Running Zotero on the "HP Chromebook x360 14"

Hello all,

I just wanted to share a small success story. At least on the HP Chromebook x360 14 it was easy to install Zotero. First you enable linux support (which only works on selected chromebooks!), and then you install an extra library:

sudo apt-get install libdbus-glib-1-2

You download the tarball from the Zotero site, unpack it, and then lauch the 'zotero' binary from within it.

Voila.

I haven't had time to test anything else, but I'll post more to this thread as I test the setup.
  • That package is "deprecated library for D-Bus IPC". Does Zotero need this? If so, I can add that to my .deb dependencies. I do see that my Ubuntu 19.04 system has it installed.
  • @emilianoheyns Thanks for the comment - yes, would be good to investigate. I don't know the answer though. Does somebody else? @danstillman
  • Strange -- I've apt-got the source for firefox and while I do see a build-depends on libdbus-glib-1-dev, and references in the source to libdbus-glib, I don't see it in the non-build depends. Maybe that's because libdbus-glib is always installed on Ubuntu systems? But then also on derivatives like Lubuntu, which tries to stay away from Gnome? I could add the dependency, shouldn't hurt (I think).
  • I guess 'adding the dependency' would mean that the linux build then includes it? Meaning that the above apt-get command becomes unnecessary?
  • edited April 28, 2019
    No, it just means that the unofficial debs that package the existing binaries declare the dependency, so an install of those debs would pull in the dependencies if they're not already available.
  • Ah ok - I see.

    Just to say that I downloaded the Zotero tar file, as apt-get was pointing at v4. Do you know what the above version is?


  • You can see the versions here, but if the binaries you downloaded work, you'll see no difference. It's just the same binaries, delivered in a different way.
  • @danstillman It seems that the Chrome browser on ChromeOS cannot reach http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping. Any idea why that might be?
  • edited May 4, 2019
    If apt-get pulled in Zotero v4, you're on a very old apt repo. If you want to use apt, you'll have to remove it from sources.list and add a newer one (this one is available, but there's also a ppa hosted on launchpad by smathot)
  • @emilianoheyns - thank you so much. I've downloaded the Zotero zip via the usual download links and am on version 5.0.66.

    Could it be a chromeOS issue, whereby the chrome browser cannot reach ports of linux apps?
  • That I don't know, but if you're going to use the tarball, I'd advice removing the apt repo.
  • ChromeOS runs linux apps in sandboxes that requires more setup to allow them to communicate with the rest of the system (including with any connector or word processor integration).

    See https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/75192/how-to-use-zotero-in-google-doc-with-chromeos for someone that seems to have successfully gotten things set up.
  • Thank you - yes, that makes sense!
  • I could be wrong, but is seems that as of Chrome OS 74 (just come out) the "sudo apt-get install libdbus-glib-1-2" is no longer necessary.
  • Super, thanks, I'll remove the dependency.
  • Wait, how did you ascertain this? Using the tarball?
  • Hi @emilianoeheyns - sorry for not getting back! Yes, it was through the tarball.

  • That's OK, I now just look at the Firefox ESR dependencies and copy those.
Sign In or Register to comment.