how can I change the default media player in Puppy Xenial?
 

I would like to install VLC, but I would like it to be the default player when I open a DVD. Is there a straightforward (ie, easy) way?

Hallo, Brant.

There certainly is. After you've installed VLC, go into Menu->Setup, and select the 'PuppyApps Default Applications Chooser'. A small window will appear, where you can select a specific category (Multimedia, in this case), or you expand to all categories, using 'All'.

Once in 'Multimedia', locate 'Media Player', and by means of the drop-down menu, select what you want to use as the default. Then, select 'Apply'. The main window closes, and a small one appears, informing you that your default applications have been updated.

It's as simple as that.


Mike. ;)

Oops--I should have seen that.
Unfortunately when I click on the "PuppyApps Default Applications Chooser" it refuses to open.
I haven't used Puppy enough to become accustomed to smoothing off the rough edges.

I installed VLC 2.2 from the Puppy Package Manager (Ububtu Xenial Universe)and it opened files, but when I closed one, the audio contimued playing. I don't if it is a particularly bare-bones version, but it showed no controls other than on/off.

Is there a later model of VLC hiding somewhere, or another media player with slightly more oomph than MPV?

(so, I have more questions than when I started, but that is always half the interest of this)

Hi again, Brant:-

Have you tried SMPlayer? It's a more modern, feature-rich 'front-end' to MPlayer, in much the same way that Gnome MPlayer is also a 'front-end'. SMPlayer, however, is a very much more up-to-date item indeed.

Many people 'diss' MPlayer for various reasons, being totally unaware of the multitude of features it offers. SMPlayer is, to my mind, the only front-end that really supports said features to any degree. It's pretty light-weight on resources.....and the GUI is quite smart, too.

SMPlayer 15.11.0 is available via the PPM. If you want the very newest version, then (after installing 15.11.0) you can go to this thread in the Puppy Linux forums, and download/install the newest version, 18.10.0. You'll need to do it in this order, because the initial install through the PPM will also pull in MPlayer itself (the 'back-end' to all this), without which SMPlayer won't run.

The new version will install over the top of the older version without upsetting anything, which is the way most of us do it.

Hope that helps.


Mike. ;)

Thank you,I'll give this a try.
Off topic, but I see you sent me a "welcome aboard to Puppy!" the other day.
I meant to answer it, but a rather tiresome car accident left me rather disfunctional for a while (or too functional? It looks like I deleted a lot notes that I didn't mean to)
In any case, thank you again.