================>] 27,32M 160KB/s in 2m 45s 2016-03-26 09:00:20 (170 KB/s) - ‘download’ saved [28651919/28651919] user@hostname:~/Downloads$
The available download process using wget renaming the file into ‘download’. In order to extract it, we have to rename the file again into its original name by executing the following command :
user@hostname:~/Downloads$ mv download freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip
2.Move freemind’s zip file installation to any location which you prefer is the right place to be extracted. In this context, we are using /opt as its main location of freemind files.
user@hostname:~/Downloads$ sudo su - [sudo] password for user: root@hostname:~# cd /home/user/Downloads root@hostname:/home/user/Downloads# mv freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip /opt/ root@hostname:/home/user/Downloads# cd /opt Extract the already downloaded file with the following command : root@hostname:/opt# mkdir freemind-bin-1.0.1 root@hostname:/opt# mv freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip freemind-bin-1.0.1/ root@hostname:/opt# cd freemind-bin-1.0.1/ root@hostname:/opt/freemind-bin-1.0.1# unzip freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip Archive: freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip creating: accessories/ creating: browser/ creating: doc/ creating: lib/ creating: lib/SimplyHTML/ creating: lib/jibx/ inflating: FreeMind.exe inflating: FreeMind64.exe inflating: accessories/ExportToHtml.groovy inflating: accessories/ExportToPdf.groovy inflating: accessories/LICENSE.MIT inflating: accessories/freemind2applet.xsl inflating: accessories/freemind2flash.xsl inflating: accessories/freemind2html.css inflating: accessories/freemind2html.xsl inflating: accessories/hide.png inflating: accessories/ilink.png inflating: accessories/leaf.png inflating: accessories/map_location.png inflating: accessories/marktree.js inflating: accessories/masterfile.tex inflating: accessories/mindmanager2mm.xsl inflating: accessories/minus.png inflating: accessories/mm2csv.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2html.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2latex.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2latex_latin1_TEMPLATE.mm inflating: accessories/mm2latexartcl.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2latexbook.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2msp_utf8.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2msp_utf8_TEMPLATE.mm inflating: accessories/mm2ooimpress.manifest.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2ooimpress.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2ooimpressStyles.xml inflating: accessories/mm2oowriter.manifest.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2oowriter.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2oowriterStyles.xml inflating: accessories/mm2opml.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2text.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2tjiresources.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2tjitasks.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2tsk.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2twiki.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2twiki_headings.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2wordml_utf8.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2wordml_utf8_TEMPLATE.mm inflating: accessories/mm2xbel.xsl inflating: accessories/mm2xls_utf8.xsl inflating: accessories/opml2mm.xsl inflating: accessories/plus.png inflating: accessories/show.png inflating: accessories/tohtml.xsl inflating: accessories/toxhtml.xsl inflating: accessories/treestyles.css inflating: accessories/xbel2mm.xsl inflating: browser/freemind.mm inflating: browser/freemindbrowser.html inflating: browser/freemindbrowser.jar inflating: browser/freemindbrowser.xhtml inflating: browser/license inflating: dictionaries.properties inflating: dictionary_de.ortho inflating: dictionary_en.ortho inflating: dictionary_es.ortho inflating: dictionary_fr.ortho inflating: dictionary_nl.ortho inflating: dictionary_ru.ortho inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide.odt inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide.pdf inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_et.odt inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_et.pdf inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_fr.odt inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_fr.pdf inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_hr.odt inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_hr.pdf inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_it.odt inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_it.pdf inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_ja.pdf inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_ru.odt inflating: doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_ru.pdf inflating: doc/freemind.mm inflating: doc/freemind_da.mm inflating: doc/freemind_de.mm inflating: doc/freemind_es.mm inflating: doc/freemind_et.mm inflating: doc/freemind_fr.mm inflating: doc/freemind_id.mm inflating: doc/freemind_ja.mm inflating: doc/freemind_ru.mm inflating: doc/freemind_vi.mm inflating: freemind.bat inflating: freemind.sh inflating: freemindw.bat inflating: lib/SimplyHTML/SimplyHTML.jar inflating: lib/SimplyHTML/gnu-regexp-1.1.4.jar inflating: lib/bindings.jar inflating: lib/forms-1.0.5.jar inflating: lib/freemind.jar inflating: lib/jibx/jibx-run.jar inflating: lib/jibx/xpp3.jar inflating: lib/jortho.jar inflating: lib/serializer.jar inflating: lib/xalan.jar inflating: lib/xercesImpl.jar inflating: lib/xml-apis.jar inflating: license inflating: patterns.xml root@hostname:/opt/freemind-bin-1.0.1#
3. To make sure that java has already installed in your operating system, please run the following command :
user@hostname:/opt$ java -version java version "1.6.0" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-b105) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 1.6.0-b105, mixed mode) user@hostname:/opt$
And the following is my operating system which is used to install Freemind. Below is the executed command to check the operating system version :
user@hostname:/opt$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu Xenial Xerus (development branch) Release: 16.04 Codename: xenial user@hostname:/opt$
4. Based on the information displayed in their sites in this link (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download), it is stated that freemind need Java Runtime Environment 1.6 or later. So based on the information provided by executing the command in point 3 we have already fulfill the prerequisite to be able to execute freemind.
5. Before we launch freemind, first of all we have to change the owner of the already extracted freemind by typing the following command :
root@hostname:/opt/freemind-bin-1.0.1# chown -Rv user.user * changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2latexartcl.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/freemind2flash.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/tohtml.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/hide.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2text.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/minus.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2latex.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/plus.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2opml.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mindmanager2mm.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/marktree.js’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/LICENSE.MIT’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2csv.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/freemind2applet.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/xbel2mm.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/toxhtml.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/freemind2html.css’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/map_location.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2wordml_utf8.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2ooimpress.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2msp_utf8_TEMPLATE.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2xls_utf8.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2oowriter.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/show.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2oowriterStyles.xml’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/ExportToHtml.groovy’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2msp_utf8.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/opml2mm.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2ooimpress.manifest.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2tjiresources.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/ExportToPdf.groovy’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2xbel.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2latexbook.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2oowriter.manifest.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2ooimpressStyles.xml’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2html.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2tjitasks.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/masterfile.tex’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2twiki_headings.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/leaf.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2tsk.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2twiki.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/ilink.png’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/freemind2html.xsl’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/treestyles.css’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2latex_latin1_TEMPLATE.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories/mm2wordml_utf8_TEMPLATE.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘accessories’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘browser/freemindbrowser.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘browser/freemindbrowser.html’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘browser/freemindbrowser.xhtml’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘browser/freemind.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘browser/license’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘browser’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionaries.properties’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionary_de.ortho’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionary_en.ortho’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionary_es.ortho’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionary_fr.ortho’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionary_nl.ortho’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘dictionary_ru.ortho’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide.odt’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_et.odt’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_et.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_vi.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_hr.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_ru.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_fr.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_it.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_hr.odt’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_es.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_et.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_da.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_id.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_ru.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_ja.pdf’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_fr.odt’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_it.odt’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/FM_Key_Mappings_Quick_Guide_ru.odt’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_de.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_fr.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc/freemind_ja.mm’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘doc’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘FreeMind64.exe’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘freemind.bat’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘freemind-bin-1.0.1.zip’ retained as user:user changed ownership of ‘FreeMind.exe’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘freemind.sh’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘freemindw.bat’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/xml-apis.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/bindings.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/jortho.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/forms-1.0.5.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/xercesImpl.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/serializer.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/jibx/jibx-run.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/jibx/xpp3.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/jibx’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/freemind.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/SimplyHTML/gnu-regexp-1.1.4.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/SimplyHTML/SimplyHTML.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/SimplyHTML’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib/xalan.jar’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘lib’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘license’ from root:root to user:user changed ownership of ‘patterns.xml’ from root:root to user:user root@hostname:/opt/freemind-bin-1.0.1#
6. To launch freemind, try to execute the following command :
user@hostname:/opt/freemind-bin-1.0.1$ sh freemind.sh Checking Java Version... STDOUT: User patterns file /home/user/.freemind/patterns.xml not found. STDOUT: User patterns file /home/user/.freemind/patterns.xml not found. STDOUT: User patterns file /home/user/.freemind/patterns.xml not found.Mar 26, 2016 9:27:17 AM freemind.main.Tools waitForEventQueue WARNING: Can't wait for event queue, if I'm inside this queue!
7. If the launch process is normal, it will display the following splash screen of freemind version 1.0.1 :
8. Since I have already installed a previous version of freemind which is 1.0.0, it will display the following pop-up message :
Click Yes to convert the old version file of FreeMind .
When the conversion process of the old file has already succeeded, freemind will display it in its canvas. But overall, this is the image of Freemind version 1.0.1 :
9. The process has already finished and we can start using freemind.
I found an error at root@hostname:~# cd /home/user/Downloads. It give me an answer -su: cd: /home/user/Downloads: No such file or directory
What should I do?
I DID IT! THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙂
Glad you did it … The command sudo su – is only a command to switch to root user through sudo utility. It is used to install freemind. Sorry for the late reply…
worked for me too, thanks for thw write up. im a noob but love freemind
Finally found this tutorial. Thanks for the help!
Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!! I managed to install FreeMind in July 2018