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How
to upgrade your version of Mozilla
While the default Mozilla is good and comes with very nice
features like tabbed browsing and allows you to use different themes,
an upgrade to the latest Mozilla is even better. This can be upgraded
using your distribution's package manager or you can install it
yourself. If you would like to install this yourself you can get
it here.
The name of this file is: Mozilla-i686-pc-linux-gnu-installer.tar.gz
- keep in mind that is file is for i686 architecture, so it might
not work on an older machine. Check out this
site to learn more about that. If you have a fairly new machine
then it should work fine. Once you download this file and save it
to a directory of your choice, you can follow these steps:
1). - extract the file (right click
and choose extract here)
2). - go into the directory where it
extracted and then click on "tools" and then "open terminal" then
type su and then enter and then your root password.
3). - then type ./mozilla-installer
in the terminal and press enter and the installer should appear
on your screen, just click next for the first few things (license
agreemnet etc.) - I allowed it to install to my /usr/local directory
- * you can also import your settings (incudes bookmarks!) from
your previous version, the original will not be changed, you just
select "copy and convert" when it gives you the chance.
4). - when it says it is finished,
you can create a desktop icon for it (icons for this version are
located in /usr/local/mozilla/icons and the executable file is /usr/local/mozilla
- to create this icon see the section on creating desktop icons.
5). - you are done, you can configure
the extra features you didn't have in the previous version of mozilla
in edit-preferences in the mozilla toolbar - here's how:
To change your icon on your toolbar, you
just right click on the icon and select preferences, then you can
click on the previous mozilla icon and then browse to /usr/local/mozilla/icons
and you can pick whichever of the two you like there (I chose the
larger one)
Then you can change the name of the program to Mozilla 1.? if you
want - that is not necessary, but I did it cause I wanted to remind
myself which one it opened.
After that is done, you need to tell it which one to open, so while
you have that little window open, you need to click on the execute
tab and browse to /usr/local/mozilla/mozilla - that will make sure
that you execute mozilla 1.? instead of your previous version. As
for the panel - mine automatically opens version 1.? after I perform
those steps.
That should work fine.
I have not removed mine, so I am not sure how to do that other than
to do it from the package manager but you would need to be very
careful not to remove dependencies to other programs and to make
sure you remove the right version - I don't think it is worth it
- If for any reason I want to use the old one, it is there and it
doesn't hurt anything to leave it as is.
Mozilla Firebird
If for example you are using an older system, or want an easy way
to install Mozilla and have no use for the extras that come with
it like mail and composer and such, perhaps Mozilla Firebird is
the answer. Firebird is the current installment of what was previously
known as Phoenix. First off go to this
site and download Mozilla Firebird and and save it in your /home/user
directory (it can be moved and or deleted from here later in upcoming
steps). The once it is saved in /home/user you are ready to install
it. The great thing about Firebird is that you only have to extract
it, there is no actual installing done. I do this from the terminal
so here are the following steps (assuming you followed my instructions
to save it to /home/user, if you did not save it here, make the
necessary adjustments to the following commands):
in the terminal:
(This method will not affect your current install of Mozilla, you
can copy your bookmark file from your /home/user/.mozilla directory)
cd /home/user
su
rootpassword
cp Mozillafirebirdfilename.tar.gz /usr/local
cd /usr/local
tar -xvzf Mozillafirebirdfilename.tar.gz
(you will see a bunch of extracting scroll in the terminal and this
creates a directory called Mozilla-Firebird)
(optional, but recommended) rm Mozillafirebirdfilename.tar.gz
(next two steps are optional if you want to erase the orginal saved
Mozilla file you downloaded)
cd /home/user
rm MozillaFirebirdfilename.tar.gz
exit the terminal
There, all done, now you are ready to use Mozilla Firebird! You
can access it by creating a desktop icon or adding an item to your
kde menu and selecting the appropriate target to execute (/usr/local/Mozillafirebird/Mozillafirebird
- might not be exact, but you will find it)
Mozilla-Mplayer Plugin
If you want to be able to watch videos streamed from the
internet in Mozilla, you will need this. I was very excited at getting
this working as it was a long process of trial and error. I was
not able to get it working by simply downloading the mplayer-plugin
either via rpm or source and compiling it and or creating symbolic
links. I ever tried gxine and gstreamer which didn't work for what
I wanted to do (mostly view the movie trailers on apple's site)
and I found it to be hassle to remove gxine and gstreamer until
I started using apt-get and synaptic. See my homepage for more details
on this. Anyway, using either apt-get or synaptic, get the 'mozilla-mplayer"
file. It is what will work for playing media files like .mov and
such on websites. It will install a few dependencies with it including
the w32codecs. If you are using a distro that supports apt-get and
synaptic or something else that is similar, then that is definitely
the way to go!
Gaim
This should be an easy upgrade as long as your package manager supports
it. If you use a repository based distribution like Debian, Arch
or Gentoo, you should be able to upgrade it through there as long
as it is in the repo. NOTE: If you are using Red Hat 9, the see
my Red Hat 9 page link on the first page - two simple rpms and you
are set, otherwise if you like to compile from source, read on.
You should have a copy of "Gaim" installed with your Red Hat if
you did a near or full install. Note - make sure you get the latest
version of Gaim from the website link below since the older version
doesn't support yahoo very well. Gaim seems to be the best multiprotocol
instant messenger around in my opinion. You may find it in your
start menu under "internet" if you are using kde or you can add
it with the menu editor (kde also). All you have to do is click
on it to open it and then make sure you activate the plugins on
the main menu to allow yourself to use whatever clients you like.
Here are the install directions for rpms...
The newer versions of Gaim that have been released
supports file transfer in the aim protocol!
If you decide to get the rpm and
update, it has worked for some people, but you need to get the
dependency file for it first and install it - gtkspell.
I used this
site to search for it. Remember to update an rpm file it is
rpm -Uvh filename.
Ayttm
(Are You Talking to Me) - Universal Messaging Client
This is a multiprotocol messaging client that supports many
different protocols including aim, msn, yahoo, icq and many more.
Not (m)any distros seem to have this available on their repositories
so you will likely have to compile it from source. You can download
it and read all about it on the homepage.
It is definitely worth checking out!
Amsn
for Linux
Amsn looks very much like its win32 counterpart and some
people tend to prefer that familiarity. I will try to be as detailed
as possible on the install process for this. I will give instructions
for red hat 9 and any distro that you may use source files on. First
of all, you need to make sure you upgrade your version of TK for
red hat 9 - get the red hat 9 rpm for TK
here. I got this one: tk-8.3.5-88.i386.rpm. After you download
it, you need to use the upgrade function of rpm, so therefore, you
will need to open your terminal in the directory where you downloaded
the TK file and then get root privileges and then type: rpm -Uvh
tk(tab to autocomplete) This will upgrade your current version of
TK to 8.3.5-88. You need this to run amsn.
Next you can download a source copy of amsn. The source worked fine.
So, I went here
and downloaded the amsn 0.?? source. I saved it and then basically
all you have to do is extract it where you want it. So, I chose
to have it extracted in my /usr/local directory. To be safe, I copied
it there first before extracting it and then I deleted the tar.gz
from /usr/local. Here is what I did:
assuming you saved the tar.gz (source file in /home/user/software)
open the terminal:
su
rootpassword
cd /home/user/software
cp amsn-0.??.tar.gz /usr/local
cd /usr/local
tar -xvzf amsn-0.??.tar.gz
rm amsn-0.??.tar.gz
(say yes to confirm deleting tar.gz file)
now amsn is installed and should be working fine
In order to create a desktop icon or add amsn to your kde menu,
just see the section on the main guide on how to create desktop
shortcuts and or just right click on the kicker and use the menu
editor to add amsn to your kde menu. The key is to use the command
path where you installed amsn. In my case it is /usr/local/msn/amsn.
You can also use the msn icons in the "i" directory in /usr/local/msn
to create a desktop icon or to add the icon to your kde menu.
Yahoo messenger
Always been one of my favorites. If you want to install this separately,
you can do so very easily as long as your distribution is listed
as being supported by yahoo. Just go to Yahoo and download the appropriate
rpm and then install the bin file (./filename) from the directory
that the bin file ends up. Remember, if you are not in that directory,
it will not work when you enter the terminal. Yahoo
Linux Version.
Xmms
A program used for playing music.
Xmms Skins were easy
to install. You just download the ones you want and save them to
your selected folder of your choice. Then you just need to copy
them (might have to be root) to the ".xmms" folder in your home
directory. Note - you will need to select "view" from your top menu
and then "show hidden files" in order to see the ".xmms" folder.
Then you just cut and paste them into the skins folder - easy!
Shoutcast
with Xmms!
This is one of my favorite things to do.
To listen to online radio go to Shoutcast
and select the genre of music you want to listen to. Then you will
see a list of stations from which you can choose. At the left hand
side of the station, you will see an icon that says "tune in". What
will happen when you click this is it will give you the option to
"open" or "save the file to disk". You need to select "open". However,
there is a problem - the file asks you what program to use. Normally
this would not be a problem, you would just pick "Xmms", however;
in this case you need to put in the target. Under advanced, put
in the directory where your Xmms executable file is - in most case
it is /usr/bin/xmms or /usr/bin/.xmms. You can fill in the other
areas (file type etc.) with whatever you like. From then on, when
you click on "tune in , it should start playing! This was a great
find for me since I am such a big music fan. Some of the stations
I liked are ChronixAggression and Radiostorm in the metal/alternative
section. I like some of the comedy stuff too. Hopefully you enjoy
this as much as I do. Another thing you can do is to add streaming
support for Shoutcast in Xmms. Open Xmms and look under preferences
and then your plugins - find the mp3 plugin and click on 'configure'
and then the 'streaming' tab. Look at the bottom and check off enable
streaming for Shoutcast. Have fun!
Java!
Most distributions do not come with Java installed. Java is needed
to run a variety of internet related programs such as chat for yahoo
and any other clients that use Java. This is kind of a pain to install
for a new user - at least I thought so. What you need to do is go
to the java
website
If you want the SDK version of Java click here.
Step 1: Decide which version
of java you want. There are three versions - standard, enterprise
and micro. I would recommend standard but that will be up to you
to read the documentation on the website to see what suits your
needs. You can find a direct link to the Standard version here-
I got the linux self extracting file JRE. The file type I got
was a .bin so you just need to browse to where you installed it
and then open the terminal there (in konqueror, click on tools,
then open terminal). Then you install it - you may need to be
root (type in su in the terminal and then press enter then enter
your root password.) Then you just type ./java(press tab to complete),
then press enter. Once it installs, then you can go to the next
step. If you decided to go with the rpm.bin, then look here.
*I am using 1.4.1 as an example, but if you
want the java plugin to work with Mozilla 1.4 or newer, you will
need java 1.4.2 or newer.
Step 2: Once you've decided, download the version you want,
as always, saving it in one of your directories - most likely
/home/yourusername/. You can then install the file. Remember from
the command section you need to use ./filename to install
a BIN file. If you get "permission denied" that means the file
downloaded with root permissions, so you need to change it by
entering this command: chmod a+x filename. That should do it.
With another one I used, I just right clicked and extracted it
into a regular rpm and it ran fine that way. (was originally rpm.bin).
Next - The really important part is to create a "symbolic link"
(command is "ln -s" [the "l" is an L, not an i]) to your browser
plugin folder from Java. If you using apt-get, you can get the
plugin from there instead and it might be easier. The command
to get that plugin in apt is: apt-get install mozilla-j2re. If
you are not using apt-get get (more info on the atrpms page linked
from the homepage), then read on.
Likely you will need to create the symbolic
link FROM /usr/java/j2re1.4.1_01/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so
My browser is Mozilla so the directory I need to create a symbolic
link TO is /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins.
You have to make sure you get the filenames and directories correct
or it won't work. You need to log in as root to do this. Open
the terminal and then enter the directory for java - where it
is installed. The easiest way to do this is to find it and then
copy and paste from the address bar into the terminal. So, to
create the symbolic link, you need to enter the FROM and TO directories
mentioned earlier and make sure you put the command in front of
it to create the symbolic link - ln - s
So here is our command (your directories may differ)
"ln -s /usr/java/j2re1.4.1_01/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins" then press enter.
You should see an icon in your /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins directory
that represents your libjavaplugin_oji.so file if it was done
correctly.
Make sure your directories are exact! They may not be the same
as mine, so like I said earlier, the easiest way to do it is to
copy and paste the directory from your address bar.
Step 3: To check to see if Java installed properly you're
supposed to be able to type "java -version" into the terminal
and it will tell you the version. This did not work for me, but
I can still get into chat rooms and when I open my mozilla, and
then click "about" from the top menu and then plugins, all my
java info is there. Go figure! Anyway, it works.
Still having problems? - check out this
site again.
Flash 6
If you want Flash 6 which is use to play intros to websites and
other things on the net, then go here
Note - the above Flash 6 is not officially supported
by I installed it and it works like a charm! The easiest way to
get it working was to download the tar.gz file and then right click
it (or use the terminal if you prefer) and then select 'extract
here', then enter the directory it creates and then (in kde) click
on tools-open terminal and then type "./flash-installer" and then
press enter, it should install fine from there (if that doesn't
work, then try getting root privs first - su, then rootpassword,
then type "./flash-installer" and press enter.) Note - do not use
the quotes in the terminal, they just signify what is to be typed
in these instructions.
Wine
*Note - I don't use Wine at all anymore,
but I am leaving this info on this page for anyone who migtht find
it useful... Wine stands for Wine is not (an) Emulator. Although
this may be technically true, it does work like one. This is still
in the development stage so if something doesn't work, then don't
be surprised. You can check the effectiveness on specific windows
apps thru Wine on Linux here.
Basically it allows you to run various Windows Programs within Linux.
You can get Wine here.
The first thing I did was uninstall the version of Wine that was
included with my distro. You can do this by using rpm -e wine or
by using your package manager - I removed both Wine and Wine-devel.
I then got Wine version 20030318 - I don't know how well other versions
will work since I have not tried them. If Wine didn't come with
your distro, then you can obviously skip the uninstall process.
You can check to see if it was previously installed by opening a
terminal and typing: wine -v or whereis wine or locate
wine. If nothing shows up, then it isn't installed.
When you get Wine, always view the README file. I installed Wine
by using the ./tools/wineinstall command and then taking
the prompts from there. I made sure to allow Wine to create its
own fake windows directory. I let Wine put it in my /home directory
like this: /home/user/C. After the install is complete, you can
see if Wine is installed properly by opening your run command (ALT-F2)
and then type: wine notepad.exe you will need to wait for
a bit and if you see notepad open on your screen, then you can move
on, if not, then go back over the previous instructions.
LimeWire
Limewire has come a long way. It offers
very fast downloads and is easy to install if you are using the
latest version. You can download Limewire here.
Just follow the instructions on the website. Basically as user you
just need to change to the directory where you saved the file and
type: "sh LimewireLinux.bin" and it will start the installer. Two
steps you may need to take: 1 - change the condition on the downloaded
LimeWire file so that it is executable by typing: chmod a+x LimewireLinux.bin.
Also the second thing is that it may error during the install because
it can't find your Java.The easiest way to solve this in my opinion
is to create a symbolic link from java to /usr/bin/. My example
is:
ln -sf /opt/j2re/bin/java /usr/bin After that is done, it should
be able to find java and run the installer. Keep in mind that you
can download Limewire themes from their site or you can get them
from this site's download section and there are instructions there
on how to install them. To run Limewire, just go into the directory
where it installed (typicall somewhere in /home/username/) and type
./LimeWire in the terminal as user. You can setup a menu item or
desktop icon for this as well if you like.
Direct Connect for linux!
Here's how to set it up - go to the direct
connect website for linux. You then just click on the link at
the side menu for download. It will show you a list of the files
that have already been prepared for certain distros. What do ya
know - there are rpms there for rpm based distributions. So you
just need to click on your distro name (the source files are below
on the same page if you scroll down). Then you will be at a page
where you click on the DCGUI-QT at the side then you just need to
follow the instructions on the right hand side of the page. I downloaded
the top three files under "Stable" dcgui-qt, dclib and dclib-devel
(the devel was not necessary but I got it anyway). Then you just
need to save those files to your directory of choosing and then
rpm them from there - make sure you do the dclib file first because
dcgui requires it as a dependency. After you are done installing
those files, you can run dcgui by pressing ALT-F2 and then typing
"dcgui" or typing the same into a terminal.. Note - you need
to look under file-options to configure a few things before you
start it. You need to pick what files you are going to share (the
more the better - it will get you into a better hub as in DC for
windows). Also, if you have a router, you need to pick passive mode
usually, but if not you can use active mode which is much better.
Also, I had to change ppp0 to eth0 under file-options-connections.
You can click on "test" to see if ppp0 works for you, if not try
eth0 and then click test. That's it!
Have fun!
Overnet (formerly Edonkey)
Here are the instructions on how to install it in linux. Make sure
you read the readme file to see how to use the commands. I use this
in the terminal and didn't bother with the GUI. Here they are:
Tips: look at the read me file, start it
in the term by typing "./overnet..." (... means use tab completion
since different versions are different numbers), Go to this site:
http://ed2k.2x4u.de/index.html
and download the server.met file and replace it with the one in
your overnet directory (it will include all the servers),
once you have it open use the "auto (+)" command in the term to
autoconnect when you start overnet
you can download it from here: (scroll down for Overnet basic and
get the linux version and the core controller C)
Overnet
Website
I have made a text file with all the commands in it which you can
read or print out if you like, get it here
if you want the gui, you can get it from here.
It should be an rpm file that you can easily install. Once installed,
the easiest way to access it, is to create a desktop icon (in kde)
by right clicking on the desktop and selecting "create new" and
then "link to application". If you have any cool icon themes installed,
you might have the Overnet desktop icon to choose from. The you
need to enter the path where it executes from, mine was /usr/bin/ed2k_gui.
Then click ok and you should have a desktop icon. You then click
on it and the Overnet gui should open. On the screen you need to
enter the path to your core file. Mine was /home/user/overnet/overnet0.50.1
Once that is done, you can enter a dummy user name and password,
then click on "Spawn Core" and then "Go" and you should be operational.
any questions, let me know or visit the overnet
forum:
http://forums.edonkey2000.com/phpBB/index.php
*Something else you can check out is Xmule or Lmule. A lot of distributions
will run it very well and with more ease than overnet/edonkey. See
if it is available!
Cd Writing
CLI burning -
before I start here on K3B, I want to talk about burning from the
command line. Burning in the terminal seems to produce better results
and also does not require any dependencies like K3B might so that
is why it is simpler. You will need 'cdrecord' which should be included
in any Red Hat or any other distros install. I am going to provide
a link at the end of this explanation and example, but here is the
basic idea:
First check to see that your burner is recognized and which scsi
bus it is on. You can do this by opening your terminal and typing
"cdrecord -scanbus" this should show you something like this (my
example):
cdrecord -scanbus
Cdrecord 2.0 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jrg Schilling
Linux sg driver version: 3.1.24
Using libscg version 'schily-0.7'
cdrecord: Warning: using inofficial libscg transport code version
(schily - Red Hat-scsi-linux-sg.c-1.75-RH \@(#)scsi-linux-sg.c 1.75
02/10/21 Copyright 1997 J. Schilling').
scsibus0:
0,0,0 0) 'LITE-ON ' 'LTR-52246S ' '6S0D' Removable CD-ROM
0,1,0 1) *
0,2,0 2) *
0,3,0 3) *
0,4,0 4) *
0,5,0 5) *
0,6,0 6) *
0,7,0 7) *
This will be useful
later when entering the command to burn. Now, in order to burn,
you need to enter this command: "cdrecord -v speed= 52
dev=0, 0,0 filename.extension"
I have bolded the characters that will change depending on your
hardware and what file you want to burn. For example let's say
you want to burn a Red Hat 9 ISO called "shrike-disc1.iso" that
you saved in your /home/user/redhatiso directory. While in the
terminal, you can do this a few different ways. Mainly I would
recommend changing your directory in the terminal as opposed
to targeting the file from the directory you are in. To be more
clear, here are the two examples:
cdrecord -v speed=52 dev=0,0,0 /home/user/redhatiso/shrike-disc1.iso
OR
you can change directories first (recommended)
cd /home/user/redhatiso
then you should be in that directory and then you can make sure
cdrecord sees the file properly by using the TAB key to complete
the filename (we do remember this from the commands page right?)
cdrecord -v speed=52 dev=0,0,0 shrike(TAB)
when you press the TAB key where I show it in the brackets above,
it should complete the filename for you, if it doesn't then
you are in the wrong directory or you have entered a wrong character
to start the filename) If done correctly, it should produce
this:
cdrecord -v speed=52 dev=0,0,0 shrike-disc1.iso
when it is entered correctly, you can press the enter key and
it should show you some information in the terminal as it prepares
to burn. In my experience, using cdrecord burns way faster than
any burning software. I had never seen my burner hold such a
high speed before. It worked great. Needless to say, you aren't
going to always burn iso files, so please see this
link for more information.
To blank a cd-rw you can use
the command:
cdrecord -v speed=10 dev=0,0,0 blank=fast -eject
(you change your device number and speed if necessary)
To erase multiple cd-rw discs, leave your terminal window open
and when the first one ejects, put in the second one, wait for
the light on the
drive to stop flashing and then press the up arrow key and it
will repeat the previous terminal command to erase a disc and
then press enter.
repeat this for multiple cd's.
To burn a data cd:
also if you are burning data such as mp3's then you can enter
the directory where you want to access the files and just type
them in (use tab to autocomplete) or perhaps an easier way if
you have several files in different directories is to temporarily
copy them to a created a directory you could use for burning,
such as /home/user/burnfiles and then just use the "*" (w/o
quotes of course and it will burn everything in that directory)
for example:
[user@localhost burnfiles]$ cdrecord -v speed=52 dev=0,0,0 -eject
*
the above line will burn everything in the "burnfiles" directory
In my opinion, the best burning software for linux in graphical
mode is k3b. You can get his by using apt-get or you can get
the source or rpm files on the k3b
website.
NOTE: If you have the newer k3b version 0.90 pre release or
newer, see these steps to make sure everything is working fine,
if you are missing options in your k3b setup then that means
you need more files. Red Hat users see my Red
Hat 9 page for specifics on that, otherwise, here are the
steps to make sure all is well:
1 - install the new version via source, apt-get, rpm (or what
ever package manager you use)
2 - run k3b
and see if there are any error messages
3 - if you are using a bootloader, add a line enabling scsi
emulation for your reader also if you have two drives like me
(or more):
Code:
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-18.9 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi
note
- I omitted the other lines of /etc/grub/grub.conf to showcase
where to add the scsi emulation - make sure you add it to
all kernel lines if you have more than one, also this example
is where your cd rom devices are located at /dev/hdc and
/dev/hdd
4 - run the k3bsetup program while logged in as user (it
will ask for root priveleges)
5 - make sure you do NOT allow it to create its own fstab
entries (I never do anyway, my drives are mounted at /mnt/cdrom
and /mnt/cdrom1)
6 - make sure pick the the right cdrdao driver for each
of your roms.
7 - verify that your username is on the list of users available
to use the software.
8 - repeat the steps 4-7 logged in as root just to cover
your bases
More
details on configuring the setup
You will need to run this as root for the first time and add
a user so you can use it at times other than when you are in
root. The easiest way to do this is to press ALT-F2 and then
type k3b. You can also access the setup by going in to your
kde menu and selecting "Applications and then K3b setup. Either
way, it will give you a message that you should configure your
setup first and this must be done as root. So you say OK and
enter your root password. You then need to configure a few things.
For my burner, I had to adjust my read and write speeds and
I selected "generic mmc" instead of "auto" for my burner also.
After that you just need to add a user and then you are pretty
much done. After this, you should be able to run it as a user
and should have no problems. By the way, K3b also will burn
ISO's and check md5sums!
*If after installing that version of K3B, if it doesn't recognize
your burner or for what ever reason it is not working, then
log in as root and run it. If it works as root, then it should
run as user afterwards.
Openoffice.org
This is such a great program to have.
Some distributions come with Openoffice.org installed as long
as you selected it in your install list. If you don't have this
program, it is very easy to get. First go to the website and
get openoffice.org
Then make sure you follow the installation
instructions exactly. If you do this,
you can't really go wrong. It was one of the smoothest installs
of any software I have tried so far. Once installed, you should
see this program in your start menu. This is a great program
to have.
Mplayer
- the best video player for linux (in my opinion)
A
lot of distributions use a package manager that can get mplayer
quite easily (Gentoo, Debian, Arch, Jamd, etc.) For Red Hat
is it different unless you have integrated apt-get. Nonetheless
even without apt-get, for Red Hat users it is pretty easy to
install. You will need to follow the exact instructions for
it to work. I will give instructions for both Red Hat 8.0 and
Red Hat 7.3 here. Basically you need to download the appropriate
RPM's for whichever distro you have. The way I figured it out
was by trying to install the mplayer file and then looking at
the dependencies it requires after trying to execute the rpm.
It won't install mplayer without these certain files. If
you followed my installation instructions on page 1 then this
should work, if you installed differently, then you may have
other issues that will cause mplayer not work. It works great
for me!
Here we go - I could list all the dependencies I had to get
but yours might be different, so I will do things this way...
First create a directory in your /home somewhere (I called mine
Mplayer) and then you can download all of your Mplayer files
to that directory - there likely will be lots of them! Anyway,
the first thing to do is to download the mplayer rpm for your
distro. If you have Red Hat 8 - go
here If you have Red Hat 7.3 - go
here.
If you have Red Hat 9 - go
here. Then you can download the Mplayer rpm (not the source)
and then save it to your chosen directory. Once saved, you can
browse into that directory and then select "tools' and then
"open terminal" from the top menu (if you are using KDE). The
type "su" and then enter, then type in your root password. Then
you type in rpm -ivh mplayer(press tab key and it will complete
the rest). Then it will try to install but it likely won't be
able to because it needs a bunch of dependencies. WRITE THESE
DOWN! You can also get the codec files listed below on the links
as well and put them into the same directory where you save
your mplayer related rpms. You can keep the terminal open where
it is and then go back to the site where you downloaded Mplayer
from and get the rest of those dependencies if you want to see
which ones to get.
A really easy way to install all of them - there were 14 files
in total for me is to go to the directory where you saved them
all. Then click on Tools-Open Terminal and then type su
and then your root password, and then you get to see something
really cool - type this: rpm
-ivh * - that will install all of the files in that directory.
Compare that to windows! It took me about a minute and a half
to install 14 files - absolutely awesome. Then I was all done!
(you could also use rpm -ivh
filename if you wanted to do them individually). If you
can't find all the dependencies listed that you require then
just get as many as you can and it may still work. If it doesn't
say to get the xvidcore file, then I would get it anyway as
it allows you to play xvid files. Remember to get the rpm install
(binary) files and not the source files (if it is a source file
it will have ".src" somewhere in the name - you don't want those
ones, you just want the regular rpm files. If these steps don't
work for you then you likely made a small error somewhere and
you should repeat all these steps again or maybe you have a
bad Red Hat install.
For a bonus, there are codecs that you can get also. These will
help to play .wmv, .rm. .mov and other files. You can get them
from this
site - just scroll down to where it
says "Win32 and Linux Codecs packs" - there are 7 different
files listed there (the top one is for realplayer) Install them
the same way you installed the Mplayer files. If the previous
link doesn't work for you then go the Mplayer
download page and then click on the
poland http url for red hat rpm packages listed - it says it's
for red hat 7.2 and 7.3, but they worked for 8.0 also. If you
have any questions or problems with these steps, please let
me know in my guest book and leave your email address and I
will answer when I check it.
To run Mplayer (since your system might have another media player
set up as default) ... just right click on the video file you
want to play and then select Mplayer to open it.
Enjoy - once you have this installed and working, you will see
how it is the best - well, hopefully anyway! For info on DVD
PLAYBACK - see the Helpful Tips page!
I also installed Mplayer for Mandrake 9 using the source
files and it worked great!
Rarsoft for linux - this was a great discovery. If you have
ever downloaded a .rar file and wondered how you were going
to open it in linux, there is an answer. It seems that Ark does
not work, but Rar for Linux does. The catch is that you need
to use it in the command mode (text) but it isn't very hard.
The first thing you do is go to this
rarsoft download page and get the rar file for whichever
linux you use. I just got the generic rar.3.20 for linux. It
comes as a source file (tar.gz) so you can download and save
it to a directory. I saved mine in a /home directory at first.
Since I decided that this would be an application that I wanted
as a permanent part of my system, I decided to move it to my
/usr/local directory. When you extract it, it creates its own
directory so as long as you specify to extract it to /usr/local
as I did as root (to get write access to your /usr/local directory
you need to be root, it should decompress into a folder there.
If you choose to leave it in your /home directory that is fine
also. Anyway, you can run it by typing (directory where you
saved it)rar into the terminal - like this: /usr/local/rar/rar
and it should show you a bunch of options for the commands you
can use. I'll give an example here. Let's say I downloaded an
entire cd in rar form. I'll call it Spineshank just for the
example - so it's full filename is Spineshank.rar. The process
to extract it is done in three steps all written in one line
in the terminal.
Step 1: specify the rar tool you will use and where it is located
(in this case since we are decompressing, we use unrar) so if
you have your Rarsoft in your /usr/local like me, you would
enter this: /usr/local/rar/unrar e.
Step 2: you have to specify the location and name of the file
you want to unrar. So, let's say I saved my Spineshank.rar in
my /home/user/music directory. The line would become /usr/local/rar/unrar
e /home/user/music/Spineshank.rar. (rememeber linux is case
sensitive so you must capitalize the "S" in Spineshank).
Step 3: you have to specificy where you want it to unrar. I'm
going to add a complication here just for fun. I'll create a
directory called "Spineshank" so I can keep everything well
organized. If you want to just unrar it to your /home/user/music
directory that is fine too, but I added the Spineshank directory
to be more organized. So your magic line then becomes /usr/local/rar/unrar
e /home/user/music/Spineshank.rar /home/user/music/Spineshank.
That should do it - you should see all the contents of the Spineshank.rar
decompressing in text mode in the terminal and the files should
be extracted into that directory you specified.
NEW! There is now a rpm file for this for red hat 9 - get it
here!
Unace for Linux - This
is very easy to do. The first thing to do is go here
and download the unace tgz file and save it to a directory of
your choice. Then you need to exract it. The only file to even
consider is a unace executable file that is produced. I would
suggest putting this in your path. To do this, you can open
a terminal and get root priveleges (su) and then just copy it
to your /usr/bin/ directory. For example, if the extracted file
is in /home/user, simply issue the command: cp /home/user/unrar
/usr/bin/ and you are done. Next you can run unace in your terminal
and view the commands you can use, it is pretty much exactly
the same as unrar, so to extract an ace file, it is just unace
e.
LinNeighborhood - If
you have your computers networked and want to access your shares
easily in gui mode, check out LinNeighborhood.
I discovered it when I installed College Linux and thought it
was great so I installed it on pretty much any distro that I
had that would take it.
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