Re: missing packages..
On Thu, Jan 26, 2006 at 07:28:21PM +0000, Digby Tarvin wrote:
> Still finishing off my first Debian install, and am puzzling
> over the apparent absence of some very basic programs which
> I thought were pretty much universally available on *nix
> systems...
>
> Can anyone tell me why 'apt-cache search' doesn't find the
> likes of the following:
>
> 1. xv - John Bradley's X image viewer/manipulator..
Non-free shareware. I've actually emailed John and received
clarification on current xv status: I'm not sure that it is
actively developed any longer. Commercial licenses mean that
it is still valid for some users :) I replaced it by zgv as
a quick viewer on my system but also have ImageMagick [??spelling??]
available.
> 2. xlock - I don't use it for locking the screen, but it is
> a good for benchmarking x-servers because most systems have it...
Superseded by xscreensaver / xlockmore ?
> 3. mplayer - most players work ok with mpeg etc, but this is the
> one with which I have had the most success with troublesome
> formats like wmv.
>
See long flamewars at various times and places as to why mplayer is
not currently in Debian and why various codecs can't be packaged :(
There is an (unofficial, non-Debian) repository of packages: Googling
for marillat and mplayer will find it. Totem / xine do well for me
here: both are free and GPL. Non-free codecs from <forgotten his first
name> Marillat may help you play wmv and other foreign formats with both
of the above and also with mplayer: the codec licensing status may be
dubious: use/install them at your own risk :)
> Am I just searching in the wrong place, or does the Debian package
> selection really lack some very fundamental utilities, does anyone
> know of the explanation?
>
> Perhaps there are newer alternatives that are considered better,
> but I would rather use the same programs on the various computers
> that I need to use, and to date these have always been the common
> denominators...
>
Dependent on your local sysadmin :)
> I assume there won't be any problem installing a tarball in the
> traditional way, but I want to make sure that not duplicating
> effort if a debian package exists somewhere I havn't looked...
>
> Regards,
> DigbyT
> --
> Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com
> http://www.digbyt.com
>
>
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