I bought several keys for Exagear a couple years ago and got Dropbox running on my Pi 3's. I just now got an Rpi 400 and I've tried to get Dropbox running on it but no dice. Exagear installs and runs fine, but the Dropbox install craps out and just goes away. Before I waste a week trying to debug, I thought I'd ask if anyone has run into this and if it is an issue with running on the newer Pi 4 or if I should run an older version of Raspbian?
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Why not try compiling the linux version from source? dropbox.com/en_GB/install-linux– CoderMikeCommented Dec 10, 2020 at 11:05
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Ok, I will give it a try.. is it as easy as it looks? Have you done it on rpi with gcc?– relayman357Commented Dec 10, 2020 at 11:14
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No, i haven't tried it.– CoderMikeCommented Dec 10, 2020 at 12:08
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1 Answer
Ok, I was not able to get Dropbox running an the RPi400 with Raspbian OS. I ended up changing my OS to Ubuntu MATE but had the same initial problem - the Dropbox Linux client packages are only available for Intel (i386) or AMD processors. No install packages for ARM based systems. The source code is written specifically for i386 and/or AMD so you can't build from source for an ARM machine like the Raspberry Pi 400.
So, I once again tried the Exagear method (x86 emulator) because I happened to have gotten a license key before they went out of business. I followed the Exagear approach except I used package dropbox_2020.03.04_i386.deb and was able to install it under an Exagear x86 shell. I also had to set the locale with sudo locale-gen "en_US.UTF-8" and then start the service with dropbox start This time it worked (not sure if because on Ubuntu MATE or I just goofed up earlier), but, Dropbox works fine (syncing) except that the panel icon doesn't work - which is a major bummer because that is where you can specify selective sync, turn synching on/off etc.
Now, I have a better solution I think. I have a Synology NAS so I installed their "Cloud Sync" package and it synchronizes my Dropbox folders to a local shared folder on the NAS. I then installed the Synology Drive Server package which allows client computers (e.g. Linux, Windows, Mac etc.) to sync (using the Synology Drive Client) to a shared folder on the NAS. I just selected the same shared folder for both Cloud Sync and Drive Server - this was the key.
The Drive Client on my linux box is now synced to the shared folder on my NAS via Drive Server. This, in turn, is synced between my NAS and my Dropbox account by Cloud Sync.
I like this later approach because the Drive Client icon is fully functional.
One catch - I had to install the Drive Client package (synology-drive-client-11078.i686.deb) under an x86 shell provided by Exagear. I could not find a Synology package that would install on an ARM processor machine. I have asked Synology support for help as I'd much rather have a native client than one running through Exagear (who knows when their license servers will go away since they are out of business).
If Synology comes up with a native ARM Drive Client package this will be a sweet solution (assuming you own a Synology box).
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1Exagear also supports
gcc, so you could try to build Dropbox from sources inside your x86 image. PS. I only wish Eltechs would eventually open-source their emulator if they are unable to find a viable business model for it as closed-source. Commented Dec 14, 2020 at 7:44 -
1Thanks @DmitryGrigoryev, that was a good tip. I just did the compile from source approach as described here. Instead of the
nautilus-dropbox-1.6.1.tar.bz2I used the later 'nautilus-dropbox-2020.03.04.tar.bz2'. One big key to getting this to work was to do item 3 (see above link) one piece at a time. I ran the./configure;half a dozen times to find dependencies I needed to install (like Nautilus, etc. etc.). It is working fine - except icon had red X and was unusable. Commented Dec 15, 2020 at 19:18 -
BUT, this post had an answer that helped me getting the icon working! The answer by Juan saying to use
dropbox stop && dbus-launch dropbox startgot the icon working. Commented Dec 15, 2020 at 19:20