Hey all.

I have spent a lot of today playing around with my newly installed RedHat 9 (the first non-Windows non-MacOS operating system I have ever used). I really like it but have a few questions/concerns:

(1) The OS seems to freeze every once and a while. For example, just now I tried to open a .ogg but simply double clicking. Upon my double clickation XMMS opened and began to play my happy song when it suddenly stopped and froze. Then the bottum objectbar/start bar/dock/etc. froze. I can still open and browse folders (meaning the os is still running) but I can't close XMMS or fix the start bar thing.

Is there a program manager or "force quit"?? If so how can I access it if my "start bar" is frozen.

(2) I also can't play any .mpgs, do I need to download a player to watch them, or is .mpg simply not supported, or something else? Do I need to download a new player (or any player, I haven't come upon a video player yet, only XMMS music player)?

Thanks for all the help.

If the OS is still responsive, you can hit [alt]+[f2] to get a pop-up window that lets you type in a command to run. Type in "xkill". This is a program that lets you kill an X app that has stopped being responsive. It should change the cursor icon, then just click the XMMS window.

RedHat stopped supporting MP3s with version 8.0. They did it because the code/decode process is patented... Not free and open source. You can got to xmms.org and download a plugin that will allow you to play MP3s. I agree with RH, and only code my music in OGGs.

As for XMMS locking, either your soundcard isn't being accessed correctly, or XMMS is using the wrong plugin for output.

Ok. Thanks a lot.

How to play mp3 format under Linux RedHat 9.0 ?
The XMMS aplication not allows that!
All RedHat 9.0 software do not allow to play this file format!
Do you have an idea?

Player not froze...
Just told you that can`t play mp3 formated files...
a so on....
verry stupid from Linux side...
I too can`t play mp3...
told how to...

press ctrl-esc to view process and kill the apps that u dun need

RH9 disabled mp3 playback, you will need xmms-mpg123

It might be inconvenient, and unpopular, but it's not stupid. The MP3 coding process is patented. At the moment, there's a nominal license fee for people who produce software that encodes/decodes MP3s. It's not free and open source.

Back in verison 8.0, RedHat decided they were not going to include anything that wasn't free and open source. That way, if the licensing changes, and the fee becomes prohibitive, to try to keep people from using MP3s rather than a DRM-controllable format, RedHat can't be held responsible for complying with restrictive technologies.

Users can install any software they want after the installation. But RedHat can prove without a doubt that they only shipped free and open source software.

Just download and install mpg123, but don't call it stupid. Read ranger's response in why Redhat made their distro this way by default. And learn some manners, don't show frustration out on a program, were here to help, no reason or need to call anything or anyone stupid for any reason at all.

Regards.

PS. In the future, if you have a question, please start your own thread, don't hijack other members threads or questions. Thanks.