Needing Zoom

WetGeek

brent sudo flatpak install us.zoom.Zoom

I just tried this on my workstation, again with no luck:

Looking for matches…
error: No remote refs found similar to ‘us.zoom.Zoom’

There has to be something that I'm missing, but I can't figure out what it might be.

Harvey Sounds like the repo may be what's missing. How can I install that?

Harvey

WetGeek
https://flatpak.org/setup/Solus/

brent

WetGeek sorry mate, I was under the impression you had shopped there before (were already linked) but you've been switching out some DE's as I recall: so my bad.
-nathanpainchaud I had to use sudo for the update/refresh function recently...I think for the zoom on flat. I don't always know when I can use and shouldn't use sudo. Always wanted a common sense tutorial but never found one.

oscarviolin

WetGeek

Try this to install: flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom

You might need to update it occasionally: flatpak update us.zoom.Zoom

nathanpainchaud

brent Just a quick comment, but you don't need to use sudo when using flatpak, i.e. installing, removing, etc. And IMO it's always a good precaution not to use sudo when you don't absolutely need it 😉

SOLUSfiddler

This was my process, I can confirm it worked, and I can use Zoom without problems now:

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists fluthub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Restart your computer.
Then:
sudo flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom
Restart your computer.
Then, when you start Zoom for the first time, enter your login details and restart the Zoom app, then you're set to go.

tomscharbach

WetGeek I installed Flatpak Zoom on my laptop last Saturday, using the following:

(1) I went to the software center, searched for "flakpak" and checked to see that Flatpak was actually installed. Flatpak was installed, as expected.

(2) I used the following command to install the Flathub repository (from Flatpak's "Solus Quick Setup" guide):

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

(3) I restarted.

(4) I used the following command (from Flathub's "Zoom" installation instructions for Solus) to install Zoom:

flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom

(5) I got this result:

$ sudo flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom
Password:
Looking for matches…
Required runtime for us.zoom.Zoom/x86_64/stable (runtime/org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/20.08) found in remote flathub
Do you want to install it? [Y/n]: y

us.zoom.Zoom permissions:
ipc network pulseaudio x11
devices file access [1] dbus access [2] bus ownership [3]
tags [4]

[1] ~/.zoom:create, ~/Documents/Zoom:create
[2] org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver, org.gnome.Shell
[3] org.kde.*
[4] proprietary


    ID                                   Branch Op Remote  Download

[✓] org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default 20.08 i flathub 95.3 MB / 95.9 MB
[✓] org.freedesktop.Platform.Locale 20.08 i flathub 17.6 kB / 322.1 MB
[✓] org.freedesktop.Platform.VAAPI.Intel 20.08 i flathub 11.4 MB / 11.5 MB
[✓] org.freedesktop.Platform.openh264 2.0 i flathub 1.5 MB / 1.5 MB
[✓] org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Plata-Noir 3.22 i flathub 133.0 kB / 147.0 kB
[✓] org.freedesktop.Platform 20.08 i flathub 222.4 MB / 267.7 MB
[✓] us.zoom.Zoom stable i flathub 51.0 MB / 51.0 MB

Installation complete.

(6) After installation, Zoom showed up in my Menu. I used Zoom in a meeting and it worked fine.

I confirmed this installation by installing on my desktop this morning, so I am sure that the two commands work.

I see from your comments that flatpak install flathub us.zoom.Zoom gave you an error message, so be sure that the Flathub repository (Step (2) above - flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo) is installed before installing Zoom. That looks like the problem.

WetGeek

tomscharbach

YES! Thanks for your help. I have it installed on my laptop, and will install it to our media machine before Sunday.

brent

tomscharbach After this thread, I feel unusual. I have never installed anything from Flatpak with flathub in my terminal command. It's gonna scrape flathub anyway to find install package, and may even say that (install ccc.bbb.aaa from flathub?) I don't mind the pre-install question; actually prefer it.

WetGeek

WetGeek will install it to our media machine before Sunday.

Mission accomplished. Or maybe mischief managed? Today I installed Zoom on our media computer, so we can do a zoom session with our big telly, and on my workstation, so I can confer with others as I work. After installing this three times, I'm confident I could do it again without looking at the directions.

@tomscharbach provided accurate and concise directions that should help anyone who's using flatpak for the first time. There's really not much to the process ... it's just unlike anything else I'd done. Actually, I kinda like flatpak now.

Axios

Ever hear of pencil and paper or text editor..lol Just teasing
Flatpacks are easy once you understand whats going on took me awhile
I keep text files of commands that I have used and learned so i dont have to look up again

WetGeek

Axios I keep text files of commands that I have used and learned so i dont have to look up again

Yep, good idea. I keep a couple of USB keys with things like fstab (for my remote shares), .bashrc (my command aliases), my network passkey, etc., so that when I set up a machine I can install the OS and from there on, everything I need to set up the machine is on one of these USB keys.

They're each a copy of the TRANSFERS folder on my NAS, so once an OS is installed and set up, and it has access to the NAS, I don't need the USB key anymore. They were a big help during my distro-hopping days, and came in handy again when I changed 6 machines from Budgie to Plasma.

I just added Tom's flatpak instructions to them. Rather than a pencil and paper, I prefer something I can copy and paste from.

Solarmass

WetGeek there is also an archwiki 🙂
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flatpak

tomscharbach

It is a small thing, but for what it is worth, it seems to me that Flatpak/Flathub instructions could be better.

Flatpak is installed on Solus by default. The Flathub repo is not, but is a necessary precondition to installing Flatpak apps. Few people installing a Flatpak app know that (I didn't, anyway, the first time I installed a Flatpak app) and get into trouble as a result.

The Flathub installation instructions don't highlight the necessity of installing the Flathub repo. Here's what I mean, taking Zoom as an example.

When a user tries to install Zoom, a screen that contains both "button" installation and command line installation options opens:

BUTTON INSTALL

COMMAND LINE INSTALL

Note the "Make sure to follow the setup guide before installing" reference in each case. It is tiny and easy to miss.

My guess is that most people miss it the first time that they try to install a Flatpak app, either clicking the "Install" button and expecting the Flatpak app to install just as apps install from distro repos, or using the command line and expecting installation to complete. In either case, almost all installations from a distro repo would install dependencies. Flatpak doesn't install the Flathub repo as part of the installation process, which is contrary to user expectation.

If users miss the "Make sure to follow the setup guide before installing" reference the first time they try to install a Flatpak app, the installation doesn't work. I suspect that is the reason that most people have trouble with installing Flatpak apps, including Zoom. A small change in the size and wording of the "Make sure to follow the setup guide before installing" reference, it seems to me, would go a long way.