Video codecs-suse & all linux os

These instructions are to assist SUSE Linux/SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) users get the best enjoyment from playing media files. I’ve attempted to keep the instructions as simple as possible. I’ve included a mini how to at the end of this post on using both YAST and the Terminal so as to be more flexible for those with particular preferences. Even if you’re using an alternate distribution such as RHEL/Fedora Linux, Mandriva Linux, etc the base of these instructions should prove useful.

Option 1: Totem (Gnome) or Kaffeine (KDE)
Option 2: MPlayer “download below”

Highly recommend prior to updating your media player or installing a differant one to update your Gnome or KDE desktop. This should resolve most dependencies that may arise when installing newer applications. This can be accomplished either by adding YAST/YUM repositories to YAST/ZENworks or by using an alternative RPM frontend such as Smart Package Manager to download packages. See here http://www.opensuse.org/Additional_YaST_Pa…ge_Repositories for information on adding YAST source mirrors. By adding source mirrors you can select multiple software packages such as MPlayer with out needing to manually download each package from each developer. This also gives you the advantage of allowing YAST to auto-update packages when they are made available. I’ve also included several links below where the packages can be manually downloaded.

Note: Those that wish encrypted DVD playback capability will need to install “libdvdcss” RPM found here http://rpm.pbone.net/ This link is one of several RPM package search engines that can be found online.

Option 1: Totem (Gnome) or Kaffeine (KDE)
Reference: http://xinehq.de/ and http://packman.links2linux.org/
1. Uninstall “xine-lib” and it’s GUI frontend (ie: Totem).
2. Download and install “w32codec”.
3. Download and install “libxine”.
4. Download and install your preferred GUI frontend (ie: Totem).
5. Download and install the browser plugin (ie: “totem-browser-plugin”).

Option 2: MPlayer
Reference: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ , http://packman.links2linux.org/ and http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/
1. Download and install “w32codec” RPM.
2. Download and install MPlayer.
3. Download and install the browser plugin “mplayerplug-in”.
4. If using Konqueror (KDE) instead of a Mozilla based browser such as Firefox then you’ll also need to install a frontend such as KMPlayer or KPlayer.

Installing RPM Packages: Root (Administrator) password required.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAST and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Manager

Using YAST: To install with YAST simply download the RPM package to a directory (folder) of your choosing and click on the package. This will open The YAST package manager. All dependencies are checked during the installation. If the package is corrupted it will not install. If additional files are necessary to run the program then YAST will advise you what files you need if they cannot be located on a disc, hard drive or by an online source (ie: YAST Mirror). To install a package listed in your YAST sources open the YAST Control Center YAST -> Software -> Software Management found in either your KMenu (KDE Menu) or GMenu (Gnome Menu). Select a package from the list and click the “accept” button. No reboot required.

Using a Terminal: Open a Terminal window and log in as root (su, then root password). You need to do this so as to have necessary write access. You’ll need to change to the appropriate directory the package is in unless you opened the Terminal from your browser such as Konqueror while already in the directory. To do this type cd then the directory name (example: cd /home/username/documents/my_downloads). Then type rpm -i packagename.rpm. To install multiple packages with the Terminal simply enter like this rpm -i packagename.rpm packagename.rpm packagename.rpm.

Note:Once you exit YAST or the Terminal you will be back in Limited User mode.

ZENworks Package Manager Reference: ZENworks Management Daemon (ZMD) as of SUSE Linux 10.1 replaces SUSE Watcher for package monitoring. It provides more functionality than the limited SUSE Watcher by allowing not only monitoring for package updates but also other features such as allowing YUM, not just YAST Source repositories. See the following links on ZENworks for more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenworks
http://en.opensuse.org/Zmd