i have two problems the two i believe are connected..

First i am currently using fedora core 5 and i just downloaded and installed it using using the default software installer.that was two days ago and it still doesnt show up when i click open the sound and video tab in gnome under applications...i tried opening it from the terminal and all i get is a list of commands. is there a way for me locate this program...

Second. i wanted my system to decode windows media files. so i downlaoded the mplayer essential codecs pack from the website and attempted to install. when i get to the ./configure argument i get an error message "no such file or directory exists". i consulted the read me and i passed the "--with-codecsdir" argument through and i still get the same message.

thanx in advance and i hope this helps you help me...

From your post, did you install it via Yum or via the source (.tar.bz2)? If the latter, you need to first extract the codecs to /usr/local/share/codecs - no need to install, merely extract an move the files. Then you need to install the skin and the fonts, then you need to install mplayer with ./configure --enable-gui, make, make install.

thanx for your response. here is what happend when i attempted to do what you asked.. i installed the rpm from the mplayer website(the fc5 rpm). The directory /usr/local/share/codecs does not seem to be there only two files in share are info and man. i tried creating a new folder there and storing the codecs in it and had no luck. i then tried installed the skins and fonts for mplayer successfully but when i tried to recompile mplayer i got the error a newer version is already installed on your computer
ok

Ah, what you need to do is to use Yum to get Mplayer. Go to http://www.gagme.com/greg/linux/fc5-tips.php#mplayer and follow the instructions there.

hey thanx a bunch.this site answered every fedora question i ever had and some i didn't even know i had. excellent... a link to this site should be stickied somewhere in the fedora section thanx. only thing is i can't install the freshrpms mplayer while my system still recognizes the mplayerhq version.is there a way to remove software.

I'm afraid that, unless you installed checkinstall, the only way to uninstall the source built mplayer is to track down the places it installed to and then delete the files and folders.