# Would it be possible to port Zoom meeting client to freeBSD?



## crldb (Sep 3, 2020)

Hello BSD family, I am a school teacher and would love to use my freeBSD desktop for Zooming with my kiddos all day. I tried to get Zoom to work via Wine but no luck. 

And no, I cannot use any alternative meeting clients. Must be zoom since that is waht the school district paid for.

Any ideas or suggestions as to creative solutions to achieve functionality are welcome. I need the zoom client not just the web client as the zoom client enables certain host features unavailable otherwise.

Help! =) Thanks all!

Chris
crldb@icloud.com


----------



## msplsh (Sep 3, 2020)

So you tried Wine, what about with a Linux compatibility layer









						Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing
					

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board...




					zoom.us


----------



## yurivict (Sep 17, 2020)

I ported the Zoom client to work under Linux emulator, but sound doesn't work. Zoom app doesn't see any OSS soundcards through the ALSA interface.

I believe this bug in alsa-libs/alsa-utils is to blame: https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-utils/issues/56

Not sure if there is a way to force alsa-libs to see OSS devices, maybe by adding some environment variable or by changing asound.conf.


----------



## shkhln (Sep 17, 2020)

Do you have a work-in-progress port available somewhere?


----------



## bookwormep (Sep 17, 2020)

Suggestion:

```
# tee /etc/modprobe.d/snd-hda-intel.conf <<<'options snd-hda-intel power_save=0'
```


----------



## kpedersen (Sep 17, 2020)

Does the web client not work for you?

The only limitation I could find compared to the blob is that the drawing tools are not there.


----------



## phalange (Sep 17, 2020)

crldb said:


> Any ideas or suggestions as to creative solutions to achieve functionality are welcome. I need the zoom client not just the web client as the zoom client enables certain host features unavailable otherwise.



Hi, I spin up a VM in Virtualbox of a Linux distro. For example I have AntiX in a VM, which is small and I keep Flatpak installed for certain applications. I did a quick test and installed Zoom from flathub and it all looked good, although I don't have a meeting to test fully.

Anyway, just a thought. Still technically in FreeBSD, just cheating a little.


----------



## st1905 (Sep 17, 2020)

I also got zoom working using *@shkhln`s workaround for steam*


```
pactl: /usr/local/steam-utils/lib64/fakepulse/libpulse.so.0: no version information available (required by pactl)
fakepulse: pa_path_get_filename
pactl: src/fakepulse.c:250: pa_path_get_filename: Assertion `0' failed.
zoom started.
Client: Breakpad is using Single Client Mode! client fd = -1
QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-'
pactl: /usr/local/steam-utils/lib64/fakepulse/libpulse.so.0: no version information available (required by pactl)
fakepulse: pa_path_get_filename
pactl: src/fakepulse.c:250: pa_path_get_filename: Assertion `0' failed.
[CZPClientLogMgr::LogClientEnvironment] [MacAddr: ][client: Linux][OS: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)][Hardware: CPU Core:8 Frenquency:2.67 G Memory size:12217MB CPU Brand:Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         920  @ 2.67GHz GPU Brand:][Req ID: ]
Linux Client Version is 5.2.458699.0906
QSG_RENDER_LOOP is
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP = ;   GDMSESSION =
Graphics Card Info::
Zoom package arch is 64bit, runing OS arch is x86_64
AppIconMgr::systemDesktopName log Desktop Name:
pactl: /usr/local/steam-utils/lib64/fakepulse/libpulse.so.0: no version information available (required by pactl)
fakepulse: pa_path_get_filename
pactl: src/fakepulse.c:250: pa_path_get_filename: Assertion `0' failed.
qt.svg: link image0 hasn't been detected!
qt.svg: :/images/wechat.svg:10:6: Could not resolve property: pattern0
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib pcm.c:2565:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib pcm.c:2565:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM
```

So this explains why there is no sound...


----------



## st1905 (Sep 27, 2020)

There is a port now, audio still does not work, seems like this is a bug by zoom itself.






						[ports] Index of /head/net-im/zoom
					






					svnweb.freebsd.org


----------



## kpedersen (Sep 30, 2020)

Thought I would share. On OpenBSD I just tried the Zoom web interface on Firefox 76.0 (64-bit) using some random User-agent switching extension. I set it to masquerade as Windows / Firefox 80.

It allowed webcam which worked well and audio recording was also fine. The only thing that broke and crashed the browser (presumably due to pledge) was screen sharing. Though I believe in a recent version they have fixed that.

This is the exact extension I used.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/

I plan to give it a shot on FreeBSD sometime in the next week or so when I get time.


----------



## a6h (Sep 30, 2020)

I have hard time to understand why WebRTC applications such as Zoom works in Chromium, but not in FireFox. User agent switcher can solve the problem, but I want to know why this problem exists.

AFAIK, WebRTC implementation in both Firefox and Chromium is similar but not identical. There's also lack of some codec in Firefox e.g. iLBC and iSAC. But I think that's not the issue. There's some negotiation between client to find some middle ground.
Then there's the "Signalling" issue: I thinks that's the main reason. For Signalling to works we need server. WebRTC by itself cant handle Signalling. Server also needed to handle "saving state". JavaScript Session Establishment Protocol (JSEP) prohibits browser to saving state, thus the need for the server. Server also can solve the NAT problem.

I can't pin point to the specific, but I think that Firefox can't handle such WebRTC application properly because of Server (such as zoom server). I would be happy to hear your thoughts.


----------



## kpedersen (Sep 30, 2020)

I think the WebRTC thing is a problem with Microsoft's things (Skype / Teams) working with Firefox. Whether this was just a dumb engineering decision or an artificial one to further their Chrome ecosystem is possibly another topic.

Zoom does work with Firefox based on my above experience. I think it requires web assembly so I wonder if it implements its own decoder / encoder via that?


----------



## a6h (Sep 30, 2020)

According to their support page (*):
Audio: G.711, G.722, OPUS (SIP only)
Video: H.264, H.264 High Profile

(*) https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/ar...evices#h_253f6586-e1f7-4fdf-a244-4d82e8428f3e


----------



## crldb (Oct 7, 2020)

vigole said:


> According to their support page (*):
> Audio: G.711, G.722, OPUS (SIP only)
> Video: H.264, H.264 High Profile
> 
> (*) https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/ar...evices#h_253f6586-e1f7-4fdf-a244-4d82e8428f3e



Would you mind explaining this in detail for those less knowledgeable?


----------



## crldb (Oct 7, 2020)

st1905 said:


> There is a port now, audio still does not work, seems like this is a bug by zoom itself.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


From what I understand, the bug is in fact from Pulse Audio, not Zoom. This information coming from yuri, the port maintainer.


----------



## a6h (Oct 7, 2020)

crldb said:


> Would you mind explaining this in detail for those less knowledgeable?


Please be more specific and I would be glad to provide more information and explain details on the subject.


----------



## rtobiasr (Jan 23, 2022)

Why doesn't Zoom work? Why should I try Linux compatibility layers? Why are there limitations that Linux doesn't have? Why do I need to Google, and read forums to make the attempt? Don't give me that "Oh it's the fault of the Zoom developers." Linus and Co. made Zoom work with Linux. They got it done. FreeBSD: Get it done without all the normal FreeBSD excuses about licensing and blobs and other bologna. Under no circumstances DO NOT tell me that it's Zoom's fault. If it were Zoom's fault then there would be problems outside the BSD world (which there are not). Those are excuses. Get the job done. Every other OS has got the job done. Why can't I go to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (to include audio) with FreeBSD? For effing sakes AA ought to work. Please, without getting into development models and licensing bullcrap explain why I ought to use FreeBSD even though BASIC things like Zoom won't work. Coronavirus has been with us since 2019. You've had that long to catch up with social norms. Zoom works on EVERY OS except FreeBSD (GhostBSD). I haven't tried OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonflyBSD, or MidnightBSD, but I assume the same issues exist.


----------



## rtobiasr (Jan 23, 2022)

crldb said:


> From what I understand, the bug is in fact from Pulse Audio, not Zoom. This information coming from yuri, the port maintainer.


The bug is NOT from Zoom or PulseAudio. If Zoom or PulseAudio were to blame then Zoom would not work on Linux (it does). I have wanted to use FreeBSD for years, but they keep pushing the blame onto Zoom, PulseAudio, Broadcom, and Nvidia. These things work flawlessly in Linux. If FreeBSD is the superior OS then they ought to work with FreeBSD WITHOUT the FreeBSD devs bttching about this or that. FreeBSD: Zoom: Make it work, and don't shift the blame onto Zoom. Linus didn't shift the blame onto Zoom. If you're so superior then you should be able to make anything in Linux work AND MORE. Licensing this and binary blobs that and Linux compatibility bologna... all excuses for why the OS that I *would* use doesn't actually work.


----------



## rtobiasr (Jan 23, 2022)

I want to--I WANT TO use FreeBSD. I've got one primary requirement for an OS though: I am an alcoholic, and I need to attend AA meetings on Zoom.

I don't want to hear about PulseAudio this or Zoom licensing that or Linux compatibility layers (if I need Linux compatibility then I would use Linux). It works in every non-BSD OS.

FreeBSD: Allow me to attend AA. Let me do it without spending days searching and tweaking .conf files. I don't think that's too much to ask from an OS these days.


----------



## Geezer (Jan 23, 2022)

Zoom does work, perfectly well.

Merely run it inside firefox. Works a treat. Use it often.


----------



## eternal_noob (Jan 23, 2022)

But net-im/zoom states:


> CAVEAT: Sound doesn't yet work in Zoom on FreeBSD.


What's the deal? Does sound work or not?


----------



## grahamperrin@ (Jan 23, 2022)

rtobiasr said:


> … If FreeBSD is the superior OS …



FreeBSD is in some ways superior to some systems; in some ways not. Foot of the page, Terms and rules, <https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/66591/> in particular – _please_.

I could be annoyed that some things, which neither the FreeBSD Project nor the FreeBSD Foundation can control, will probably never work on FreeBSD. Annoyance gets us nowhere, so I prefer to let technical frustrations drift over me.

Things are what they are, and conflation does not help. Newcomer rtobiasr I mean this in a friendly way: _easy, tiger_. Let's focus on the ported client. I have some information elsewhere that might help …


----------



## grahamperrin@ (Jan 23, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> Does sound work or not?



I'll be without my usual system for the next few hours.

In the meantime, for starters, a simple transcript of a start and clean quit, without attempting to do anything with the GUI (not signining in, and so on):



Spoiler: command line transcript – net-im/zoom 5.3.465578.0920_1 on FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT





```
test@mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile:~ % zoom
zoom started.
Client: Breakpad is using Single Client Mode! client fd = -1
[CZPClientLogMgr::LogClientEnvironment] [MacAddr: ][client: Linux][OS: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)][Hardware: CPU Core:2 Frenquency:2.9 G Memory size:16271MB CPU Brand:       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3520M CPU @ 2.90GHz GPU Brand:][Req ID: ]
Linux Client Version is 5.3.465578.0920
QSG_RENDER_LOOP is
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP = KDE;   GDMSESSION =
Graphics Card Info::
Zoom package arch is 64bit, runing OS arch is x86_64
AppIconMgr::systemDesktopName log Desktop Name: /usr/local/share/xsessions/plasma
error was 0
qt.svg: link image0 hasn't been detected!
qt.svg: :/images/wechat.svg:10:6: Could not resolve property: pattern0
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib pcm.c:2565:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib pcm.c:2565:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM
WorkerBase::loop() normal exit, fds[0].revents & POLLIN = true
WorkerBase::loop() normal exit, fds[0].revents & POLLIN = true
WorkerBase::loop() normal exit, fds[0].revents & POLLIN = true
WorkerBase::loop() normal exit, fds[0].revents & POLLIN = true
WorkerBase::loop() normal exit, fds[0].revents & POLLIN = true
WorkerBase::loop() normal exit, fds[0].revents & POLLIN = true
test@mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile:~ % date ; uptime ; freebsd-version -kru ; uname -aKU
Sun Jan 23 11:45:02 GMT 2022
11:45AM  up  8:47, 7 users, load averages: 2.01, 2.20, 2.15
14.0-CURRENT
14.0-CURRENT
14.0-CURRENT
FreeBSD mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile 14.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT #2 main-72c89ce97: Tue Sep 28 01:22:15 BST 2021     root@mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile:/usr/obj/usr/src/amd64.amd64/sys/GENERIC-NODEBUG  amd64 1400033 1400033
test@mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile:~ % pkg -vv | grep -e url -e enabled
    url             : "pkg+http://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest",
    enabled         : yes,
test@mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile:~ % pkg info -x net-im/zoom
zoom-video-conferencing-client-5.3.465578.0920_1
test@mowa219-gjp4-freebsd-d31121-mobile:~ %
```


----------



## kpedersen (Jan 23, 2022)

rtobiasr said:


> FreeBSD: Zoom: Make it work, and don't shift the blame onto Zoom. Linus didn't shift the blame onto Zoom. If you're so superior then you should be able to make anything in Linux work AND MORE.


You seem a little confused as to the limitations of platform specific binaries. The Zoom client on Linux works only because Zoom (the company) has created binaries for Linux:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204206269-Installing-or-updating-Zoom-on-Linux

Zoom client on FreeBSD doesn't exist **at all** because Zoom has not ported it. Instead we use kludges such as Linux or Windows emulation and wrap it up in the ports collection to make it easy(ish) to install.

Or are you blaming FreeBSD for others not writing software for it? That is like blaming FreeBSD for not having a working Microsoft Office or Safari. I write tonnes of software that only exists as FreeBSD binaries; I don't then complain why Windows or Linux can't run it. It suggests a big misunderstanding on your behalf.

My advice is to just use Zoom in the browser. This works fine because it uses Javascript (and WebAssembly) which isn't a platform specific binary.


----------



## grahamperrin@ (Jan 23, 2022)

Posted by the maintainer: 

Please support OSS (Open Sound System) as an audio backend - Feature Requests - Zoom Developer Forum (2020-09-17)
– no response from any developer in the Zoom area.


----------



## Geezer (Jan 23, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> But net-im/zoom states:
> 
> What's the deal? Does sound work or not?



The deal is ... _don't use the port_, merely run zoom inside firefox.






Needs a working microphone, speakers, webcam and ample dog food.


----------



## Geezer (Jan 23, 2022)

Thread would-it-be-possible-to-port-zoom-meeting-client-to-freebsd.76839/#post-552507


----------



## SirDice (Jan 24, 2022)

Posts moved to existing thread about zoom.


----------



## Cypher (Jan 27, 2022)

I think that jitsi is much more fit for educational purposes than zoom, teams, google-talk, and all proprietary software out there. There are lots of public Organisations using jitsi by now.








						Jitsi
					

Jitsi has 147 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.




					github.com
				



 Including Universities, mainly in Europe, schools, ONGs, et. al. It is opensource and you can use it directly in the browser or install a server in your computer. I use it in GNU/Debian. I think there is some work out in the freeBSD community to port it and such. Other great opensource tool for teaching is bigbluebutton 
https://bigbluebutton.org/
there are lots of tutos on YT teaching how to use them...


----------



## Sivan! (May 18, 2022)

kpedersen said:


> You seem a little confused as to the limitations of platform specific binaries. The Zoom client on Linux works only because Zoom (the company) has created binaries for Linux:
> 
> https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204206269-Installing-or-updating-Zoom-on-Linux
> 
> ...



This is what I went through:


```
# cd /usr/ports/net-im/zoom
# make install clean
```


```
You installed Zoom: A video conferencing client.

CAVEAT: Sound doesn't yet work in Zoom on FreeBSD.

In order to run Zoom you need:
1. Linux emulation enabled. For this you should execute:
   # sysrc linux_enable=YES
   and reboot and/or execute:
   # kldload linux
2. Have devfs mounted for the Linux emulator.
   For this you should execute:
   # mount -t devfs none /compat/linux/dev
   and reboot and/or add this line to /etc/fstab:
   devfs /compat/linux/dev devfs rw 0 0
3. Have Linux OpenGL package for your video card is installed.
   It could be one of linux-nvidia-libs*, etc.
   Enable a port option corresponding to your OpenGL driver, if applicable.
   Try running with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 if zoom crashes because of OpenGL.
4. Have multimedia/webcamd installed and running. The usual way to
   start webcamd is to have these two lines in /etc/rc.conf:
   webcamd_enable="YES"
   webcamd_flags="-H"

Zoom stores configuration values in ~/.config/zoomus.conf, some
of which you can adjust.

If you have linux-c7-pulseaudio-libs or linux-c7-alsa-plugins-pulseaudio
installed and zoom asserts in pulseaudio, please change system.audio.type
to "alsa" in ~/.config/zoomus.conf


===> SECURITY REPORT:
      This port has installed the following files which may act as network
      servers and may therefore pose a remote security risk to the system.
/compat/linux/opt/zoom/libQt5Network.so
/compat/linux/opt/zoom/libQt5Network.so.5.9.9
/compat/linux/opt/zoom/libQt5Network.so.5
/compat/linux/opt/zoom/libQt5Network.so.5.9
/compat/linux/opt/zoom/zoom
```


```
# whereis zoom
zoom: /usr/local/bin/zoom /usr/ports/games/zoom
# /usr/local/bin/zoom
ELF binary type "3" not known.
/usr/local/bin/zoom: /compat/linux/opt/zoom/zoom: Exec format error
```

After following instructions from discussion threads that discussed an error similar to this, for instance from this freebsd forums page


```
# readelf -e /usr/local/bin/zoom
readelf: Not an ELF file.
readelf -e /compat/linux/opt/zoom/zoom  
ELF Header:
  Magic:   7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  Class:                             ELF64
  Data:                              2's complement, little endian
  Version:                           1 (current)
  OS/ABI:                            GNU
  ABI Version:                       0
  Type:                              DYN (Shared object file)
  Machine:                           Advanced Micro Devices x86-64
  Version:                           0x1
  Entry point address:               0x44731e
  Start of program headers:          64 (bytes into file)
  Start of section headers:          63432864 (bytes into file)
  Flags:                             0
  Size of this header:               64 (bytes)
  Size of program headers:           56 (bytes)
  Number of program headers:         9
  Size of section headers:           64 (bytes)
  Number of section headers:         30
  Section header string table index: 29

Elf file type is DYN (Shared object file)
Entry point 0x44731e
There are 9 program headers, starting at offset 64

# brandelf -t Linux /usr/local/bin/zoom
brandelf: file '/usr/local/bin/zoom' is not ELF format
# brandelf -t Linux /compat/linux/opt/zoom/zoom
# hash -r
# /usr/local/bin/zoom
ELF binary type "3" not known.
/usr/local/bin/zoom: /compat/linux/opt/zoom/zoom: Exec format error
# kldload linux
kldload: can't load linux: Operation not permitted
# kldload linux64
kldload: can't load linux64: Operation not permitted
```

After this I followed some of the steps of the post-install instructions from the install process. Here is what I did:


```
# sysrc linux_enable=YES

# kldload linux
kldload: can't load linux: Operation not permitted
```

`#  mount -t devfs none /compat/linux/dev`

Also added this line to /etc/fstab:

```
devfs /compat/linux/dev devfs rw 0 0
```

#the post install instructions also said:

```
Have Linux OpenGL package for your video card is installed.
It could be one of linux-nvidia-libs*, etc.
Enable a port option corresponding to your OpenGL driver, if applicable.
Try running with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 if zoom crashes because of OpenGL.
```

(searched for sound card `dmesg |grep sound` also tried 'audio' didn't find the name of the sound card)


```
Have multimedia/webcamd installed and running. The usual way to
start webcamd is to have these two lines in /etc/rc.conf:
webcamd_enable="YES"
webcamd_flags="-H"
```

Didn't include those lines. Don't have a webcam in my desktop computer.

Before reboot:


```
/usr/local/bin/zoom
ELF binary type "3" not known.
/usr/local/bin/zoom: /compat/linux/opt/zoom/zoom: Exec format error
```


```
# kldload linux
kldload: can't load linux: Operation not permitted
```

Will reboot now and update.

Update:

*Zoom works. *
With these errors:

```
# /usr/local/bin/zoom
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (/var/run/user/1001) is not owned by us (uid 0), but by uid 1001! (This could e.g. happe
n if you try to connect to a non-root PulseAudio as a root user, over the native protocol. Don't do that
.)
No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
zoom started.
Client: Breakpad is using Single Client Mode! client fd = -1
QStandardPaths: wrong ownership on runtime directory /var/run/user/1001, 1001 instead of 0
[CZPClientLogMgr::LogClientEnvironment] [MacAddr: ][client: Linux][OS: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)][Hardware:
CPU Core:4 Frenquency:3.59333 G Memory size:6035MB CPU Brand:AMD Ryzen 3 3200G with Radeon Vega Graphics
     GPU Brand:][Req ID: ]
Linux Client Version is 5.3.465578.0920
QSG_RENDER_LOOP is
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP = KDE;   GDMSESSION =
Graphics Card Info::
Zoom package arch is 64bit, runing OS arch is x86_64
AppIconMgr::systemDesktopName log Desktop Name: /usr/local/share/xsessions/plasma
qt.svg: link image0 hasn't been detected!
qt.svg: :/images/wechat.svg:10:6: Could not resolve property: pattern0
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib pcm.c:2565:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM
ALSA lib control.c:1375:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL
ALSA lib pcm.c:2565:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM
error was 0
error was 0
error was 0
```

Update: Launched Zoom twice for two different meetings, Zoom as an installed application receives video, but there is no audio.  Zoom on the browser does not have the audio issue. The issue with the installed application is as simple as that of figuring out the name of the audio components of the computer and the external speaker, and adding a line of code somewhere in some system file.


----------



## Geezer (May 19, 2022)

Would it be possible to port Zoom meeting client to freeBSD?
					

But net-im/zoom states:  What's the deal? Does sound work or not?   The deal is ... don't use the port, merely run zoom inside firefox.    Needs a working microphone, speakers, webcam and ample dog food.




					forums.FreeBSD.org
				






> The deal is ... _don't use the port_, merely run zoom inside firefox.


----------



## grahamperrin@ (May 19, 2022)

Sivan! said:


> … one of the new freeBSD ports `/usr/ports/net-im/zoom/`, …



FreshPorts is our friend: net-im/zoom was added in 2020.


----------



## Sivan! (May 19, 2022)

Geezer said:


> Would it be possible to port Zoom meeting client to freeBSD?
> 
> 
> But net-im/zoom states:  What's the deal? Does sound work or not?   The deal is ... don't use the port, merely run zoom inside firefox.    Needs a working microphone, speakers, webcam and ample dog food.
> ...



Replied to your comment to say that zoom in firefox or chromium isn't quite as complete as zoom installed as an application.


----------



## ayleid96 (May 21, 2022)

rtobiasr said:


> Why doesn't Zoom work? Why should I try Linux compatibility layers? Why are there limitations that Linux doesn't have? Why do I need to Google, and read forums to make the attempt? Don't give me that "Oh it's the fault of the Zoom developers." Linus and Co. made Zoom work with Linux. They got it done. FreeBSD: Get it done without all the normal FreeBSD excuses about licensing and blobs and other bologna. Under no circumstances DO NOT tell me that it's Zoom's fault. If it were Zoom's fault then there would be problems outside the BSD world (which there are not). Those are excuses. Get the job done. Every other OS has got the job done. Why can't I go to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (to include audio) with FreeBSD? For effing sakes AA ought to work. Please, without getting into development models and licensing bullcrap explain why I ought to use FreeBSD even though BASIC things like Zoom won't work. Coronavirus has been with us since 2019. You've had that long to catch up with social norms. Zoom works on EVERY OS except FreeBSD (GhostBSD). I haven't tried OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonflyBSD, or MidnightBSD, but I assume the same issues exist.


FreeBSD doesn't want to change itself for apps, apps need to conform to some standards. FreeBSD is totally fine OS for everyday use and its proven by Apple and Sony. It provides totally fine kernel and userland. If something doesn't work its 99% developer's fault. Linux is chaos, they are trying to conform to some standards(POSIX and SUS) but in reality its totally different, it even doesn't have anything to do with licensing. And also, Zoom its proprietary software, no FreeBSD binaries.


----------



## Sivan! (May 22, 2022)

ayleid96 said:


> FreeBSD doesn't want to change itself for apps, apps need to conform to some standards.



FreeBSD makes a point here. What else could FreeBSD do, apart from a refusal to port non-standard apps, to prompt apps to confirm to standards?


----------



## ayleid96 (May 22, 2022)

Sivan! said:


> FreeBSD makes a point here. What else could FreeBSD do, apart from a refusal to port non-standard apps, to prompt apps to confirm to standards?


Many open source apps wont work because of linux-specific things, if it was to follow standards(its defined as one of their goals,  ONE and TWO). Linux continues to change itself for the sake of convenience, it constantly makes up new non-standard things in order for apps to work on it. It's sad, i wish it was different, Linux has good kernel and GNU's userland is full of features(its bloated but yeah..). Also GPL isn't that bad, in my opinion.


----------



## jbo (May 27, 2022)

rtobiasr said:


> If FreeBSD is the superior OS then they ought to work with FreeBSD WITHOUT the FreeBSD devs bttching about this or that.


You know... many of us here prefer to use FreeBSD for exactly that reason: It's superior in many aspects because it does not change and bend around standards just to make some proprietary 3rd-party app work. It remains a fairly static, solid, easy-to-maintain solution. Meanwhile, Linux changes interfaces and makes slalom moves around standards just to get some proprietary stuff to work every other full moon.
Back when I was developing stuff that needed to interface the Linux kernel I had to modify code more often than I did laundry. One day you just wake up and something fundamental changes that just breaks your stuff. And that happens constantly over at the Linux world.
From a purely technical point of view, I much rather use (and develop for) Windows than a Linux system.

Personally, I vastly prefer having some 3rd-party proprietary thing NOT working on FreeBSD than having FreeBSD bending over, changing interfaces, discarding standard compliance etc.
And that is the one of the main reasons why I switched to FreeBSD as my primary desktop OS.

Other than that, I found FreeBSD devs to be very non-bitchy compared to your average developer of a different OS 
FreeBSD: Whenever possible we patch upstream. If that doesn't work out (usually for political reasons), we maintain the patches ourselves in the ports tree. If that is not enough, upstream is either badly designed or by design OS specific. Then you still have plenty of options such as:

Linux binary compatibility layer
Wine
Jails (which can be Linux jails)
Virtual machines
But yeah, every now and then somebody comes along here and thinks that FreeBSD has to do something for them. That's not how it works. If it doesn't work for you (and you either can't or don't want to put efforts into it yourself) just don't use it:


rtobiasr said:


> FreeBSD: Allow me to attend AA.



Not so long ago, I'd argue barely 10 years, maybe 15, this was exactly the situation over at Linux land: A lot of proprietary 3rd-party stuff just didn't work. And it was not a disaster. People still used Linux. If it didn't work for them they either put in the efforts or used something else. The only thing that changed is the direction that Linux took since then: Break it until it's fixed.
We don't like to do that around here. And I hope that it will stay that way.
There are plenty of companies that choose FreeBSD over Linux for not just that reason - but sometimes truly just that reason.
Meanwhile, there are companies that put in the effort of officially supporting FreeBSD. Just look at the Nvidia drivers - they work well.
Linux either decided or just passively became a corporate dick size comparison. But as often in those situations: quantity won over quality which clearly shows.

I'm going to leave you with this: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/why-is-freebsd-not-more-like.66591/#post-393755


----------



## kpedersen (May 27, 2022)

jbodenmann said:


> We don't like to do that around here. And I hope that it will stay that way.


I truely believe it will stay this way. For those consumers that just want more, more, more then Linux is in no way too restrictive for them, unlike Windows was becoming when Microsoft and Apple introduced DRM, spyware, etc.

So effectively we need to thank Linux for being our buffer from those kinds of people. Linux will remain the wall of chaos that the FreeBSD developers will pick at like a messy buffet for those few decent things that come out of it, such as drivers, LLVM and, erm.. surely there is more than that, I just personally can't think of anything good that has come out of Linux for a while :/


----------

