I just tried the flatpak.? I am using Linux Mint Cinammon 21.3.? The URL did not start any flatpak installer, it just downloaded the file.?
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After downloading the flatpak to my download folder, I tried to right click it to install it.? There was no program associated with it to install it, even though I have flatpaks installed on my system.?? I asked chatGPT how to install it, and got some directions on how to open a terminal window, navigate to where the download file was, and then install it.? After some fussing, I was able to do that.? I didn't get any indication that it worked, but doing 'flatpak list', I was able to see it was installed.
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There was nothing in the Start menu that would let me run it.? I didn't know where it would be on my system, since I am not used to manually dealing with flatpaks.? Using 'which JMRI', or any other name I could think of, did not show anything like that installed.?? ChatGPT told me that if I ran 'flatpak run org.jmri.JMRI' in a terminal window, then it would run.? When I did that, DecoderPro opened up.?? I never use DecoderPro, always use PanelPro.? I didn't see any way to make it open to that.
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I finally found where on my system it was installed.?? It was in my home directory at ~/.local/share/flatpak/app/org.jmri.JMRI/current/active/files/share/JMRI.? By navigating there with the Nemo file manager, I found PanelPro and DecoderPro, and could start them.
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That is my experience, it was a bit painful.? Much easier to just install the java that you want, and also JMRI.?? Assuming the flatpak can be made to 'just work' for the install, I would think for the new user, it will fail to connect to an external DCC system, such as the NCE PowerCab I have here at the laptop, because JMRI isn't a member of the dialout group.
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Dave Morgan
Sandpiper