Ned.
since changing my everyday work pc to linux a few weeks ago the only real problem I have is that I can't watch the links that people put up for
video's on the web, presumably they're windows media format.
I'm running fedora 4 with most of the standard stuff but mozilla can't find a plugin suitable for these videos, can anyone suggest a
suitable plugin or player that would sort this out and where I might find a download?
cheers,
Ned.
I know very little about fedora but if you have a look for the Penguin Liberation Front they specialise in releasing software of a legally dubious
nature. Microsoft would sue if Red Hat used parts of a windows codec.
They'll probably be plug-ins for Xine video player.
All the best
Ali
fedora doesn't come with much multimedia built in for fear of being sued by microsoft.
http://rpm.greysector.net/mplayer/ has rpms for mplayer and the codecs you need. the codecs package in options should get you on your way. (Though I
use ubuntu rather than fedora so haven't needed them).
you might want to look for libdvdcss for playing DVDs.
I also run UBUNTU.. download XINE for playing ALL video formats. pretty easy to compile and run.
will have a look at those tomorrow when i have more time, but compiling the stuff and getting all the right bits looks like a nightmare though
Ned.
Before I ditched Fedora there was a whole plethoria of sites that gave info on instaling multimedia in Fedora -- even if you get it installed there
are problems with the latest version of the wmv format under because M$ started getting heavy handed with multi-media copright enforcement.
If you do a Google you should find the info you need try searching from http://www.google.co.uk/linux for "Fedora multimedia howto" .
Installing the codecs, xine and rest of the multimedia stuff is quite easy although some of the repositoroies are designed for use use with
"apt" the only thing you have to watch is if you install too many repositories you could end up with depancy conflicts.
In the long run you may find it better to switch to a Debian based version of Linux than the buggy multimedia stripped Fedora.
[Edited on 4/7/05 by britishtrident]
can anyone please direct me to a site with an idiots guide?
I've been to livna.org and tried installing rpm's which have told me i'm missing bits and pieces, so i've installed yum, whatever
that is and followed various instrucitons and am just getting more and more error messages.
i've had others, but this is the latest error. i'm a windows administrator and i haven't used linux until a coupl eo fweeks ago. I can
use command line stuff but am lazy so have done a lot of things through the gui's. i must get a book!
[root@ned uctland]# rpm -Uvh xine-0.99.3-0.lvn.8.4.src.rpm
warning: xine-0.99.3-0.lvn.8.4.src.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID a109b1ec
error: cannot create %sourcedir /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES
any ideas? i really want to watch the video zil posted of the f1 v8 engine!
Ned.
[Edited on 14/7/05 by ned]
Best advice ditch Fedora each version is really just a testing distribution and it dosen't all work together properly and bugs never get
completely fixed before the next Fedora version when you add the fact that multimedia isn't officially supported you get problems. The Red Hat
package installer Yum isn't a 100% reliable either.
My best advice is switch to Debian by that I mean rather than debian itself a complete distro based around Debian with all multimedia stuff already
installed. The one I use is Mepis but in the past year or so I have used Kannotix, PCLinux OS and the non Debian Yoper all with good results.
Debian software installation and updates using apt-get via the Synaptic front end are pretty well bullet proof.
Mepis, PC Linux OS are well suited to most needs, they look good and have full multimedia support. Kannotix is similar but being closer to ther
leading edge slightly less polished however as it is based on Knoppix it will install on just about any hardware.
Yoper is very bleeding edge, it looks superb and is very very fast but Yoper is essentially a one man operation it is based on a mixture of the best
Red Hat, Mandrake, Debian and Gentou components.
These distro by default install the latest KDE desktop which is rather easier for a Windows person to use than the version of the Gnome desktop used
in Fedora. but if you like Gnome it can be changed.
Distrowatch http://distrowatch.com/ will have links to download all of the above.
All fitted on to a single boot installation CD last time I checked
[Edited on 14/7/05 by britishtrident]
This is worth a read
http://os.newsforge.com/os/05/07/11/2327248.shtml?tid=2
interesting read, thanks. i shall ponder another install when i get some time again..
thanks,
Ned.