As a newbie, I recently reformatted my hard drive in favor of ubuntu 7.1. All seems to be working well with the exception of the video player "totem". For some reason Totem will not run any video.

Linux for dummies states that I need to extract the xmms file which I thought I had done. For whatever the reason, I get an error message saying I need streaming software.

Otherwise, I am eager to become fully immersed in ubuntu.

Thanks,

heh... you are a newbie: that's "Ubuntu 7.10" or "seven point ten" because it was released on the tenth month of 2007... get it? It's not a decimal point.

That is not true. If you look in the examples folder in your home folder you'll find an ogg/theora video of Nelson Mandala on the meaning of "ubuntu". That will play nicely.

So you need to tell us which video won't play.

That would be "Red Hat Linux 9 for Dummies"... the only one I know that suggests installing xmms from source. You don't need to do this in Ubuntu as there are already packages available in the repositories.

Have a look at:
www.hbclinux.net.nz/ubuntu.html
... for methods of playing all manner of video in Totem.