ZOOM 'portable' - currently @ v5.16.6.....with updater!

[keniv]

@mikewalsh
Hello Mike,
I decided to install v5.9.1 today. Before I did this I removed the menu entries for the previous version using your script inside the Zoom-portable directory. I also removed the desktop icon I'd made. I then renamed the now old version to Zoom-portableold. I checked the md5 checksum on the new Zoom-portable.tar.gz then unpacked and "installed" it in /mnt/home/ Portables. I clicked on launch. This version seems to work differently for me in that it brings up the phone shaped box and puts a Zoom icon in the rhs of the tray. This box has only appeared once before for me in a previous version but now appears every time I start Zoom. Zoom does not shutdown by clicking on the "x" in the top right hand corner of this box. You have to right click on the tray icon and select "exit". All this is new to me and I think better, however, if I click on the little cog in the top right hand corner of this box I get into settings. If I click on "Profile" your profile or a part thereof appears. I assume you don't mean this to be there. I thought of attaching an image of this but thought it better that it did not appear on an open forum so did not. If you need it I could pm it to you. I suppose it might be you meant it to be like this. If so could you let me know.

Regards,

Ken.
Edit: just clicked on "Join" and your name appears in the popup box here as well.

[mikewalsh]

@keniv :-

Whoops!!

Thanks for the heads-up, Ken. No, I didn't intend that to be there, you're quite right; I'm glad you let you me know, because since this will now do its own updates, I wasn't going to upload it again.....

(It's not the first time I've forgot to remove my personal config files before packing/uploading. I use them to test new versions.....I just don't always remember to delete them again... )

It's an easy fix; just go into the portable directory; at the same level as the 'LAUNCH' script, you'll see a directory marked either 'config' or 'CONFIG'. Delete this, and that puts you back to pristine, first-use condition. Upon launching again, this directory is re-created. It'll then let you log-in & set-up again as normal.

OR; if you've still got the previous version there, just copy the 'config' directory from that across to the new one (after deleting the one that I left behind). That way, you'll be ready to go....

Okay? ("Yeah", he says. "Clear as mud..." )

(I've re-uploaded a now 'clean' version, so nobody else will get the same thing happen to them.)

Mike.

[keniv]

@keniv :-

Whoops!!

Thanks for the heads-up, Ken. No, I didn't intend that to be there, you're quite right; I'm glad you let you me know, because since this will now do its own updates, I wasn't going to upload it again.....

Glad to be of help for a change. It's usually the other way round.

you'll see a directory marked either 'config' or 'CONFIG'. Delete this, and that puts you back to pristine, first-use condition.

Done this and my install is back to normal.

Regards,

Ken.

[TerryH]

G'day Mike, just a heads up. I've been running an earlier version of Zoom-portable, which I have manually updated by downloading the .deb and updating the contents of the zoom directory. It's currently at 5.7.6. I downloaded the new version with the updater and kept as a second version. I had a look at the update script, but have no knowledge of what the functioning of 'ar' is. Maybe if I was running one of the versions you have coded for I wouldn't have had an issue. I was running it in quickpup64.

I ran the updater, started well, saw it downloading the .deb, then all of a sudden the zoom directory vanished. The script ended displaying message it was updated successfully.

Just had a thought while typing this, if I rerun the script while in Fossapup64, it will probably recreate a new zoom directory. I'll give that a try.

Edit: Running the script in Fossapup64 did recreate the zoom directory, so I had a working zoom-portable. Just to check I re-ran the script in quickpup64 and the zoom directory was again deleted.

[mikewalsh]

@TerryH :-

Haven't yet figured out a 'universal' way to implement the 'ar' function (no, I don't exactly know what it is either, but all the tech blogs recommend it as the first thing to use when extracting .debs, even ahead of dpkg-deb). Even setting things up for just the 4 that I have done, it's not simply a case of duplicating stuff; some are happy with ar itself, or a similarly-named sym-link, whereas others insist on using 'x86_64-linux-gnu-ar', and turn their nose up at the sym-link saying it can't be found. Each has to be implemented in the way the individual Pup expects to find it.

And that's why I've gone with just the 4 main 'buntu-based 64-bitzers, since they are overall the most commonly installed/used. Yes, I know the Slacko Puppies are popular, too, but they have their own individual peculiarity whereby 'lib' and 'lib64' are two completely separate directories.....unlike with the 'buntu Pups, where one is a sym-link to the other, and 'x86_64-linux-gnu' is used instead.

There just is no "one size fits all" solution. Well, not one that I've yet found, anyroad..!

Mike.

[TerryH]

Yes the lib differences are an annoyance. I have a group of libs which I have added to attempt to get this working in various puppy versions. I ran the update against the unaltered zoom-portable-5.9.1, just to see how/if it worked. I knew before I ran it, if I had run it in my other version 5.7.6, the added libs wouldn't have survived the updating.

Even though in my running it deleted the zoom directory, I thought it's a great idea. Maybe the script needs an exit if not one of the Puppy releases, it was designed to work with.

As more releases are coming stripped down, the various portables become increasingly valuable, your production of these is most appreciated. So the ability for these to be 'self' updating is very beneficial to all.

[mikewalsh]

Morning, gang.

Slight update of no real consequence....

Having added the updater script to the 'portable' Zoom, I thought it might be nicer for Puppians to be able to run it from the Menu, instead of digging around in the portable's directory each time it's needed. So now, if, as & when you run the MenuAdd script, it adds 2 items; one for the app itself, and one to run the updater.

In line with a change I'm now gradually making in all the portables, the MenuAdd/MenuRemove scripts merely finish with

Code: Select all

jwm -restart

.....instead of

Code: Select all

restartwm

.....which is more disruptive, since it shuts anything you may have open. The former is the method used by petget, of course; amazing it's taken me almost 7 years to get my head round that simple concept!

(Thanks for that go to snoring_cat.....who I notice hasn't put in an appearance since mid to late December. I hope he's OK. Perhaps he's simply "moved on.....")

----------------------------------------------------

So; you open Zoom. You either get a warning from the app itself that a new version is available, or you manually check from the tray icon (rt-clk->About...).

• Fully close the app by quitting FROM the tray icon.

• Run the updater from the MenuEntry in Menu->Network. Wait for it to finish; the pop-up will tell you when it has, then

• Restart Zoom.....which is now the current version.

It's as simple as that. You can, of course, run the update script directly from the portable directory, if you don't wish to bother with Menu entries.....

Enjoy.

Mike.

[peebee]

Zoom 5.10 is out and has more than doubled in size from 60MB to 125MB approx.

Anybody know why??

[mikewalsh]

Zoom 5.10 is out and has more than doubled in size from 60MB to 125MB approx.

Anybody know why??

No idea, Peter. I haven't even looked at it for several days; it's not something I really use, but it's one of those things that's "useful to have".....just in case.

I've got to boot into Fossapup later today - which is where I have it installed - to do a couple of other things. I'll look at it then.

Thanks for the 'heads-up'.

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

@peebee :-

Hm. 5.10 won't even fire-up.....at ALL. And Zoom appear to have taken a leaf out of MyCrudSoft's book; all error-messages have now been suppressed in the terminal. Might be the end of the line for this one; there again, it could be related to systemd and elogind.....but without error-reporting to guide you, how would you know?

Or it could be the latest build has been compiled against a newer glibc than any of the Puppies/Dogs/whatever currently use.

(*shrug*)

Mike.

[peebee]

I got it to work - on LxPupSc64 - needed GTK+3 as a dependency which it didn't need before.....

I can share my .sfs if thats any use? Send me a PM.

The size increase may have something to do with "Chromium Embedded Framework"......... whatever that is and no idea what it does - but its VERY BIG!

[mikeslr]

Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). A simple framework for embedding Chromium-based browsers in other applications. https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/src/master/. I guess simple is in the eye of the beholder. Which may be way Wikipedia doesn't include that adjective in its definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium ... _Framework:
"an open-source software framework for embedding a Chromium web browser within another application. This enables developers to add web browsing functionality to their application, as well as the ability to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create the application's user interface (or just portions of it)."

[mikewalsh]

@mikeslr / @peebee :-

Mm-hm. Directory "cef". Yeah. That was never there before. 223 MB, huh? Eurrgh.....now why in the name of all that's holy, have they gone and done that..?

They've gone & added the Electron framework to summat that was already huge in the un-packed condition. This'll put the size of the portable at well over half-a-gig. Oh, good God; for a video-call app, that's fucking ridiculous. This really is coding at its very laziest, and an unwritten assumption that EVERYONE is running top-end, high-powered hardware with tons of RAM.

Jeez. But it does mean it's now subject to rules I understand..!!

--------------------------------------

Another tid-bit I gleaned a wee bit earlier on. The Chrome Zoom "app" - in line with stated Google policy of sunsetting browser webapps by May 31st this year - will henceforth be moving to Android & ChromeOS only. In other words, the Zoom web-app will no longer be available to Linux users via the browser.

After nicking so much open-source code from the Linux community, little by little, bit by bit, they're slowly locking us out. Well, that's what it looks like to ME.....

Mike.

[bigphil]

Hi Mike,

I 'installed' your latest Zoom Portable under my Fossa. frugal install
It worked a treat until I run the updater which appeared to work ok, however after that it would not Launch.
I 'un-installed' and 're-installed' it and the same thing happened.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Phil

[mikeslr]

...
Another tid-bit I gleaned a wee bit earlier on. The Chrome Zoom "app" - in line with stated Google policy of sunsetting browser webapps by May 31st this year - will henceforth be moving to Android & ChromeOS only. In other words, the Zoom web-app will no longer be available to Linux users via the browser.

After nicking so much open-source code from the Linux community, little by little, bit by bit, they're slowly locking us out. Well, that's what it looks like to ME.....

Mike.

One way to prevent such poaching in the future is to amend the 'open-source' rules so as to prohibit the use of 'open-source' code in applications if the resulting application can not be used in open-source applications.

[mikewalsh]

Hi Mike,

I 'installed' your latest Zoom Portable under my Fossa. frugal install
It worked a treat until I run the updater which appeared to work ok, however after that it would not Launch.
I 'un-installed' and 're-installed' it and the same thing happened.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Phil

@bigphil :-

I haven't really got around to seeing what needs doing yet! I have so many alternatives:-

• Google's Duo - in the browser

• Google's Meet (the spiritual successor to Hangouts) - again, in the browser

• Skype (I gave up on the desktop client) - in the browser

• Jitsi Meet - client app and web-app

• Wire - client app & web-app

.....that I really have no need of Zoom as well. Remember; in our community, folks build & provide packages because they want to, not out of some sense of obligation or because they feel they have to. Personally, I'm ready to chuck the towel in on Zoom because I no longer need it. I really only got into packaging it because of the pandemic; so many folks were requesting it, y'see. Sorry about that.

(And Zoom have taken a leaf out of MycrudSoft's book, and done what they did with Skype; suppressed all error messages in the terminal, so you've got nothing to troubleshoot with.)

WTF??? Why???

For now, just re-download it from my repo - that's still at v5.9.6. And don't run the updater; it'll still function for a good long while yet.

Mike.

[keniv]

@mikewalsh

that's still at v5.9.6. And don't run the updater; it'll still function for a good long while yet.

Hi Mike,
I've only used this once, however it's what the rest of the family use so I'd like to keep it going as long as I can. I thought in order to prevent me attempting to update v5.9.6 by mistake I would rename/remove UpdateZoom! in the Zoom-portable directory. Before I do this I thought it was worth checking if there was any reason why I should not do this.

Regards,

Ken.

[mikewalsh]

@keniv :-

You can delete the update script if you wish, Ken. It won't affect anything, as it's a 'standalone' item....not linked-in to anything in any way. And until I can figure-out if it's worth bothering to mess about with the newer versions, I wouldn't recommend its use to anyone else, either.

Mike.

[keniv]

@mikewalsh
OK Mike,
Thanks for that,

Regards,

Ken.

[mikewalsh]

Now then, gang:-

Didn't take that much figuring out after all. The whole reason the update to v5.10.0 doesn't launch straight off is precisely because of that additional "cef" directory.

I did a wee bit of head-scratching, and thought to myself "Ah, right. Electron. O-kay.....stripped-back Chromium browser core.....running as root....yup, I know what to try" and proceeded to modify a copy of Zoom v5.9.6. Which took all of about 30 seconds.

---------------------------------------------

Quite simply, I employed the same "--switch" we make use of with many of the Chromium-based browsers:-

Code: Select all

--no-sandbox

Adding this to the 'Exec' line did the trick.....and she fired-up, good as gold. So, I will advise to do the following:-

• Run the updater first, and wait for it to do its thing.

• Then, before doing anything else, open up the 'LAUNCH' script with your favourite text editor. Locate the 'Exec' lines, and change them from

...this:-

Code: Select all

if grep -q 'puppy_bionicpup64' /etc/os-release
then
	export QT_XCB_FORCE_SOFTWARE_OPENGL=1
	$HERE/zoom/ZoomLauncher "$@"
else 
	$HERE/zoom/ZoomLauncher "$@"
fi

.....to read like this:-

Code: Select all

if grep -q 'puppy_bionicpup64' /etc/os-release
then
	export QT_XCB_FORCE_SOFTWARE_OPENGL=1
	$HERE/zoom/ZoomLauncher --no-sandbox "$@"
else 
	$HERE/zoom/ZoomLauncher --no-sandbox "$@"
fi

That's all it needs. Now 'save' & exit.

Fire Zoom up, annnnd

.....it's alive!!

Mike.

[bigphil]

Thanks for your efforts Mike, works a treat here.

Phil

[keniv]

@mikewalsh
Hi Mike,
Followed your instruction and Zoom portable v5.10.0 appears to be working in fossapup64 in that whats shown on the screen shot below appears. Can't test it properly until someone else in the family wants to use it. Thanks for this.

Regards,

Ken.

[paulski]

Mikewalsh, you are a legend!

This fix really saved me as I need Zoom about 3 to 5 times a week. The 5.10 Zoom update just would not work for me. I've been running it on Fatdog64 811

I followed the procedure in this thread - renamed the bionic bit to what I had in /etc/os-release, namely "fatdog64" (No idea if this was even necessary).

Works like a charm.

Keep doing these portable apps Mikewalsh - I'm using not only this but also your Chrome and Firefox ESR - absolutely top work!

[mikewalsh]

@paulski :-

You're very welcome. Enjoy.

TBH, that reference to 'Bionicpup64' is only there because of the 'export' clause.....and this is only needed due to Bionic64's 'issues' with locating Qt5 dependencies, regardless of where in the system you put them. This is more noticeable with some apps than with others...

As long as it's functional again, that's the main thing.

Mike.

[geo_c]

@mikewalsh

Heads up here, I have been using this portable regularly and I used the updater to upgrade to v5.1.0. That worked like a charm.

But I just now ran the updater because zoom notified me of a new version, and it appears to have broken it. The launch script yields nothing. I couldn't find it in the process manager, but I'm not sure what to look for other than the zoom executable.

Not to worry I renamed the broken zoom-portable directory and copied my backup copy and 5.1.0 is back up and running. I love portables!

At any rate. I don't know if I did something wrong? I'm pretty sure I exited zoom first, although it's one of those annoying applications that when one thinks they exited, in fact it's still running in the tray.

I could try it again, just to make sure it's not me or my Fossapup64.9.5 causing the problem. Just thought you should know.

[mikewalsh]

@geo_c :-

Mm. Have you followed the "fix" I outlined here?

viewtopic.php?p=54869#p54869

It's the same type of fix we've had to apply to a lot of Chromium-based browsers because of Puppy's 'root' model. And here, it's only necessary because Zoom have gone & added the Electron framework (this is Chromium-based) to their app.....which has made it absolutely enormous.The fix only needs to be applied the once; it's in the launcher script, and this doesn't get touched in any way during the update process.

Let me know if that helps, please. You should be on v5.10.4 ATM.....

Mike.

[geo_c]

@geo_c :-

Mm. Have you followed the "fix" I outlined here?

viewtopic.php?p=54869#p54869

Mike.

Oh I had read that, and I thought I was already up to 5.10.0 and 'put it out of my mind,' but apparently I'm only on 5.9.6. Thanks MIke, I'll run the fix............Aaaannnnd.........

WORKS!

[mikewalsh]

@geo_c :-

.....and this is why I not only go by what the banner on the main window shows, I also right-click on the tray icon and check "About..."

Shows you the version you're currently on.

(If you're using the current build from my repo, adding a Menu entry for Zoom will now also add an entry for the updater.)

Mike.

[Zedward]

Hello!
I have a machine with Puppy Bionicle 32bit installed and I need to run Zoom on it. I downloaded this portable Zoom, but it don't works for me
What can I do?

[mikeslr]

First, if no one has already done so, to the kennels.

I could tell you the same thing as I wrote in response to your question about Discord. Only a 64-bit application is available; but you JOIN a zoom meeting using a reasonably current web-browser. I don't think you could initiate your own.

That said, why are your running a 32-bit operating system? Please provide us with the specifications of your computer: CPU(s), RAM, Graphic Card. If nothing else, make and model. But as you're running bionicpup, open Menu>System>Pup-SysInfo, click Sys-Specs on the Menu and select Quick Profile or Base Report.

Even if your computer originally was purchased with only 32-bit Windows, it's likely that it can run a 64-bit version of Linux, especially a 64-bit Puppy as one of it's objectives is to enable old computers to remain useful. Only 64-bit computers have been manufactured for about the last 20 years. [Manufacturing both is not cost-efficient. That Microsoft continued to enable 32-bit Window to run on them was so that it could charge a premium for 64-bit Windows; and likely not to just have to dump the over-production of 32-bit installation disks]. The RAM demands of a 64-bit Puppy are not much greater than that of a 32-bit operating system. Minimum RAM requirements for 64bit Puppys is 1GB; 'though more RAM translates to better performance. RAM is cheap, and even a 'klutz' like me can install more RAM, even on a laptop. [Less is possible, but not for streaming Zoom; and not likely for an acceptable level of performance of Discord].

There still are some advantages in running a 32-bit Puppy. But not where web-activity is concerned. The days of even being able to surf the web with a 32-bit Web-browser are numbered.

I suggest that you start a new thread in the 'Beginner's Section', let us know your computer's specs, your computing objectives and we'll try to get you from where you are to where you want to be.