PalaceChat Linux Beta

Which file do you want?

All three contain the same program from the same build, and only the packaging differs. Pick the row that matches your system.

The AppImage works on every distro in this table, including the first two rows. If you would rather not install anything, or if your native installer gives you trouble, that is the one to reach for.

64-bit Intel/AMD only (x86_64 / amd64, the same thing named two ways, because the two families label it differently). There is no ARM build yet, so a Raspberry Pi or an ARM laptop will not run these.

On a Chromebook? There is a short section for you further down. The answer is the .deb, but you have to switch Linux on first.

The AppImage

One file. Nothing is installed, no package manager involved, no root. Run it from your Downloads folder if you like.

chmod +x PalaceChat-*.AppImage
./PalaceChat-*.AppImage

Double-click works too if your file manager honours the executable bit. If it refuses to run, the chmod +x is almost always what is missing.

If it complains about FUSE, some current distros no longer ship the library AppImages use to mount themselves. Nothing to install:

./PalaceChat-*.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

It will not appear in your applications menu, which is normal for an AppImage unless you integrate it yourself. To uninstall, delete the file.

The .deb package

sudo apt install ./palacechat_*.deb

apt pulls everything it needs on its own, including GTK3, WebKit2GTK 4.1, the GStreamer codecs and speech-dispatcher. Double-clicking the file also works in most desktops; the software centre opens it and asks for your password.

If apt objects that the package is unsigned:

sudo dpkg -i palacechat_*.deb
sudo apt-get install -f     # pulls anything missing

Uninstall with sudo apt remove palacechat.

This is the one that gets exercised most: every build is installed and launched on our Ubuntu VM before it ships.

The Arch .zip

unzip palacechat-arch-*.zip
cd palacechat-arch-*
./install.sh

install.sh copies the files to ~/palacechat-build/ (so makepkg works even if you downloaded onto a USB stick or a shared folder), then runs makepkg -si. That verifies the tarball checksum against the PKGBUILD, builds the package, asks for your sudo password, and lets pacman pull the dependencies: gtk3, webkit2gtk-4.1, the GStreamer codecs, speech-dispatcher and bind.

If you would rather not use the helper, makepkg -si in that folder does the same thing. Uninstall with sudo pacman -Rns palacechat.

On a Chromebook

Chromebooks run Linux apps inside a small Debian system, so the .deb is the one you want, the same family as the first row of that table.

Switch Linux on first

Settings → Advanced → Developers → Linux development environment → turn it on. It downloads a small Debian the first time, which takes a few minutes. When it finishes you get a Terminal app in your launcher, and everything below happens there.

Is yours the right kind?

In that terminal:

uname -m

• x86_64, Intel or AMD. The .deb above is yours. This is the usual answer; most Chromebooks are Intel or AMD.
• aarch64, an ARM Chromebook. There is no ARM build yet, so none of these files will run. Tell us anyway, since knowing somebody wants it is how it gets built.

To install, put the .deb in the Linux files folder in the Files app, which is the terminal's home directory, then run the same sudo apt install ./palacechat_*.deb from there.

If it does run: a Chromebook is one of the most interesting places to test this. It draws through Wayland rather than X11, and the graphics and sound both pass through the container, so anything that looks or sounds wrong there is worth telling us about even if it seems minor.

Sending us anything

Useful in a report, roughly in order:

• Which file you used (AppImage, .deb, or the Arch package).
• Your distro and version, desktop environment (KDE, GNOME, XFCE, …), and X11 or Wayland.
• Whatever the terminal printed, copied as text rather than a photo of the screen.
• A screenshot when something looks wrong, which is the one case a picture beats text.

Small things are worth sending. A menu that reads oddly, a font that looks off, a button in the wrong place. On a platform this new, those are findings too.