I'm just installing openSuse and while it was displaying a download dialog box what should come scrolling by but a 'RealPlayer' download. ARRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!

I haven't installed Linux (Redhat) in 8-10 years so I was surprised that what I know to be a very buggy program in Window$ is an auto-install for SuSe Linux! What's up with that?

Anyway, histrionics aside, what do you experts find with RP installed in SuSe?

1) Does it cause random freeze ups of the computer that require a reboot even when it's GUI isn't running?

2) Does it make a weird audio scream sometimes while playing, then lock up the computer with the equivalent of a BSOD?

3) Does it try to access the internet several times per day even though you've specifically told it to not do that during the install (there's a box you check that suppose to prevent that...the RP program ignores it)?

4) Does anyone have a suggestion of a open source player?

Thanks!

Not sure about SuSE, but I used it on Linux / Ubuntu for the odd thing which still needs it (basically "the sky a night"). I have 10.0.7.785 installed. One quirk I remember is that it wants libstdc++ version 5 installed.

I run it using a wrapper script which uses it with aoss, so that it uses the ALSA drivers instead of the OSS drivers, which tend to refuse to share the sound card between applications.

I find that I can sometimes play real media streams using mplayer and/or vlc, but that they cannot seek like realplayer can, and sometimes they just don't work.

Thanks for the answer. I only use it now (reinstall it) during the NFL season then uninstall it, because it's the only player allowed. I'll try your suggestions before I dump it, and see what happens.