where do I download the files for a new program TO?
 

Sorry for the simplistic question but I'm very new and trying to install some apps..dvd player at the mo,VLC, on ubuntu.

I downloaded the tar's and extracted them to my downloads folder because I didn't know where else, and tried the code given to install (below, I tried the first one liner then the 'complete build' code.

This is the code to install on the terminal from the install file.

A typical way to configure vlc is:

./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-gnome --with-sdl

Here is a shortcut to copy-paste for a complete build:

make distclean && ./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-gnome \
--enable-fb --with-glide --with-ggi --with-sdl --enable-esd \
--enable-mga --enable-gtk --enable-qt --enable-xvideo --enable-alsa

this is what happened at the terminal

bash: .configure: No such file

and

make:***No rule to make target 'distclean'. Stop

I was thinking that the location of the download was incorrect for code or am I supposed to use the synaptic program, which I find a little confusing. Should I copy the files to the temp or usr folder....argh!

any ideas?

Hi there. I see you mentioned synaptic. "am I supposed to use the synaptic program"

I would suggest you use synaptic as it will keep your system in much better shape than you playing around in a terminal.

It's not all that hard and once you get used to it it's very easy.

First start up synaptic then when it's open click the button to reload the packages, then use the search option if you know the name of the app you want or in the left colum click on the sections button to browse software by section. When you find what you want to install simply click the little white box next to it and select mark for installation. If another box pops up asking you to install other things along with it those will be dependencies and it means that program needs those as well so click mark for installation as well. Then just click the check mark that says apply at the top and synaptic will install what you asked it to and put everything in the right place.

Hope this helps, linux might have been all command line at one point but today it's just so easy to let the automated apps do the work for you.

Good luck.

Did you know that vlc is available through the software package manager? You can install a build that has been tested against Ubuntu by using the Synaptic Package Manager.

System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager

Enter your password when prompted

When the Synaptic Package Manager window appears enter vlc in the Quick Search box.


When I look at your post I see one problem. Your example shows ./configure ... but your error message shows that the period is directly in front of the word "configure" as in .configure which would cause a problem.

thanks a mil...maybe i was looking at outdated instructions...well the video is working but no sound...hmm...investigation time!

thanks again

must have been a typo on my part,

and about synaptic...there are so many packages, which ones to install..?I'm sure I'll get used to it.

thanks

Not necessarily. When you obtain software directly from the developer or some third party such as freshmeat.net or sourceforge.net they often only offer the application in source code form. This is useful if you are using a distribution that does not have this software in its repositories or if the version in the repositories is not the version that you want to use.

Some of the packages are included in other packages. I sometimes wonder which ones to install. The descriptions are sometimes helpful. In general I start with just the package that I want to install such as vlc and if that isn't enough I'll go back and install other packages such as vlc-plugins or similar. I think we all wonder about this issue. :)

that makes sense...

when using the synaptic manager to install, there was multiple packages, vlc-something, should all of these be installed?

I have vlc working now, its just a general question for installations

I did some research regarding the sound problem. It seems that it is not unusual for Ubuntu to have problems with producing sound. I found one post that seems to be promising.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...6/#post3913310

One thing that often gets people is that sometimes the sound is muted for an application. Check that first.

sorry wrote the above message before I saw your answer.

good to know

:-)

Some of these applications have a lot of additional modules for a wide variety of functions. I would keep it simple when installing any application that has a lot of additional stuff available.