Using Blackboard Collaborate (Elluminate) on Ubuntu

Like it or not (personally I am in the second category) Blackboard Collaborate or Elluminate (as it is still more commonly referred to) is something you have a hard time avoiding if you work in online education.

I discovered that I have audio issues on some Ubuntu Linux machines and found the following to fix the issues.

1) Install alsa-aoss

apt-get install alsa-oss

2) Save the Elluminate Java Webstard (.JNLP) file to a local folder – DO NOT OPEN IN BROWSER
3) Launch Elluminate using this command (in the folder you saved the JNLP)

aoss javaws meeting.jnlp

Thanks go to all people involved in this forum thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1081899

EDIT:

1) This assumes you are already running Sun (Oracle) Java JRE not the default OpenJDK as apparently Blackboard Collaborate does not play nice with the default OpenJDK. I have described the install on 11.10 here.

2) Make sure you have updated the alternatives for javaws (install only sets the java alternatives).

update-alternatives --config javaws

 

 

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Leo Gaggl

ict business owner specialising in mobile learning systems. interests: sustainability, internet of things, ict for development, open innovation, agriculture

This Post Has 17 Comments

  1. Stacy Geraghty February 7, 2012

    I install Java 6 JDK on Ubuntu 11.10 by following the steps on https://www.gaggl.com/2011/10/installing-java6-jdk-on-ubuntu-11-10/

    and then I did the steps written up above. I saved my recording.jnlp file in my downloads folder. I did aoss javaws meeting.jnlp and here is what i get:

    stacy@s762:~$ aoss javaws meeting.jnlp
    stacy@s762:~$
    Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “pixmap”,

    Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “pixmap”,

    Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “pixmap”,

    Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “pixmap”,

    and then a window popped up saying: Unable to launch application. Details:

    CouldNotLoadArgumentException[ Could not load file/URL specified: meeting.jnlp]
    at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Main.java:332)
    at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Main.java:248)
    at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Main.java:110)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
    and in Wrapped Exception:

    java.io.FileNotFoundException: meeting.jnlp (No such file or directory)
    at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
    at java.io.FileInputStream.(FileInputStream.java:120)
    at java.io.FileInputStream.(FileInputStream.java:79)
    at com.sun.javaws.jnl.LaunchDescFactory.buildDescriptor(LaunchDescFactory.java:460)
    at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Main.java:312)
    at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Main.java:248)
    at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Main.java:110)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

    What did I do wrong?

  2. Stacy Geraghty February 7, 2012

    I also tried moving my recording.jnlp file to the .local folder but it didn’t change anything.

  3. leogaggl February 7, 2012

    Not sure where your .local folder resides. I generally just use the users home folder. From the error message it seems it’s unable to load some library.

    My only suggestion is to check if the aoss libraries are included in the Java Classpath ?

  4. Abhi February 15, 2012

    @Stacy: I used to have such problems, which sometimes I resolved by clearing the JNLP javaws cache, irrespective of operating system in use. This problem of yours is not limited to elluminate. You can read more on it here: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6563938

    @leogaggl: Thanks for the info mate, however, even using aoss wrapper didn’t help me. However, changing sampling rate for both microphone and speakers helped a lot. Initially, there were both set to 44KHz, but then after changing them to the lowest setting at 8KHz, my audio was continuous.. These settings can be found inside Elluminate/Collaborate -> Tools -> Preferences -> Audio.
    There you will find both.

    Cheers,
    Abhi.

  5. leogaggl February 15, 2012

    @abhi thanks for the feedback !

  6. James OLS March 7, 2012

    I also found useing the software sound driver rather than hardware will stop the jumping audio.

  7. Mathieu Richaud April 4, 2012

    Greetings from the Central Valley! First of all, thanks for your post. It is very useful. I use Ubuntu 11.10 and when on Elluminate, the slides don’t show. I see the whiteboard, the participants, and I can interact with the moderators but again, no slides transition. Any idea why?

  8. Wilsong August 5, 2012

    Hola Muchas gracias por el post,

    Me funciono en un laptop acer inspire con edubutnu 12.04.
    Thanks, it was great

  9. Olli-Antti Kivilahti November 14, 2012

    Thank you for your solution, audio works well with the wrapper, but it fails to detect my web camera.
    Dropping the sampling rate to 8000 Hz fixed the issue and now I have working audio and recording.
    Thank you Abhi!

  10. Isau Sanchez August 25, 2017

    Thank for the information, well done

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