divX for linux- linspire 4.5?
 

my first day on linux. i'm using linspire 4.5 and would prefer not to have to use CNR. i read some of the pros and cons of using CNR on another thread. i'm not completely happy with linspire 4.5 and i'm sure i'll be grabbing up something else, but for the time being this is where i'm at, this came on the system.

i'm trying to get a media player of some sort on this thing, and did actually d/l divX for linux. and now i just don't know how to install it. basically, the only thing i do know how to do is bring up the command line, and type it in as the root user if need be.

again, i'm very linux illiterate- my FIRST DAY! so if anyone can help, that'd be awesome. thanks.

kitty_kat

Welcome to LQ!

This will cure your illiteracy:Rute User's Tutorial and Expostition.

What, exactly, have you done so far?

thanks for the tutorial link :)

let's see, what have i done, more or less, nothing (well not counting creating a user account for myself and getting the web/messengers running). i searched out a few media players and then was overwhelmed when they wanted me to build it from source, or whatever.

i then downloaded divX (from their website) but have no idea how to install it. i had also downloaded mplayer from a source code that was provided on some other thread here (via linspire, apparently). i extracted mplayer to my documents, and now have no idea what to do with it. hahaha. like what commands i type to get it to install...etc. i'll start looking over that tutorial...

oh yeah and i've also disabled CNR since I don't think I'll be using it, even though I'm probably not smart enough to NOT use it! haha.

Did you download a tarball (it'll end with .tar.gz)?

Edit:
Scratch that, found DivX for Linux. Open a terminal and typethen open the divx directory and follow the directions in the README file. :)

Are you sure you want to use divx? The program is from 04 April, 2003! I would recommend a more current program, such as Mplayer or XMMS. (Search the forum for opinions on all the available options.)

so here is where i'm at after some trial/error fun stuff...

first, i got it figured out (so i thought) how to install mplayer. well when i type in ./configure it tells me i don't have GCC so it refuses to allow me to install. any thoughts on that? not really even sure what GCC is, to be honest.

secondly, i started messing with divX but i can't get it to extract to my documents. i choose where i want it to extract and it just sort of does nothing. no errors come up either. so i'm at a loss...the end of the divX file reads .tar-2.gz and it is currently sitting in my tmp files and the program linspire uses for extracting is "ark" i believe, and uh...yeah. thats all!

ok another update, i did get divX extracted but now when i can't see any "makefile" or anything of that sort. so i can't figure out if something is missing or if i have to do something else to install it. i tried the "make" and "make install". it tells me "there is no makefile to be found" and then it tells me "make: 'install' is up to date"

again i've never installed anything on linux OS so i don't know what to look for.

GCC is the Gnu C Compiler. Without it, you can't compile anything. Your lack of GCC explains all your error messages to date.
http://gcc.gnu.org/
or
http://www.linspire.com/lindows_prod...oduct_id=11964

Edit:
Peruse this a few times, it's less intense than Rute: http://www.slackbook.org