Gather Linux

An unofficial, optimized Gather Town client for Linux.

This project wraps the Gather web client in Electron with specific tweaks to fix common Linux issues like screen sharing on Wayland, global hotkeys, and auto-away functionality.

✨ Features

• Gather 2.0 & Classic: Support for both the new Beta (default) and Classic versions.
• Wayland Screen Sharing: Native support for PipeWire to fix the infamous "black screen" issue on modern Linux (GNOME/KDE/Hyprland).
• Smart Auto-Away:
  • Detects system sleep/suspend and sets "Away" immediately.
• Hotkeys Fixed: Prevents Electron from swallowing critical game keys like WASD or Ctrl+Shift+A.

📥 Installation

1. Standard (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, etc.)

Download the latest AppImage, .deb, or .rpm from the Releases Page.

• AppImage: Just download, make executable (chmod +x), and run.
• Deb/RPM: Install via your package manager (sudo apt install ./gather...deb).

2. Nix (CLI)

Run instantly without installing:

nix run github:simonkoeck/gather-linux

Or install permanently to your user profile:

nix profile install github:simonkoeck/gather-linux

3. NixOS (System Configuration)

To install it declaratively on NixOS, add the repo to your flake.nix inputs:

In flake.nix:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    # Add Gather Linux
    gather-linux.url = "github:simonkoeck/gather-linux";
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, gather-linux, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.my-machine = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      specialArgs = { inherit gather-linux; }; # Pass input to modules
      modules = [ ./configuration.nix ];
    };
  };
}

In configuration.nix:

{ config, pkgs, gather-linux, ... }:

{
  environment.systemPackages = [
    gather-linux.packages.${pkgs.system}.default
  ];

  # Required for Screen Sharing on Wayland
  xdg.portal = {
    enable = true;
    xdgOpenUsePortal = true;
    config = {
      common.default = ["gtk"];
      hyprland.default = ["hyprland" "gtk"];
    };
    extraPortals = with pkgs; [
      xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
      xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
      xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland
    ];
  };
}

🚀 Usage

GUI

Launch Gather Linux from your application menu.

CLI

You can control the running instance from the terminal.

gather-linux
# or launch the classic (v1) version
gather-linux --classic

🛠 Troubleshooting

Screen sharing is black or invisible?

This usually means the app isn't talking to the Wayland Portal.

1. NixOS: Ensure xdg.portal.enable = true is in your config (see above).

2. Other Distros: Try launching with these flags to force Wayland mode:

   gather-linux --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform,WebRTCPipeWireCapturer --ozone-platform=wayland

🏗 Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run locally (with Wayland flags)
npm start

# Build for release (AppImage/Deb/RPM)
npm run dist

📝 License

MIT