Think or Swim on ubuntu 17.10

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

2. Download the installer

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 itโ€™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.

8 Replies to “Think or Swim on ubuntu 17.10”

  1. 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!!!

    1. 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 ๐Ÿ™‚

    2. 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

  2. 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

    1. 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.

  3. 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

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