Wire no longer working on 32-bit ABrowser/ Trisquel

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strypey
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Joined: 05/14/2015

Up until recently I was using Wire to chat with family and friends back home, and a group of folks from the fediverse who are interested in testing free code voice chat apps. Wire is blocked by the Great Firewall, but as long as the VPN was working on my old 32-bit laptop, I could use the Wire desktop client for both text and voice chat (I didn't bother trying video chat).

Sadly, the Wire desktop client depends on Electron, and Electron recently stopped supporting 32-bit systems. So I fell back to the Wire web app. I couldn't get voice calls to work in ABrowser (reported here), but at least I could still do text chat. Today, I started getting an error message saying:

> "This browser is not supported.
> Download the latest version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Microsoft Edge."

I've reported this here.

I started using Wire after it was mentioned on these forums. If there are any other ABrowser/ Trisquel users who use Wire, it would be great if you could let me know whether the web app is still working for you at all, and whether you can make voice calls successfully. I'm trying to figure out if the problem is lack of support for some way that ABrowser is different from Firefox, or a lack of support for 32-bit browsers, or something else.

nadebula.1984
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Joined: 05/01/2018

I'm from China. I'm using XMPP-based IM solutions, such as Pidgin or Psi-plus. When we need to use voice chat, we record the speech and then encrypt and send it. Said XMPP solutions should still work on my legacy 32-bit laptop (ThinkPad X40).

My friends and I have been bravely boycotting WeChat for many years. We will fight until the end (when WeChat becomes compulsory by the law, maybe in the form of the next generation of electronic ID card).

andyprough
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Joined: 02/12/2015

Just tried the web app on IceCat and it's working. I set up two accounts and sent test messages and pictures back and forth. I had to turn off two extensions to get it to work - the librejs extension, and the third-party-request-blocker extension.

andyprough
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Joined: 02/12/2015

Definitely the third-party-request-blocker will stop it from working. While signed in, I toggled the extension on and off, and messages I tried to send did not send until I had toggled off the extension.

strypey
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Joined: 05/14/2015

Thanks for the tip. Did having the "third-party-request-blocker" turned on stop the app coming up at all, or stop you logging in, or did it only interfere with message delivery? Is the the "third-party-request-blocker" you mention an extension you've installed? It appears to be a built-in part of ABrowser, and I can't figure out how to toggle it off or add an exemption.

andyprough
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Joined: 02/12/2015

> Thanks for the tip. Did having the "third-party-request-blocker" turned on stop the app coming up at all, or stop you logging in, or did it only interfere with message delivery? Is the the "third-party-request-blocker" you mention an extension you've installed? It appears to be a built-in part of ABrowser, and I can't figure out how to toggle it off or add an exemption.

Sorry, did not see your reply earlier. Searxes Third Party Request Blocker is an add-on that automatically comes with IceCat. With the extension on, I was able to log in to Wire, but not send or receive a message. With the extension off, I had full functionality. I believe abrowser also has some built-in 3rd-party request blocking functionality, on the Privacy & Security page of preferences.

strypey
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Joined: 05/14/2015

Wire appears to be working again in 32-bit ABrowser. I tested whether it was also to do with the custom fonts issue that was affecting Minds, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

strypey
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Joined: 05/14/2015

Today I tested the Wire web app in ABrowser on 64-bit Trisquel 8. I can login, and messages are working, but as with 32-bit ABrowser, calls are not.

I've also successfully set up the desktop app (Electron, bah) on my 64-bit system, using the AppImage. Will test calls next time I get the chance. If it works, I might add the deb repo so I don't have to muck about with manual updates.

strypey
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Joined: 05/14/2015

Update: I can confirm that voice calls are working with the desktop version of Wire on my 64-bit system.