WMP and QT plugins with Mplayer in Linux -- Revised Instructions
 

Dear friends:

If you want to play 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 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.

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 files:

The MPlayer 1.0pre3. SOURCE tar file.
The Blue default skin
The Arial Western-1 font file.

Binary Codecs:

All-in-One Package
More binary packages

(These are for Linux, of course, NOT for Windows -- that's what the text means)

3. Unpack the 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 --enable-win32

This takes about one minute.

Now type:

make

This will create the mplayer program. This takes under 15 minutes (on my Dell Dimension 8200 1.8 G with 512 meg of RAM)

Then type:

make install

This takes a few seconds.

This will install the GUI version of Mplayer on your 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/share/mplayer. You might as well also add the Arial font. Add them as follows:

sher@Dell:~$ cd /usr/local/share/mplayer
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 README-arial-iso-8859-1
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 prefs.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".

Just in case, I'd copy the font and Skin files/directories (exactly as they are now) to /home/user/.mplayer. In other words, I'd duplicate the mplayer files in the home directory.

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. Windows Codecs

Unpack them and install them in /home/user/.mplayer/win32
(Create the /plugins/win32 directory if it isn't there already).


sher@Dell:~/.mplayer$ cd win32
sher@Dell:~/.mplayer/win32$ ls
acelpdec.ax huffyuv.dll msgsm32.acm ubv263d+.ax
alf2cd.acm i263_32.drv msh261.drv ubvmp4d.dll
asusasv2.dll iccvid.dll msms001.vwp ultimo.dll
asusasvd.dll icmw_32.dll msnaudio.acm vgpix32d.dll
ativcr2.dll imaadp32.acm msrle32.dll vid_3ivX.xa
atrac3.acm imc32.acm msscds32.ax vivog723.acm
atrc.so.6.0 ir32_32.dll msvidc32.dll voxmsdec.ax
avimszh.dll ir41_32.dll mvoiced.vwp vp31vfw.dll
avizlib.dll ir50_32.dll nsrt2432.acm vp4vfw.dll
CLRVIDDC.DLL ivvideo.dll pclepim1.dll vssh264core.dll
clrviddd.dll jp2avi.dll qdv.dll vssh264dec.dll
cook.so.6.0 l3codeca.acm qpeg32.dll vssh264.dll
CtWbJpg.DLL l3codecx.ax qtmlClient.dll vsslight.dll
ddnt.so.6.0 LCodcCMP.dll QuickTimeEssentials.qtx vsswlt.dll
divxa32.acm lhacm.acm QuickTimeInternetExtras.qtx wma9dmod.dll
divx_c32.ax m3jp2k32.dll QuickTime.qts wmadmod.dll
divxc32.dll m3jpeg32.dll rt32dcmp.dll wmspdmod.dll
divxdec.ax m3jpegdec.ax sipr.so.6.0 wmv8ds32.ax
divx.dll mcdvd_32.dll sp5x_32.dll wmv9dmod.dll
dnet.so.6.0 mcmjpg32.dll tm20dec.ax wmvdmod.dll
drv2.so.6.0 mpg4c32.dll tokf.so.6.0 wmvds32.ax
drv3.so.6.0 mpg4ds32.ax tokr.so.6.0
drv4.so.6.0 msadp32.acm tsccvid.dll
dspr.so.6.0 msg711.acm tssoft32.acm
sher@Dell:~/.mplayer/win32$ ls

FINAL NOTE: If you want to create a shortcut on your desktop. remember to look for /usr/local/bin/gmplayer NOT mplayer.

III. LAST BUT NOT LEAST: The MPlayer Plugin File

First, if you don't have Mozilla 1.6, you will need to download the Gecko-SDK 1.6 from:

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.o...es/mozilla1.6/

NOTE: DO NOT INSTALL THE GECKO-SDK. I repeate. DO NOT INSTALL IT. Just download and untar it with Ark and leave it as it is, UNINSTALLED.

Now go the Mplayerplug-in home page at:

http://mplayerplug-in.sourceforge.net/

Download the source tar for mplayerplug-in 2.11. Uncompress it with Ark. Now install the plugin from the mplayerplug-in folder with the following commands:

1) Configuring

sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$ ls
ChangeLog LICENSE plugingate
common Makefile plugin-list.o
config.h Makefile.in plugin.o
config.h.in mplayerplug-in.conf plugin-setup.o
config.log mplayerplug-in.so plugin-support.o
config.status mplayerplug-in.spec plugin-threads.o
configure mplayerplug-in.types plugin-ui.o
configure.in mplayerplug-in.xpt README
Copy of mplayerplug-in.conf np_entry.o Source
extras npn_gate.o strlcat.o
include npp_gate.o strlcpy.o
INSTALL nsScriptablePeer.o TODO
install.sh pixmaps
sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$
./configure --with-gecko-sdk=/path/to/gecko-sdk

2) Creating the plugin:
sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$
make

3) Installation:

sher@Dell:~/L-Files/Downloads/Mplayer/mplayerplug-in$
make install

That's it. Just like that. You will be installing the mplayerplug-in with the help of the Gecko-SDK libraries (but without installing the Gecko-SDK libraries themselves).

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. The Xandros-mozilla-plugins does NOT conflict with the Mplayer plugins but the mozplugger definitely does. The solution is either to remove mozplugger or to configure it so it doesn't conflict with Mplugger. I'd strongly recommend uninstalling it. It is pretty much dead, anyway.

That's it. Go to:

http://www.hollywood.com

Try out a movie trailer in Windows Media Player or Quicktime format. It should play beautifully.

or:

http://www.cbsnews.com

Please note that the size of the window (small, medium, large) will depend on your Internet connection. If you can't handle large size screens, select the medium size and it should work.


A note about RealPlayer: the RealPlayer plugin works great with standalone sites but NOT with Real embedded sites. For RealPlayer embedded plugin sites, please see my RealPlayer 8/9 Plugin installation guide in this section.


Yours,

Benjamin