Hello
I have BackTrack 5 installed to my hard drive. I understand that this distro is focused on hacking. I think it is focused on hacking so much so, that there are a multitude of dependancies involving video and even audio, and especially media players omitted. So I was wondering if anyone has ever done this, and I think this is an issue that many wouldn't mind addressing despite finding no similar threads. Any media player I attempt to install requires numerous other files and installations to be present. So I go looking for these other software and when I try installing many of them, they too need software updates. And of course it branches and branches. So the question is, I know it must be possible but does anyone know perhaps the quickest or fail safe or any method for doing this, or do I just have to figure out slowly the difficult installations of all this stuff and perhaps ask questions about them when I get stuck trying to do that. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.

It is normal that one application need some other libraries or functions from operating system to work, and of course new versions need updated versions of them. Did you tried VLC? Why you do not install something what is more usuable for home users, like Ubuntu for example? Every applications from BackTrack can be installed there, I think.

There are many differences in installing software on Windows and Linux. Most Linux distribution use a package management system and repositories. This means that you don't download and install software manually in Linux, but your package manager will do that for you.
For example, to install the VLC media-player in Backtrack you use two simple commands. Since Backtrack is based on Ubuntu it uses the apt-get package-manager. So first you will update the package database withAfter that you install the software with This will install VLC and all needed dependencies.

Since you have to ask this very basic question I would recommend to install a distribution that is 1. more aimed at desktop use and 2. more aimed to the new user, like Linux Mint or simplyMepis.

It would be easier to select a distro made for such tasks. Backtrack is not really a good choice for a newbie. It has very limited uses even for most of the best techs on this forum. I'd suggest you not play with it. You are more likely to abuse the tools than learn anything useful.

Pick one of the top distro's over at distrowatch.com. I'd suggest linux mint as one to try first.
All of the top ones have have ways to manage apps. Some call it software management or package management or simple command line tools like yum or apt-get. Some have one click installers online. All of them would be easier than backtrack.