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Re: QuickTime for Linux?



Dear Micha:

I'm enclosing a copy below of my instructions for installing Mplayer and 
Mplayerplug-in for Xandros/Debian. They will apply just as well to Debian 
itself. Note that you need to install Mplayer with a special argument in 
order to get the GUI version. It's all here. Just read below.

Benjamin

Dear friends:

If you want to play Windows Media Player and QuickTime on Linux (and the 
latest versions, to boot), I strongly recommend MPlayer. Using the Mplayer 
plugin, you will be able to play WMP and QT (and the latest versions, to 
boot) in Mozilla, Netscape, Konqueror and Opera.

Since Linux already has great DVD players (Xine, Ogle and Vlc), the main 
reason for adding Mplayer is not so much for playing DVD's (though it does it 
as well as the other players). It's for the browser plugins. And, believe me, 
it's well worth the effort. And that is why I have taken the trouble to write 
these instructions for those who could not install Mplayer using the other 
instructions on our forums.

Before I proceed, you might wonder: Why is Mplayer so difficult to install? 
Well, in my research online, I came across the following article on this 
whole issue. Bottom line: the authors of Mplayer apparently have an attitude. 
Here is the URL (middle of page):

Mplayer: The Project from Hell
http://www.linuxworld.com/story/32880.htm

OK, now on to the instructions. Here goes:

I. Installing MPlayer.

We'll install the graphical version of Mplayer.

1. In Xandros Networks, download and install the gcc 3.33 file, libgtk1.2-dev 
and the libpng12-dev libraries. You will need them both to recompile the 
mplayer file from source.

2. Go to the MPlayer home page at:

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design6/news.html

If you can't access them directly, do it by typing "mplayer" in Google.

Now download the following files:

The MPlayer 1.0pre3. SOURCE tar file.
The Blue default skin
The Arial Western-1 font file.

Binary Codecs:

All-in-One Package
More binary packages

(These are for Linux, of course, NOT for Windows -- that's what the text 
means)

3. Unpack the files above using Ark by first creating a directory for each of 
the three files (name them whatever you want), e.g. mplayer-basic, blue, 
arial. Right click on the tar file and click on "Extract". This will extract 
the contents into the corresponding directory. So the mplayer-basic directory 
should now be filled with all sorts of subdirectories and files.

4. In the console go to the mplayer-basic directory and, AS USER, type:

./configure --enable-gui --enable-win32

This takes about one minute.

Now type:

make

This will create the mplayer program. This takes under 15 minutes (on my Dell 
Dimension 8200 1.8 G with 512 meg of RAM)

Then type:

make install

This takes a few seconds.

This will install the GUI version of Mplayer on your system.

Mplayer will be installed into /usr/local/ and this is a good thing because 
Xandros/Debian leaves /usr/local alone for users to do with it whatever they 
want.

Here is what you should see in the console:

sher@Dell:~$ whereis mplayer
mplayer: /usr/local/bin/mplayer /usr/local/etc/mplayer /usr/local/lib/mplayer
sher@Dell:~$

NOTE: Now run /usr/local/bin/mplayer in the console ONCE in order to create 
the /home/user/.mplayer directory.

5. Now comes the funny part: believe it or not, but even though you selected 
to install the GUI version of mplayer (which ordinarily is a command-line 
application), you will not see it as yet in X11. That is because Mplayer does 
NOT, I repeat, does NOT come with a default GUI skin. You have to add a GUI 
skin for MPlayer to open at all. So, to add the GUI, first extract the Blue 
default Skin and add it to the /usr/local/share/mplayer. You might as well 
also add the Arial font. Add them as follows:

sher@Dell:~$ cd /usr/local/share/mplayer
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer$ ls
font Skin
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer$ cd font
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer/font$ ls
font.desc iso-8859-1-b.raw osd-mplayer-b.raw

iso-8859-1-a.raw osd-mplayer-a.raw README-arial-iso-8859-1
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer/font$ cd ..
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer$ cd Skin
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin$ ls
default
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin$ cd default
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default$ ls
about.png barstop.png main.png play.png skinb.png
bareqb.png barzoom.png main-silver.png pos.png stop.png
barexit.png eqb.png menu.png prefs.png subblue.png
barffwd.png exit.png menus.png prev.png subload.png
barfwd.png font.fnt minimize.png progres-long2c.png symbols2.png
barmute.png font-pl.png mute.png progres-long2d.png symbols.fnt
barplay.png forward.png next.png README symbolsg.fnt
barrev.png icons playbar.png rev.png VERSION
barrevv.png load.png playlist.png skin zoom-3.png
sher@Dell:/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default$
Please note that a) Skin is capitalized (initial caps) and b) the specific 
skin directory (whatever the original name) must be called "default".

Just in case, I'd copy the font and Skin files/directories (exactly as they 
are now) to /home/user/.mplayer. In other words, I'd duplicate the mplayer 
files in the home directory.

6. The GUI executable for Mplayer is NOT mplayer but "gmplayer". Create a 
shortcut, add /usr/local/bin/gmplayer and an icon (I use the same one that 
comes with Xine), and then double-click. It should launch Mplayer flawlessly. 
Try out a DVD. Remember to select DVD in Mplayer: Right click on the big 
Mplayer splash screen, select DVD, Open Disk. Press Enter.

II. Windows Codecs

Unpack them and install them in /home/user/.mplayer/win32
(Create the /plugins/win32 directory if it isn't there already).


sher@Dell:~/.mplayer$ cd win32
sher@Dell:~/.mplayer/win32$ ls
acelpdec.ax huffyuv.dll msgsm32.acm ubv263d+.ax
alf2cd.acm i263_32.drv msh261.drv ubvmp4d.dll
asusasv2.dll iccvid.dll msms001.vwp ultimo.dll
asusasvd.dll icmw_32.dll msnaudio.acm vgpix32d.dll
ativcr2.dll imaadp32.acm msrle32.dll vid_3ivX.xa
atrac3.acm imc32.acm msscds32.ax vivog723.acm
atrc.so.6.0 ir32_32.dll msvidc32.dll voxmsdec.ax
avimszh.dll ir41_32.dll mvoiced.vwp vp31vfw.dll
avizlib.dll ir50_32.dll nsrt2432.acm vp4vfw.dll
CLRVIDDC.DLL ivvideo.dll pclepim1.dll vssh264core.dll
clrviddd.dll jp2avi.dll qdv.dll vssh264dec.dll
cook.so.6.0 l3codeca.acm qpeg32.dll vssh264.dll
CtWbJpg.DLL l3codecx.ax qtmlClient.dll vsslight.dll
ddnt.so.6.0 LCodcCMP.dll QuickTimeEssentials.qtx vsswlt.dll
divxa32.acm lhacm.acm QuickTimeInternetExtras.qtx wma9dmod.dll
divx_c32.ax m3jp2k32.dll QuickTime.qts wmadmod.dll
divxc32.dll m3jpeg32.dll rt32dcmp.dll wmspdmod.dll
divxdec.ax m3jpegdec.ax sipr.so.6.0 wmv8ds32.ax
divx.dll mcdvd_32.dll sp5x_32.dll wmv9dmod.dll
dnet.so.6.0 mcmjpg32.dll tm20dec.ax wmvdmod.dll
drv2.so.6.0 mpg4c32.dll tokf.so.6.0 wmvds32.ax
drv3.so.6.0 mpg4ds32.ax tokr.so.6.0
drv4.so.6.0 msadp32.acm tsccvid.dll
dspr.so.6.0 msg711.acm tssoft32.acm
sher@Dell:~/.mplayer/win32$ ls

NOTE1: If you want to create a shortcut on your desktop. remember to look 
for /usr/local/bin/gmplayer NOT mplayer.

NOTE2: For those of you who have not yet download the critical libdvdcss file 
to enable your DVD player (Xine, Mplayer, Ogle or whatever) to play encrypted 
(Hollywood) DVD's, here is where you can get it:

libdvdcss2_1.2.8-1_i386.deb
http://mirrors.wamug.org.au/videolan/libdvdcss/1.2.8/deb/

III. LAST BUT NOT LEAST: The MPlayer Plugin File

First, if you don't have Mozilla 1.6, you will need to download the Gecko-SDK 
1.6 from:


http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.6/

NOTE: DO NOT INSTALL THE GECKO-SDK. I repeate. DO NOT INSTALL IT. Just 
download and untar it with Ark and leave it as it is, UNINSTALLED.

Now go the Mplayerplug-in home page at:

http://mplayerplug-in.sourceforge.net/

Download the source tar for mplayerplug-in 2.11. Uncompress it with Ark. Now 
install the plugin from the mplayerplug-in folder with the following 
commands:

1) Configuring

sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$ ls
ChangeLog LICENSE plugingate
common Makefile plugin-list.o
config.h Makefile.in plugin.o
config.h.in mplayerplug-in.conf plugin-setup.o
config.log mplayerplug-in.so plugin-support.o
config.status mplayerplug-in.spec plugin-threads.o
configure mplayerplug-in.types plugin-ui.o
configure.in mplayerplug-in.xpt README
Copy of mplayerplug-in.conf np_entry.o Source
extras npn_gate.o strlcat.o
include npp_gate.o strlcpy.o
INSTALL nsScriptablePeer.o TODO
install.sh pixmaps
sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$
./configure --with-gecko-sdk=/path/to/gecko-sdk

2) Creating the plugin:
sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$
make

3) Installation:

sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$
make install

That's it. Just like that. You will be installing the mplayerplug-in with the 
help of the Gecko-SDK libraries (but without installing the Gecko-SDK 
libraries themselves).

The Mplayer plugins should now work. Go to Mozilla, Konqueror, etc. and type 
in the address box:

about:plugins (no space). You will see all of the mplayer plugins along with 
the PDF, Flash (swf) and Java plugins. You might also see the Mozilla plugins 
(mozplugger). If so, you may have to remove the mozplugger file. This is a 34 
kb file. There is also a big xandros-mozilla-plugins file (676 kb). This is, 
according to XN, still installed on my system. I would imagine that it 
handles the remaining plugins. The Xandros-mozilla-plugins does NOT conflict 
with the Mplayer plugins but the mozplugger definitely does. The solution is 
either to remove mozplugger or to configure it so it doesn't conflict with 
Mplugger. I'd strongly recommend uninstalling it. It is pretty much dead, 
anyway.

That's it. Go to:

http://www.hollywood.com

Try out a movie trailer in Windows Media Player or Quicktime format. It should 
play beautifully.

or:

http://www.cbsnews.com

Please note that the size of the window (small, medium, large) will depend on 
your Internet connection. If you can't handle large size screens, select the 
medium size and it should work.


A note about RealPlayer: the RealPlayer plugin works great with standalone 
sites but NOT with Real embedded sites. For RealPlayer embedded plugin sites, 
please see my RealPlayer 8/9 Plugin installation guide in this section.


Yours,

Benjamin


On 02/24/2004 05:49 am, Micha Feigin wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2004 at 10:26:57PM -0800, Paul Mackinney wrote:
> > Bijan Soleymani declaimed:
> > > On Mon, Feb 23, 2004 at 09:34:02PM -0800, Paul Mackinney wrote:
> > > > I'm running Debian/Sarge. Bummed that I can't watch those funny
> > > > MoveOn political ads. Help? Other streaming video works fine.
> > >
> > > Mplayer can play quicktime files (with the approriate plugin).
> > > Check out their homepage:
> > > http://www.mplayerhq.hu
> > >
> > > Technical/legal/packaging/various other reasons prevent Debian
> > > from shipping mplayer, but there are some precompiled debs out
> > > there if you don't feel like compiling from source.
> > >
> > > Bijan
> >
> > Thanks very much. I use mplayer, managed to compile it but not the gui
> > package, struggling with optimization. DVD's play tolerably but with
> > some stutter at peak load (Celeron Coppermine/600MHz/512MB/AGP Matrox
> > G400 w/16 MB -- advice appreciated off list). Downloading codecs now.
>
> You can get mplayer deb (also optimized) using the following line in
> sources.list
> deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main
>
> > Paul
> > --
> > Paul Mackinney
> > paul@mackinney.net
> >
> >
> > --
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-request@lists.debian.org
> > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact
> > listmaster@lists.debian.org
> >
> >
> >  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >  This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System
> >  at the Tel-Aviv University CC.

-- 
Sher's Russian Web
http://www.websher.net
Benjamin and Anna Sher
sher07@mindspring.com



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