Which Zoom download is best for new users: Ubuntu or Debian?

[mavengarlick]

Hi! First post here! I recently installed Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS and am a very, very new user.

Zoom gives me multiple distro choices and the Ubuntu option seems natural, but duckduckgo's AI chat is advising me to install the debian version. I'm assuming this is due to issues with snap packages and zoom? I've learned the chat is quite a good linux adviser, but I thought I would ask here since it's a subjective question. I'm seeking opinions from experienced users to verify it's advice.

I'm sure I could probably install either but I'm a Beginner with a large, capital B and need whatever will work the easiest for me.

I'm using a modded Thinkpad that is 64 bit. I can post the results of inxi -Fxzzr if needed. I apologize if I have left out needed information. Please let me know and I will rectify that. Thank you!

[deadflowr]

On Ubuntu use Ubuntu versions.

[mavengarlick]

Thank you deadflowr! I installed it successfully and got a meeting started. Everything is functional except for video background. I get an immediate change when setting appearance filter and making other changes to meeting status, so I'm not sure why the background isn't being set. I'm able to do that on my W10 machine and my android phone.

[yancek]

Did you read the post at the link below or something similar and try those instructions?

https://community.zoom.com/t5/Zoom-R...ux/td-p/159655

Not sure that will work, rarely use Zoom myself but the post at the link below indicates this has been ongoing and was a problem with earlier versions of Ubuntu. Maybe it will work with 24.04.

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2496060

[Norm24]

I downloaded the Ubuntu .deb right from the Zoom website.No issues,works perfectly.

https://zoom.us/download?os=linux

[mavengarlick]

yancek, Thank you for this! No I didn't find it in my searches on this issues. I need to work on my google skills! It sounds like it would resolve my issue, but following this instruction:

" 2. Locate & Edit the ZoomMedia.ini File (if needed):
◦ If the previous option wasn't there, here's how to edit the ZoomMedia.ini file:
▪ Find the file: Use the command sudo find / -name ZoomMedia.ini. If not found, please also check ~/.config/zoomus.conf."I get this result:
'find: ‘/run/user/1000/doc’: Permission denied
find: ‘/run/user/1000/gvfs’: Permission denied'

Now I'm working through the next bits of instruction with duck.ai, but so far I can't find the ZoomMedia.ini file. The chat is starting to tell me Zoom might not be installed correctly, but is still giving me some options to try.

[mavengarlick]

I downloaded the Ubuntu .deb right from the Zoom website.No issues,works perfectly.

https://zoom.us/download?os=linux

Thank you, I might just try this link if I need to reinstall Zoom.
ETA: Yes, this is the same link I used to download zoom originally. I'll try to reinstall once more.

[mavengarlick]

Per the second link in your reply, it appears I need 8 cores to run zoom backgrounds. I know nothing about hardware, but this might be my issue as I have a core i7 from 2018.
When I run inxi I think this is the relevant bit:
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Core i7-2640M bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 4 MiB

Is it even possible to add the blur background with my setup?

[yancek]

You can find the number of cores with different commands, the simplest probably the one below:

sudo cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "processor"

[mavengarlick]

That command gives me this result:
processor : 0
processor : 1
processor : 2
processor : 3

It looks like I'll have to clean my office once W10 goes away on my main laptop.

Though, if I can manage to keep Ubuntu working well on this one, maybe I can try it on my more robust Thinkpad too. I'll have to look into zoom's W10 requirements vs linux, as my main laptop's CPU only has 4 cores, not 8.

Thanks again for your help!