Installing MPlayer in Ubuntu 5.1

[experiencethis]

Ok, I just installed Ubuntu 5.1 and I was wondering how do I go about installing things, like Mplayer for different things. Just wondering if EVERYTHING has to be done in the terminal. Also how do I change my login to a higher account in the terminal.

 

[The General]

most of the time you get type

sudo apt-get install [program]

but you'll need to ad the nerim sources to get mplayer to install through apt, google can get those for you

and to search you can do apt-cache search foobar

 

[experiencethis]

Wow, lol, Im sry, i pretty much have no idea what that means.

 

[horndude]

mplayer is something that really needs compiled from source with the options you want to use, apt-get will work though, but then your using the options someone else thinks is needed..............with all the things mplayer can do, I think compiling it is the best way to go

 

[experiencethis]

hmmm.....well is there some kind of simpler program i could learn to install first, because, Im new to this and dont get any of it. Also, another prob Im having is trying to install through the terminal, when you need root priveleges. I type in "su root" it asks for the password and i give it the correct one and it says authentication failed. I dont understand, because this is the password I give to everything else that requires root priveleges.

 

[Disillusion]

sudo -i will change it to root.

 

[experiencethis]

sudo -i will change it to root.

O wow, Im learning already. LOL. thanx.

 

[Disillusion]

O wow, Im learning already. LOL. thanx.

Same here, bud. Still learning Linux.

I'm pretty sure sudo -i gives you root privileges. Anyone want to verify for me?

 

[jakec]

experiencethis,

If you wish to use the root account in more traditional UNIX fashion, you can set the root password by typing sudo passwd root . This will allow you to use su or login as root on the console.
If you need a shell with root privileges, run sudo -s .
All uses of sudo will require the user's password.

As for Mplayer, Horndude is right it is somthing that needs to be compiled, follow the Link bellow:

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/12/essential-house-keeping-in-ubuntu.html

there should be a section there entitled 'Installing Mplayer'

Hope this helps,

Jake

 

[horndude]

download the codecs package from mplayer website and
mkdir /usr/local/lib/codecs
tar xjvf essential~.bz2
cd essen~
mv * /usr/local/lib/codecs
cd
then unpack and compile mplayer
tar xjvf MPlayer~.bz2 or tar xzvf MPlayer~.tar.gz if in tar.gz format
cd MPlayer~
./configure --help
scroll thru the options and use what you want

I usually have xvid already installed, as well as lame, toolame, and any other special helper apps you might want

the configure script will usually find most of them on its own and list them at the end, if it doesnt, add it to the configure script like this:
./configure --enable-mp3lame -----that would add mp3lame to mplayer's capabilities

if it complains of not finding a library, you may have to point it to where it is with --include-lib=(directory) see ./configure help for options and syntax

mplayer/mencoder can do an awful lot of things, streaming video, re-encoding/decoding, tv tuner input, you name it mplayer probably can do it