Good Linux Programs?
 

Im looking for good linux programs that get the job done. Heres what im looking for
-Good media player, one that plays all types of video files
-Something better for browsing threw mandrake9.1 konuer(sp?) isnt that great for me, i dont like how you cant sort by date/type
-any programs that you find that are good that i should know about. Thank you =)

Hi,

i can answer the first one - MPlayer is IMO the best video player under linux. XMMS is winamp-like audio player.

mplayer - media player (compile it yourself for best results)
gaim - multi protocol droid er, i mean messenger
mozilla-firefox - web browser
I use nautilus, but I don't see any problems with koqueror?? (use "tree view" to sort by date or whatever)
gftp - ftp
open office - office

thats my pick of the month

thank you i will check out mplayer right now. And thanks for the koqueror suggestion, im a moron i should of looked it over. Tree view is great. Gaim is a great program. But im having problems with it. I use it for aim and whenever i try to send someone a file/picture it crashes :confused:

Try compiling gaim yourself, get the source and unpack it then read README and INSTALL files. Usually just a case of cding to the unpacked directory (in a terminal) then typing:
./configure
make
su
[root password]
make install

thanks, whats the su command for? (sorry if its a dumb question) >_< im going to try that right after my mplayer is done compiling. Its taking awhile o_O.

heh, that it does, which reminds me, don't forget to grab the codecs.
su will log you in as a different user. So:
su # raises your abilities to root
su -
or:
su root # logs you in as root
su [username] # logs you in as a different user

It saves you from logging out then logging back in as root.

try: man su (heh!)

agh..linux drives me crazy. I downloaded the gaim source....says needs pkconfig to install....so i goto install that...that says it needs glib to install. So i install glib..it says it needs something else (luckily my rpm package had it -.-) i install glib..try to run gaim again...needs gtk...so i install that...try to compile gaim again. Now it tells me i need a newer version of glib...i already downloaded the latest. its a friggen never ending cycle :mad:

Couldn't agree more! I'm also having trouble with GLIB :(

Which distribution are you on? Have you installed the development packages?

what development pagackes, have installed more packages then i can remember. :/

Why is mplayer considered any better than Xine? They seem to be about equivalent in reliability, stability, and ability to use third-party libraries from the /usr/lib/win32/ directory.

I haven't used debian for years but I do know you will need to have close look at your package manager "aptget".
If I remember rightly, you need to browse the packages by type, look for dev or development ones.
There may be packages for mplayer and gaim that are up to date for your system online, so look for them first at debian's mirror (and third party) sites - or set up aptget with a good mirror and install things directly (preferable I think).

basically: [anything]-devel-version-number.deb

yeah apt-get is the best thing ever when new to linux :D. looking around for that kind of packages, thx!

mplayer is a very powerful command line tool, as well as having the (optional) gui (gmplayer).
Have a try, if you prefer xine then stick with that. Xine handles dvd titles and menus', mplayer doesn't... yet!