Being 2016, there are a lot of ways to get on a video link between people.
While Skype, Viber, Whatsup or anything else can open a video connection and can be used between friends, in business world the options are a little bit more limited.
One of the option that is on par with the time is google hangout, and if your company has google apps, you can set up nice meeting, directly attached to your calendar invitation. It’s awesome and I like it a lot. My choice.
However, in biz space old habits are hard to die, therefore people stick to things like gotomeeting, which is not too bad, or the worse thing ever supported on Linux, WebEx.
To run the WebEx on Linux is a nightmare, to put it mildly. The WebEx is a java application, but they made sure that you can only run the 32 bit, and you can launch the applet only using a Firefox 32 bit installation. As I said, they may have their own reasons, but honestly I don’t really get it, and I think it is super crazy.
After battling with it for at least 4 hours, I found a reproducible way to get it going.
Here are the steps:
1) Install Firefox an 32 bit and some libraries for nice appearance.
sudo apt-get install firefox:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 libxtst6:i386
2) Download the jre from oracle:
This is the link where you can pick the jre. Get the tar package, not the rpm http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre8-downloads-2133155.html
3) Create a dedicated dir and untar it there
mkdir ~/32bit cd ~/32bit tar xvf ~/Downloads/jre-8u73-linux-i586.tar.gz
4) Add the plugin to firefox
mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins
5) Link the plugin
ln -vs ~/32bit/jre1.8.0_73/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/
Now you are all set!
In my test I was able to share the screen, to use the audio from the computer, and everything was working ok.
Good luck, and honestly, if you can, avoid WebEx.
June 15, 2016 at 11:05 am
doesnt work here, ubuntu 16.04
June 15, 2016 at 11:26 am
Hi there,
I remember I had to fight to get it going again on the Ubuntu 16.04, but I’ve tested right now and it’s working.
One tip: Make sure that, when you load firefox, the Java that is picked up is the 32 bit and not the 64.
Basically at the end I’ve resolved to link the `libnpjp2.so` from the downloaded JVM to the browser plugin folder of the local firefox, which means:
`ln -sv /home/mattions/32bit/jre1.8.0_91/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so /home/mattions/32bit/firefox/browser/plugins/libnpjp2.so`
October 22, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Hi I tried your solution but it does not work for ubuntu 16. Can you please explain your following step –
========================
Basically at the end I’ve resolved to link the `libnpjp2.so` from the downloaded JVM to the browser plugin folder of the local firefox, which means:
`ln -sv /home/mattions/32bit/jre1.8.0_91/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so /home/mattions/32bit/firefox/browser/plugins/libnpjp2.so`
====================
from where are you getting this folder – /home/mattions/32bit/firefox/browser/plugins/libnpjp2.so
I do not see firefox under 32bit folder.
October 23, 2016 at 12:40 pm
so `/home/mattions` is just the path to my home, so for you is gonna be different, according to your username.
The `32bit` directory is the one you have created, so from that part onward it should be basically the same path.
HIH
November 8, 2017 at 7:23 am
The main part of the blog has:
ln -vs ~/32bit/jre1.8.0_73/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/
Now it looks like there’s supposed to be a separate installation of firefox under ~/32bit, i.e., in the same folder in which JRE was untarred. If there’s a way to have 32-bit firefox installed there and keep my 64-bit firefox, that would be ideal.
October 22, 2016 at 9:41 pm
Hi nobble, are you able to solve this issue?
June 23, 2016 at 5:38 pm
FWIW this didn’t work for me. Just says ‘You don’t have Java’. Ubuntu 14.04
July 27, 2016 at 8:17 pm
Hey! I tried this on ubuntu16 but the message is always that the soundcard isnt available… maybe something related to pulseaudio version being 64bits?
August 25, 2016 at 7:32 am
Sorry for the late reply.
It could be, don’t really know though.
October 22, 2016 at 9:42 pm
Hey I am also using ubuntu 16 but I am still facing this issue. How did you resolve it?
August 24, 2016 at 6:08 pm
First time I comment in a post to thank someone. Lots of kudos mate… The post was a lifesaver…
August 25, 2016 at 7:31 am
you are welcome!
I really find ridiculous that Cisco cannot be bother to make a 64 compliant client for Linux, and instead we have to jump through all these hoops to just get a crappy client working..
September 16, 2016 at 2:36 pm
Have you experienced this? Your browser, browser version, or operating system is currently unsupported.
I followed all the mentioned steps…
September 16, 2016 at 2:51 pm
I’ve used this several month ago, but it still works for us
February 24, 2017 at 11:53 pm
I am running into the same issue with the user above: “our browser, browser version, or operating system is currently unsupported”
I am using Linux Mint 18.1 though.
February 26, 2017 at 8:41 am
Sorry Rafael, didn’t try again lately. I’m trying to stay away from WebEx ..
Good luck, and let us know if you find out a solution
September 16, 2016 at 2:58 pm
I used Ubuntu 16.04, if it helps..
July 11, 2017 at 4:49 pm
One -possibly easier- alternative is via Docker, just pull one of the several “webex” images: https://hub.docker.com/search/?isAutomated=0&isOfficial=0&page=1&pullCount=0&q=webex&starCount=0 . I used mbessler/ff32-webex and it worked fine. Much less painful then getting deep into dependency hell (I tried to install ffox-esr :i386 but all I got there is dozen broken pkgs)
July 21, 2017 at 1:54 pm
Hello,
I followed all the mentioned steps but still getting an error “Failed to download client parameter”. Please find the below attached image of that error. Could you please suggest me any solution. Thanks in advance.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fda74a51ce673f0623f444a3bf4ee6ef75d05b8470ec7b0a4b114a448729a413.png
July 21, 2017 at 3:05 pm
Hi,
never saw this error. Can’t really help. I’m sorry
September 25, 2017 at 9:47 pm
encountering same issue running lubuntu 32bit + firefox ESR + java + javaws – can view recordings fine but this issue prevents joining meetings
November 1, 2017 at 12:51 pm
It works for me
@disqus_UXb0LHej1P:disqus if you have more than one version of java then select the correct one that matches the JRE version when you get asked to select java by your system. (ex. v8.xxx, v9.xxx)
November 8, 2017 at 6:24 am
Ubuntu 16.04. Firefox 56.0. JRE 8u152. No luck here.
How do I go back to 64-bit Firefox???