Real, WMP and QT in Linux on MPlayer -- How to Install
Dear friends:
If you want to play RealPlayer, 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 Real, 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.
Mplayer is not easy to install, as I and others have found out. I would
like to share my success story with you. My motivation for pursuing this
is that I need to use RealPlayer online, and the RealPlayer plugin that
comes with Mozilla (mozplugin) is not very good. So, I plugged on (pun
intended) and at last, after several false starts (including trying out
some of the instructions on our forum), I have done it right. 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. You will
need the gcc 3.33 compiler to recompile the mplayer file from source.
2. Go to the MPlayer home page and download the following three files:
The MPlayer 1.0pre3. tar file.
The Blue default skin
The Arial Western-1 font file.
3. Unpack the three 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
This will install the GUI version of Mplayer on your system. The whole
thing should take under 15 minutes (on my Dell Dimension 8200, 1.8 G
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:~$
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 . You might as well also add the Arial font. Add them as
follows:
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
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 preferences2.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".
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. Plugins
In order to install the all-important plugins, it is much easier in this
case to use Debian sources rather than the Mplayer tar source files.
Here is what I did.
First, add the /etc/apt/preferences recommended by cseg:
Package: *
Pin: release l=Xandros Networks
Pin-Priority: 991
Package: *
Pin: release o=Xandros Corporation
Pin-Priority: 991
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 777
Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 333
Create this file as root, SAVE, then reboot. This will protect your
system against any possible conflict or corruption.
Now add the following source to Xandros Networks (Edit, Set Application
Sources)
deb http://okki666.nerim.net/debian ./
Now select the Expert option (Settings, Expert View) and type in the
search box: mplayer.
You will see 5 mplayer files. I would AVOID all of them. I tried
originally to use the mplayer-update and ran into all sorts of errors.
Similarly, the version that comes from the Mplayer home page is very
confusing. Don't bother. What you need from this okki666 Debian source
is the win32 codecs, all in one big 10 meg file. Download this file and
install it. It will install into /usr/lib/win32. You need to move or
copy it to the appropriate /usr/local directory. So create a "win32"
directory under /usr/lib:
/usr/lib/win32.
Now move or copy the win32 codec files into /usr/local/lib/win32:
sher@Dell:/usr/local/lib/win32$ ls
3ivX.qtx iccvid.dll mpg4ds32.ax rt32dcmp.dll
acelpdec.ax icmw_32.dll msadp32.acm sp5x_32.dll
alf2cd.acm imaadp32.acm msg711.acm tm20dec.ax
asusasv2.dll imc32.acm msgsm32.acm tsccvid.dll
asusasvd.dll Indeo4.qtx msh261.drv tssoft32.acm
ativcr2.dll ir32_32.dll msms001.vwp ubv263d+.ax
atrac3.acm ir41_32.dll msnaudio.acm ubvmp4d.dll
avimszh.dll ir50_32.dll msrle32.dll vgpix32d.dll
avizlib.dll ivvideo.dll msscds32.ax vivog723.acm
BeHereiVideo.qtx jp2avi.dll msvidc32.dll voxmsdec.ax
CLRVIDDC.DLL l3codeca.acm mvoiced.vwp vp31vfw.dll
clrviddd.dll l3codecx.ax nsrt2432.acm wma9dmod.dll
CtWbJpg.DLL LCodcCMP.dll On2_VP3.qtx wmadmod.dll
divxa32.acm lhacm.acm pclepim1.dll wmspdmod.dll
divx_c32.ax m3jp2k32.dll qdv.dll wmv8ds32.ax
divxc32.dll m3jpeg32.dll qpeg32.dll wmv9dmod.dll
divxdec.ax m3jpegdec.ax qtmlClient.dll wmvdmod.dll
divx.dll mcdvd_32.dll QuickTimeEssentials.qtx wmvds32.ax
huffyuv.dll mcmjpg32.dll QuickTimeInternetExtras.qtx ZyGoVideo.qtx
i263_32.drv mpg4c32.dll QuickTime.qts
sher@Dell:/usr/local/lib/win32$
III. LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
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. It does NOT conflict with the Mplayer plugins. However, please
correct me if I am wrong, I think that the mozplugger does. If it does,
you may need to ask someone how to configure mozplugger so it does not
conflict with the mplayer plugin.
That's it. Go to:
http://www.hollywood.com
and try out a movie trailer in Windows Media Player format. It should
play beautifully.
A note about RealPlayer: the RealPlayer plugin works great with
standalone sites but NOT with Real embedded sites.
Yours,
Benjamin
--
Sher's Russian Web
http://www.websher.net
Benjamin and Anna Sher
sher07@mindspring.com
Reply to: