How to Install BigBlueButton on Linux Mint

BigBlueButton is a web conferencing software application that allows real-time collaboration between multiple users through audio, video, and screen sharing. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to install BigBlueButton on your Linux Mint computer.

Prerequisites

Before we start with the installation process, here are some prerequisites that you need to have on your Linux Mint machine:

  • A server with at least 4GB memory
  • Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04 OS (Linux Mint latest is based on Ubuntu 20.04)
  • A non-root user account with sudo privileges
  • SSH client like PuTTY for remote access

Install BigBlueButton

The installation process consists of several steps which include adding the BigBlueButton repository to your machine, installing the necessary packages, and configuring your system.

Step 1. Add the BigBlueButton Repository

Add the BigBlueButton repository to your sources list by running the following command:

echo "deb https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/ bionic-230/ #Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bigbluebutton.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys BCA109B9A6D4786D

Make sure to replace "Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit" with "Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 64bit" if you are using Linux Mint latest version.

Update the repositories by running:

sudo apt-get update

Step 2. Install BigBlueButton Packages

Now, it is time to install BigBlueButton by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install bigbluebutton

The installation process may take a few minutes, depending on your internet speed.

Step 3. Configure BigBlueButton

After installation, you need to configure BigBlueButton by running the following command:

sudo bbb-conf --setup-all

The command will take care of configuring the server, hostname, reverse proxy, and HTTPS.

Step 4. Verify Installation

Once the installation and configuration are complete, you can verify if BigBlueButton is running by accessing the web interface at:

https://<your-server>/bigbluebutton/

If you see the login screen, which means that BigBlueButton is running successfully.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install BigBlueButton on Linux Mint by adding the BigBlueButton repository, installing the necessary packages, and configuring your system. You can use BigBlueButton for online education, webinars, virtual offices, and much more.