aalib and mplayer
 

I've heard that mplayer can be configured to output ascii text. I have mplayer running fine, and I've installed aalib. Does anyone know what to do next?

Did you compile mplayer with aalib support (or was it autodetected during the compile)?

If not: Recompile.

To use aa-lib use the correct video output parameter:

$ mplayer -vo aa ............

To see the full list of available video output drivers:

$ mplayer -vo help