I just installed Mandrake 9 on a partition and I am using it for the first time. I am trying to install Mplayer and other programs but I am having problems. So far I created a directory named Mplayer under home/nw/mplayer and extracted all the files there. And thats about it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated on this or any other advice about Linux. Thank you.

Welcome to LQ, NiagraBob.

My first suggestion is going to sound very rude, but please don't take it that way. Read the supplied documentation. There is almost always a README and/or INSTALL file, although sometimes they will be in the docs subdirectory. Although most programs can be installed in pretty much the same way, some are different, so it's always a good idea to get yourself a nice habit like reading the documentation.

Listen to thymox, you should definitly read those README's and INSTALLS. Then you can usually apply what options you want to use to the general syntax for installing programs w/ "./configure"

from inside the source directory:

./configure
make
make install

Now, the "./configure" part is where you can set your options. you can do "./configure --help | less" to see what you can do. some common options would be something like

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc

the --prefix=/usr will make the program install in /usr/bin and the libraries in /usr/lib (the default is usually --prefix=/usr/local, which will put the executables in /usr/local/bin) the sysconfdir=/etc will put all of the configuration files in /etc.

These are not too important, and usually it is fine to just leave confiigure alone.

when you do "make" the program will compile, and "make install" will install the files onto your system.

I hope this clears things up a little for you

good luck

Thank you for having me. My first post was a bit premature and I should have looked harder for the proper documentation. As such this is what I did.

After extracting the files to the dir mentioned above I brought up a console and typr
./configure then make install. That was 6 minutes ago and it is still installing. Does it normaly take this long? Does this method work for all installations?

I am guessing that it is compilling the program and then installing it. That is whats taking so long.

TIA for any help you might offer me.

Yeah, something as complex as MPlayer can take a while. One thing to note, you appear to have forgotten to do make. You would normally go:
./configure
make
make install (as root)
Also, if this is mplayer you're installing, you probably won't have the GUI since that is an option that you need to pass with configure.

Again my inexpiriance is coming through. When you say as root I log in initialy with my root password? When I log in it asks for this automaticlly to enter the control center. I dont mean to try your patiance by any standered but this is literaly the fourth time I used Mandrake. I really do appreciate your help.

The install stopped because it said it could not create a dir. I am going to try it again though till I get it right.

DO NOT EVER LOG IN AS ROOT UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY, DEFINITELY NEED TO

Sorry for shouting, but I thought it needed to be said. You should always, always log in as a normal user, and if you need to do anything, use the command su root to temporarily become the root (you can return to being a normal user by typing exit).

You would want to do this:

• ./configure
• make
• su root
• enter root's password
• make install
• exit (to return to being a normal user).

However, as I said, you will need to read the docs if you want to enable the GUI... I think it's something like ./configure --enable-gui

Hope this helps.

already explained

Hehe! You need to have quicker fingers than that! I'll let you have a chance, though... it's 1:00 am (UK), so I'm going to bed.

I have to admit it was kind of exciting when everything started to come together. Perhaps I have bitten off more then I can chew. Are there any books one would advise me to read to get a better understanding the Linux system. Perhaps one geared at new users?

Ooh... there are loads. Just a quick search here would give you plenty of different ideas on what constitutes a good book. Many are also available online.

I am checking out Amazon right now while Mplayer compiles.

Thanks for all your help Thymox. Believe it or not but your advice opened up new doors for me to explore. Thanks!

No worries. That's what we're here for. Glad to hear that you're giving Linux a fair chance, and very glad to hear that you've already found Mplayer... it normally takes people a lot longer than that!

Ok it installed ok ...umm How do I run it

mplayer filename

There are loads of options that you can use... my favourite are:
mplayer -osdlevel 0 -fs -rootwin -loop 0 filename.movie
That loads mplayer, doesn't display any ' on screen display', shows the video full screen, on the desktop background and loops it forever. Great to have running at startup if you've got a decent movie!

Oh, nearly forgot:
man mplayer should give you an exhaustive list.

Good luck.