meet.lds.org for Linux Users

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elschemm
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:21 am

meet.lds.org for Linux Users

#1

Post by elschemm »

Greetings:

My daughter got a 'new' computer for Christmas, and we were hoping to use it for her online seminary, as it is much more capable than our older Windows computer. The OS installed on the computer is Mint 16 (an Ubuntu variant).

We got everything set up only to discover that meet.lds.org claims that her Browser and/or OS is not currently supported. I did some checking through webex.com (which is the underlying communication software, if I understand correctly) and they do support Linux. (https://support.webex.com/MyAccountWeb/ ... ent=System Under Cisco Webex Meetings)

I tried connecting to her weekly seminary meeting via webex.com, and it says that the meeting number is invalid (I'm guessing because the seminary system is closed off from the 'public' webex stuff?). The meeting number works via the invite that she gets from her seminary leader, but that takes her to the meet.lds.org site, not to the webex site.

So, does anyone know any way to do this? Any chance of getting Linux 'officially' supported? Is there a way to get her logged in via the regular webex sites?

I started playing around with UserAgent Switcher to spoof it into accepting the browser/OS, but have not been successful yet.

She is trying to use Mint 16, Mozilla Firefox 26.

Thanks
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: meet.lds.org for Linux Users

#2

Post by russellhltn »

Well, I'm far from a Linux expert, but I noticed one of the minimum requirements for WebEx is "Desktop Environment, XFce 4.0 or later, KDE, Ximian, Gnome". When I look up Mint, I see the Desktop is either MATE or Cinnamon. So I think Mint fails to meet the requirements.

Also, before investing more time in this, I'd suggest reading the section for "Known Issues / Limitations" and make sure your daughter can live with that.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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mx4525
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Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:40 pm

Re: meet.lds.org for Linux Users

#3

Post by mx4525 »

I've used linux since 2007 and focus alot on ubuntu and debian variants. So I think I can help you with this.

Let me help clear up the confusion first. Desktop environments on Linux are as interchangeable as your wallpaper. With a single apt-get install you can install a new environment and then it is just a matter of logging out and changing your session to the new desktop environment and log back in.

Thus it'll be easy for you since Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE, KDE, and GNOME are all available to Linux Mint. All you need to do is either install the specific spin or use the package manager in order to install a prefferred desktop environment. Also note that Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE, and GNOME are all built upon GNOME's libraries BUT (and its a big one) they either use different versions (like MATE and XFCE) or customized versions (like cinnamon). So yes Linux mint can meet that minimum requirement in different ways as well. If GTK2 (the libraries prevalent when ubuntu 7.04 came out) is required then you may wish to use XFCE or MATE. If GTK3 is ok then cinnamon or gnome will work. As it goes KDE has changed quite a bit. If they need the old KDE3 libraries then you'll want to look for the Trinity desktop which expands upon the KDE3 series work or if KDE4 libraries are ok then you can go ahead and use the latest version.

Now we can talk about some more important stuff. Webex requires the following.

Ubuntu 7.04, Red Hat 4.0, SuSE 10.0 Linux
Firefox 2/3.x
Mozilla 1.7 or higher
JavaScript and cookies need to be enabled
Requires Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 or higher
No support for Sales Center and Remote Access

If remote access isn't supported then you might not be able to get it working but even then you'll need to be using oracle java (the name is different now sun went defunct) not openjdk7 which is bundled with Linux mint 16.

From techsupportalert.com
Install Oracle Java Packages

Go to Menu > Terminal.
Enter

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
to add the partner repository.
Enter

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update
to update the source list.
Enter

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
At any time, you can check the Java version you're using and configure it when necessary:

Enter

Code: Select all

sudo java -version
to check the version of the Java used in the system.
Enter s

Code: Select all

udo update-alternatives --config java
to choose the default Java for use in the system.

So I would try installing oracle java then I'd have at it again. Either way please post back and we'll work on it.

-Matt
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pete.arnett
Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:33 am
Location: Sunny South Florida, USA

Re: meet.lds.org for Linux Users

#4

Post by pete.arnett »

Sorry but Android (Linux) is not currently supported.

Per the Product Site, Android support is scheduled for sometime in 2014.
The Product Page from https://teams.ldschurch.org/wiki/wiki/pages/WebEx.aspx is shown below:

WebEx Communications Inc. (or Cisco WebEx) is a Cisco company that provides on-demand collaboration, online meeting, web conferencing and videoconferencing applications. Its products include Meeting Center, Training Center, Event Center, Support Center, Sales Center, MeetMeNow, PCNow, WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition, WebEx WebOffice, and WebEx Connect.

At the Church, WebEx is currently supported by the End User Productivity Portfolio in the Information and Communications Services Department. It replaced MeetingPlace in December 2013. The Church used MeetingPlace for about five years; but Cisco, the owner of both programs, has decided to retire MeetingPlace. Some improved features of WebEx over MeetingPlace are: you can connect to audio through your computer without having to dial in on a phone, Mobile App support enabling you to see the screen shares on your mobile device​, better performance, etc.
•​Access WebEx
•Transition Checklist – Moving From MeetingPlace to WebEx​
•WebEx Training
•Web Conferencing in the Service Catalog​
•Cisco WebEx Quick Start Guide​
Support
Current support is as follows:
•Web Browsers

◦Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and 9
◦Safari for Mac OS X - Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion
◦Latest versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows

•Operating Systems
◦Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 7 32 and 64 bit, Windows Server OS 2008 R2

◦Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion

◦iPhone and iPad running iOS 5.1 and above
◦Android is scheduled for early 2014
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