Ubuntu MATE 16.04 (PowerPC) | Attempts to get SMTube working

[lex_21]

Hello,

I’m running Ubuntu MATE 16.04 on a Mac Mini G4 (1.33 GHz PowerPC G4, 1GB RAM) and I wanted to see if someone can point me in the right direction or let me know if ultimately my attempts will lead me nowhere.

I have attempted to get SMTube working on the PowerPC version of Ubuntu MATE, and at the moment I have only been able to successfully get it working by using the pre-compiled version available in the Ubuntu repositories (version 15.5.10). Unfortunately, this version is several years out of date, and attempting to open any video will result in the “It wasn’t possible to find the URL for this video” error message.

Adding the PPA listed on SMTube’s website makes no difference. When attempting to install SMTube via the terminal, the pre-compiled Ubuntu repository version will install regardless of whether the PPA has been added or not. My guess is that since there are no PowerPC binaries in the PPA, Ubuntu will default to the version available on its own repositories.

I then attempted to compile and install the latest version of SMTube from source by using the 18.1.0 source package on SMTube’s website, and by following the guide located at https://www.howtogeek.com/105413/how-to ... on-ubuntu/. I have no prior experience with compiling, but I was more or less able to follow the instructions laid out in the guide and was ultimately able to compile and install the latest version of SMTube from source onto the Mac Mini. (Note that I had removed the pre-compiled version of SMTube before installing the source version).

Upon launching the source compiled version of SMTube, the application appears to load normally. The window, menu, navigation and address bars all display correctly. However, as soon as the application attempts to load tonvid.com, it immediately crashes. When launching SMTube from the terminal, it displays the following output:

Translations path: "/usr/local/share/smtube/translations"
Sig::load
Sig::load
BrowserWindow::loadConfig
DesktopInfo::isInsideScreen: geometry of screen: x:0 y:0 w:1600 h:900
BrowserWindow::viewToolbar: true
BrowserWindow::viewStatusbar: true
BrowserWindow::loadConfig: cache enabled. Location: "/home/macminig4/.cache//smtube"
Players::load
Players::availablePlayers: 0 : "/usr/bin/gnome-mplayer"
Players::availablePlayers: 2 : "/usr/bin/mplayer"
Players::availablePlayers: 3 : "/usr/bin/vlc"
MyCookieJar::load
MyCookieJar::load: 4 cookies loaded
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

The program crashes immediately after. Interestingly, I noticed that disconnecting the Mac Mini from the internet (removing the ethernet cable) allows the application to remain open without crashing. The application obviously can’t load the webpage, and the menu bar and settings menu all appear to function correctly at this stage. However, as soon as I reconnect the machine to the internet and attempt to load the webpage, the program crashes.

This is as far as I’ve been able to get in my SMTube PowerPC adventures. I understand that the PowerPC architecture is a relic of the past, and support is nearly non-existent in this day and age, but I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to seek the advice of others who are more experienced. Perhaps I did something wrong when compiling, or perhaps my endeavors are pointless. Regardless, any suggestions or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[rvm]

It's strange that it builds fine but then it fails to work.

I've just built a package for PowerPC in this PPA, could you test if it works for you?
https://launchpad.net/~rvm/+archive/ubuntu/testing

[lex_21]

Thanks for the quick reply! I downloaded and installed the DEB you compiled, but unfortunately the same issue happens. The application appears to load normally, but it crashes as soon as it attempts to load the webpage. The loading bar at the bottom of the application window gets to about 75% before it suddenly closes. Launching from terminal results in the same exact output as previously mentioned.

I don't know if this is related, but I remember reading somewhere that the latest versions of Webkit don't seem to play well with PowerPC machines. If SMTube uses Webkit to render webpages, I wonder if that may have something to do with it.

Thanks again.

[rvm]

Yes, it uses webkit.

[lex_21]

I noticed that you compiled SMPlayer for PowerPC along with SMTube in your PPA. Although I was unable to get SMTube working, I can confirm that the latest SMPlayer (18.2.0) works great on the Mac Mini G4. Since SMTube doesn't work, the best way to browse Youtube videos is to load up tonvid.com on a traditional web browser, and then simply copy the link of the video you want to watch and paste it into SMPlayer.

Performance wise, the Mac Mini G4 is a bit disappointing, but that's not suprising cosidering its age. In order to prevent dropped frames on youtube videos, it is necessary to lower the quality to 360p, and then resize the player window to 50%. Other than that, SMPlayer on PowerPC is very stable and I have not have any crashes or glitches with it.

Thanks again for all of your help.