Q4OS Forum

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Softphone/Zoom

Hello guys, my first post here. I downloaded 4Qos a month ago but didn't install properly until this afternoon. I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far. I've been able to set up most of my working software in a few hours, including some 'difficult' titles, and the OS seems very solid. Thank you!

I have two issues, both relating to telephony and speech communications.

1. Zoom
I don't like Zoom, but two of my clients insist on it.

I installed Zoom from the .deb file this afternoon. I followed the instructions on the Zoom website:

sudo apt install ./zoom_amd64.deb

This listed a number of unmet dependencies. I crossed my fingers and did:

sudo apt --fix-broken install

The fix worked, but I'm worried that it will cause problems. Is there a 'recommended' solution for Zoom?

2. YATE
I prefer the excellent YATE softphone program, but Q4os doesn't let me access the PPA. I can build from source if I have to, but maybe you have a preferred softphone for commercial SIP services?

Best, WM.

detoo

Member

Registered: 2019-01-17

Posts: 86

Re: Softphone/Zoom

As to the first question, I downloaded and installed the equivalent Zoom package for Debian with GDebi, a GUI app available via your package manager, which checks needed dependencies for alien packages (e.g., from somewhere other than the package manager) and then installs them. 

Sounds like you did basically the same thing, but with command line. I would just give Zoom a test run; if everything works as it should, you're probably all set.

Hopefully someone familiar with Yate can answer your second question.

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Thanks, Detoo, that's much appreciated. I dislike Zoom for a number of reasons, but I'm glad to know that others are using it with Q4os.

To clarify on YATE: it's my favourite softphone app based o experiences on other distros. If the Q4os community recommends a different softphone, I'll gladly switch.

Best, NP

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Hello guys, in case anyone needs a softphone, I'm sharing my findings.

I'll start by saying that Skype for Linux is dreadful. Calls are relatively expensive, support is ghettoized, and it eats up RAM like few programs I've seen.

If you're prepared to set up a dedicated account with an SIP provider and can handle the slightly more complex process of setting up an open source softphone, you'll save money and system resources.

My own favourite softphone is YATE-client aka YATE-QT4, which I installed and used happily on LXLE, a Ubuntu derivative. It's clean, logical and runs well in 50Mb. YATE is still available via a Ubuntu PPA, but Q4os quite reasonably blocks it. The YATE project documents an elaborate build-from-sources but the build requires some developer-style system resources that aren't normally part of Q4os and I didn't fancy getting into a recursive install process. So I regretfully dropped YATE.

I re-read the Wikipedia listing of SIP-enabled softphones and installed Empathy, which is relatively up-to-date and is available within the Q4os repository. The installation was simple and efficient, although I should point out that the base package *doesn't* include SIP support -- you need to run a second install process to install the telepathy-sofiasip package.

Empathy seems to fit comfortably into the Q4os ecosystem, although it's less good-looking than YATE and needs more memory -- probably because of its support for Jabber, Gadu-Gadu and a bunch of other obscure formats.

I'm writing separately to the Q4osteam to request a YATE package!

Best, NP

Last edited by niftyprose (2021-04-13 14:09)

detoo

Member

Registered: 2019-01-17

Posts: 86

Re: Softphone/Zoom

I'm writing separately to the Q4osteam to request a YATE package!

Didn't mention this in my previous post, but under the hood Q4OS is basically Debian with a different interface. And much of the software that installs in Q4OS comes directly from Debian repositories. So it might be a good idea to also contact Debian developers with your request.

Last edited by detoo (2021-04-14 07:20)

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Thx Detoo. Good advice. NP

Tolkem

Member

Registered: 2019-10-06

Posts: 487

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Hello guys, my first post here. I downloaded 4Qos a month ago but didn't install properly until this afternoon. I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far. I've been able to set up most of my working software in a few hours, including some 'difficult' titles, and the OS seems very solid. Thank you!

I have two issues, both relating to telephony and speech communications.

1. Zoom
I don't like Zoom, but two of my clients insist on it.

I installed Zoom from the .deb file this afternoon. I followed the instructions on the Zoom website:

sudo apt install ./zoom_amd64.deb

This listed a number of unmet dependencies. I crossed my fingers and did:

sudo apt --fix-broken install

The fix worked, but I'm worried that it will cause problems. Is there a 'recommended' solution for Zoom?

2. YATE
I prefer the excellent YATE softphone program, but Q4os doesn't let me access the PPA. I can build from source if I have to, but maybe you have a preferred softphone for commercial SIP services?

Best, WM.

There's a Debian repo in their GitHub's page https://github.com/vir/yate/wiki/DebianRepository

Midas

Member

Registered: 2017-12-15

Posts: 167

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Meanwhile, Zoom users could probably run Zoom Portable in Wine...

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Re: Softphone/Zoom

I have no bandwidth here, but hope to try the debian repository when I get back to normal in a couple of days. Thanks for pointer! NP

Tolkem

Member

Registered: 2019-10-06

Posts: 487

Re: Softphone/Zoom

I have no bandwidth here, but hope to try the debian repository when I get back to normal in a couple of days. Thanks for pointer! NP

I tried it and unfortunately it didn't work. No public key and if I try to download the .deb the URL "timeouts"

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Thanks Tolkem. I figured that might be the case, because the YATE site seems out of date. I've been OK with Empathy / SIP ext. but really prefer YATE, so I hope the Q4OSteam picks it up. Best, W.

detoo

Member

Registered: 2019-01-17

Posts: 86

Re: Softphone/Zoom

I've been OK with Empathy / SIP ext. but really prefer YATE

Grabbed this from another post elsewhere:

Hello guys, I’ve now moved most of my computers over to Q4OS

This might be a long shot, but if you're willing to sacrifice one of those installations for testing, you could grab Ubuntu's YATE package from here:

https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/yate

(Notice that, like other Ubuntu packages, it's also in .deb format -- same as Debian / Q4OS.)

And then install GDebi, which facilitates installation of alien .deb packages such as this, followed by YATE. Then see what happens. Worst-case scenario is having to reinstall Q4OS in that box.

niftyprose

Member

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 29

Re: Softphone/Zoom

Ah, thanks, Detoo. I've been grappling with the YATE thing on and off for a couple of weeks now but unless my memory is failing me I think I tried that one right at the start and Gdebi threw up dependency issues. I had a positive response off the Q4OSteam so will wait patiently with Empathy... Best, NP