diff --git a/pyfpdb/fpdb.py b/pyfpdb/fpdb.py
index 191f1d15..7ac8dfec 100755
--- a/pyfpdb/fpdb.py
+++ b/pyfpdb/fpdb.py
@@ -25,5 +25,8 @@ import sys
 sys.stdout.write('fpdb.py has been renamed to fpdb.pyw - now calling fpdb.pyw ...\n\n')
 sys.stdout.flush()
 
-os.execvpe('pythonw.exe', ('pythonw.exe', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) 
+if os.name=='nt':
+    os.execvpe('pythonw.exe', ('pythonw.exe', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ)
+else:
+    os.execvpe('python', ('python', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ)
 # first arg is ignored (name of program being run)
diff --git a/pyfpdb/fpdb.pyw b/pyfpdb/fpdb.pyw
index 58a1b230..7b1d6cd0 100755
--- a/pyfpdb/fpdb.pyw
+++ b/pyfpdb/fpdb.pyw
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 #Copyright 2008 Steffen Jobbagy-Felso
 #This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -35,7 +36,10 @@ if os.name == 'nt' and sys.version[0:3] not in ('2.5', '2.6') and '-r' not in sy
         os.environ['PATH'] = tmppath
         print "Python " + sys.version[0:3] + ' - press return to continue\n'
         sys.stdin.readline()
-        os.execvpe('pythonw.exe', ('pythonw.exe', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) # first arg is ignored (name of program being run)
+        if os.name=='nt':
+	    os.execvpe('pythonw.exe', ('pythonw.exe', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) # first arg is ignored (name of program being run)
+	else:
+	    os.execvpe('python', ('python', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) # first arg is ignored (name of program being run)
     else:
         print "\npython 2.5 not found, please install python 2.5 or 2.6 for fpdb\n"
         raw_input("Press ENTER to continue.")
diff --git a/run_fpdb.py b/run_fpdb.py
index 82cbb9b5..dd031403 100755
--- a/run_fpdb.py
+++ b/run_fpdb.py
@@ -27,5 +27,8 @@ os.chdir(sys.path[0])
 #print "sys.path[0] =", sys.path[0], "cwd =", os.getcwd()
 
 
-os.execvpe('python', ('python', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) 
+if os.name=='nt':
+    os.execvpe('pythonw.exe', ('pythonw.exe', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) 
+else:
+    os.execvpe('python', ('python', 'fpdb.pyw', '-r'), os.environ) 
 # first arg is ignored (name of program being run)