Re: MPEG doesn't work from any gr browser; Netscape probs.
Alan Eugene Davis wrote:
>
> I have installed both the ucbmpeg player and mtv player, and set up
> netscape for each. I have consistently not been able to view mpegs.
> Each time an mpeg file comes over the line, this message is displayed
> in a dialog box, from Netscape as well as from Mosaic:
>
> Using private color-map
> Bad MPEG? Giving up.
> Try mpeg_stat -verify to see if the stream is valid.
>
> I cannot find a command "mpeg_stat".
>
> I was able to run "mpeg_play" from an xterm on an FTPed test mpeg.
Is your bash version 2.0? If so then this might be your problem. bash
2.0 has a parser error which incorrectly interprets subshell
expressions like the ones netscape uses to start plug-in applications
like mpeg-play. So far the package mainainer has not stepped forward
to release 2.01 for debian version 1.3.1. I have compiled a binary
which can be got from http://gatekeeper.bdsinc.com/~jjorgens but it
depends on the termcap-compat package (ie. don't replace your existing
shell without having this package).
On the other hand, this may not be your problem, in which case I can't
imagine what's going on. The errors you report are pretty weird.
>
> What is a "private color-map"?
It's an X thang. Some display adapters can display a rainbow of colors,
but only 256 different colors at a time. Basically a color map is the
X representation of this "palette". You can see the effects when you
use a private color map when running X in 256 color mode and then
display something with a lot of color (like a jpeg). When you switch
focus in and out of the jpeg-displaying window, the colors on the screen
will switch back and forth. That is, only the window with focus will
have "normal" color while everything else has seemingly random color.
You have to try it to really see what I mean.
> I have had other netscape proglems, such as the intermittent death by
> "bus error" and a creeping and increasing slowness over hours of time,
> in the responsiveness of only the netscape window to mouseclicks.
I've had bus errors and they were due to the gnumalloc problem. Did you
use the debian installer .deb to set up netscape, or did you just get
the tar.gz from netscape and install that?
> A problem I had earlier has persisted, but is only an irritation:
> often netscape won't boot up. If I try again to start it from an
> xterm, it might or might not boot on a second try. In this case, a
> message is recieved about a lock file, but that while netscape might
> run, cache will not be able to be used, etc. if the lock file isn't
> removed. Then if I just say, ok, netscape, once again, might not, or
> might start.
>
> I tried 24bpp, 32bpp, 16bpp, with no difference. (Did not affect the
> mpeg player either).
I also saw this behavior when the "fixes" for the gnumalloc problem
had not been applied. Netscape would hang forever, *never* coming up.
> Sometimes I can get netscape to start with the -iconic switch. It's
> more or less random, as far as I can tell. Sometimes it will start on
> the third try.
>
> Once, amazingly, a netscape process was running, but wasn't showing
> up, when I quit X. For a split second the outline of the netscape
> window appeared!
This was just because it was hung before it never got to "visualize"
the window.
> Another thing: when I try to access a site with a live midi
> background feed, netscape dies with the mysterious "bus error".
> I haven't been able to get my Yamaha Asound (OPL3-2A) sound card
> configured yet for midi, but this happened before I installed a sound
> card at all.
>
> Sorry to ramble on so long. I think these problems are related? I
> would appreciate any advice. And I do appreciate the excellent advice
> I have received many times over this mailing list.
Again, if you didn't install netscape with the netscape debian package
this is most likely your problem. Note that even with the debian package
installer you'll have problems with plug-in apps due the the bash
problem I mentioned above.
--
Jens B. Jorgensen
jjorgens@bdsinc.com
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