Afternoon, gang. Thought it was time I re-visited this one, and let y'all know what the state of play was at the present time.
When the community first started looking at this - tail-end of 2018 or so, early 2019 (a year or so before the pandemic took off) - we found we could run the desktop app in quite a number of 64-bit Puppies/Dogs/whatever. No such luck with the 32-bit build - it never DID work for us! - but the "requirements" for the app weren't too ridiculous.
As time passed, Zoom started pushing the requirements ever higher. Tahr64 was the first victim, followed not long after by Xenial64. It still ran OK under Bionic (or newer), though Bionic has never run it that well due mostly to Qt5 'issues'.
Around this time I found a Zoom 'app' in the Chrome Web Store. This worked without any fuss, based around the principle of the 'webapp' that Google pioneered many years ago now. That lasted all of about 8 months, at which time Google deprecated it and removed it from the Web store.
Currently, the only Pups/Dogs,etc, where the official desktop app will work is Fossapup64 9.5 - Phil's original - OR NEWER.
However; all is not lost. If you're prepared to put up with some degradation of video/audio quality, you can use Zoom anywhere you can run Chrome or one of the many 'clones'.....because you can use Zoom direct through their US website.
So; I now have my own Zoom 'desktop app' - a 'detached' webapp running in its own window, launched from its own Menu entry/multi-launcher, running from Slimjet as its 'backend'. Zoom running in Tahrpup64 again; who'd have thunk it?
This approach can be used in any of the Chromium-based clones. I recommend these, because although the website is accessible with Firefox, microphone detection/allocation is very poor here; video is no problem, but all you get for microphone usage is "default & only sink". FF relies on whatever microphone you've set-up as the global 'default' across the whole system; I guess with laptops this ain't a problem, due to there only being a single microphone fitted by default. It's a nightmare with desktops, where you don't HAVE a 'built-in' microphone, and can easily have half-a-dozen different mikes all plugging into various different locations/ports.
Which is why I prefer the 'clones'.....because these will always give you a drop-down list of all detected audio sources, and let you choose what to use. You can't do this with Firefox.
Anyhoo. All Zoom usage depends on your having created an a/c, regardless of HOW you access it. For access in the browser, go to this URL:-
This is the website's access portal for "webchat", as they call it. You'll need to sign-in, then you get the same familiar interface as you see with the desktop client. You'll need to give permission for webcam & microphone access, following which everything is identical in appearance & operation.
So; that's the current "state-of-play", guys'n'gals. Zoom IS accessible, if you're prepared to go about it a slightly different way.
Mike.