Now then, some directions are given and then some are not or are weak. It is assumed that you, half way, know what you are doing. (That's the mode I work in most of the time.) So, if you are not sure where the files are going to go, you can use the commands:
      'tar ztvf tarfile.tgz'    or    'rpm -qpl rpmfile.rpm'
to view the contents. This will show what directories that the files will be placed in. The tar files will normally create a dir off the current one and place their contents there. The rpm files can go anywhere ... if you have the proper permissions. Some of these must be installed as root and others, even though they can be installed as a local user, are better off being installed as root. Like always, the choice is yours.

  Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide

    Now then, we get e-mails from our friends and relatives. Annnddd... they send all these videos and sounds in these various formats. So we need to load up on the comparable creations for linux that will handle these different formats.

    This info came from the openSuSE Forums. The Additional Repositories you will need are:

    1. Packman:        Index of /pub/packman/suse/11.3
    2. Videolan VLC: Index of /pub/vlc/SuSE/11.3/

N.B. You will install one package from VLC: libdvdcss That's it!! Then REMOVE this repo. Install this Package FIRST.

Then install these:

• libavcodec52
• libdvdnav4
• libdvdplay0
• libdvdread4
• libffmpeg0
• ffmpeg
• libquicktime0
• libxine1
• libxine1-codecs
• libxvidcore4
• smplayer
• vlc
• w32codec-all
• xine-ui
• xvidcore
• libqt4-sql-sqlite

Also see: Check your multimedia problem in ten steps

    Another problem is the sound. Haven't gotten that totally straight yet but there is a Work-A-Round. So to speak. What I am talking about is the Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary. What has that to do with sound, you ask?? Well, in addition to providing the correct spelling and definition of words, it also provides the pronunciations of them. However, when you click on the little speaker , you get the following:



Hmmmmm... it says that additional plugins are required...UNLESS, you have previously set this up. Which I hadn't. Now then, notice that it says, "Click here to listen with your default audio player." Because of the default settings in our openSuSE 11.3, after clicking on the previous, it will come up in KMPlayer. (Course I am assuming that you have installed KMPlayer.) Anyway, that is how you get to hear the words. I think there is a more automatic way via some plugins but right now I can't remember it. (Get back to this later.)

More on Sound:  

1. Timidity
2. xwa3d:
   # %description
   # This is a library that can be used instead of the standard
   # Athena-Widget-Library. It has tried to keep the standard of the libXaw
   # library. There are also programs which explicitly use this library
      (Timidity is one.) # (this is the reason why the library was included).
   
   # NOTE: Do NOT replace /usr/X11R6/lib/libXaw.so.6.1. All necessary
   # changes in /etc/ld.so.conf will be done in SuSEconfig by YaST.
   #
   # If any problems arise using or starting X Window System programs,
   # remove this package and delete any remaining symbolic links in
   # /usr/X11R6/lib/Xaw3d/.
   
3. Plugger

MPlayer - The Movie Player for Linux.

Note:  Another update cause of my BIG Crash. You need this one in order to view wmv videos on/in Linux.

    The following is courtesy of Pcghost on http://www.linuxquestions.org.
I have heard so many complaints about SuSE 9.1 that either can be fixed fairly easily, or are related to specific hardware, it baffles me. The machine listed in my signature below runs SuSE 9.1 pro exclusively. There are a couple of thing ALL SuSE users should know to help their distro run well. The first is a tip for YaST. The YaST sources SuSE 9.1 ships will suck, but thankfully that is easily fixed. The website packman.links2linux.de has been kind enough to set up their HUGE software library as a YaST source. Here is how to set that up.

• Open the control center.
• Click YaST modules
• Click Software
• Click Change Installation Source
• Click Add
• Select http
• Put packman.iu-bremen.de in the server name field
  
• Put suse/9.211.1 (or whatever version you are using) in the directory field
• Click OK

Now simply click on Install and Remove Software Software Management and the entire packman library is now listed. (Well, not really, but it's contents become part of the selections.)

Doing this turns an Mplayer installation into a 10 second affair. Additionally, packman has binaries for just about everything else you could possibly want.
====================================
Now then, let me say this about that. The '10 second' install is a wild dream. The length of time that you will spend on the install depends on your connection speed AND the time of day OR the season of the year. I did this Mplayer install on Dec 26th and it took well over an hour. In addition to the Mplayer I had to get lame and w32codec. w32codec was the longest download but the others were not much faster.
If you have to configure and compile mplayer you will need the gecko-sdk (Software Development Kit). After trials and errors I placed it in the /usr/include directory. Then you use the following configure command:
    ./configure --with-gecko-sdk=/usr/include/gecko-sdk
Mplayer was needed to get an embeded wav file to play. Got sent a Christmas card via an e-mail link. Could not hear the background music. Found that it was an embeded wav. Spent the next couple of hours getting it to work. This was the final fix.

Plugger

    Plugger is a multimedia plugin for Unix Mozilla, Opera or Netscape that handles Quicktime, MPEG, MP2, AVI, SGI-movie, Tiff, DL, IFF-anim, MIDI, Soundtracker, AU, WAV and Commodore 64 audio files. And now, with Plugger 5.0, MPEG audio and video can be played streaming.
    plugger-5.1.3.tar.gz
Installation procedure

1. Download and untar the archive into a temporary dir.
2. Change directory 'cd' into the Plugger directory.
3. Type './configure'
4. In SuSE 10.2 using xorg must use:
   './configure --x-libraries=/usr/lib/ --x-includes=/usr/include/X11/'
   otherwise it can't find the X11 libs.
5. Type 'make'
6. If you have root access, do 'make install' as root.
   (this will place most of the executables in '/usr/local'.)
   If you have changed the dirs make sure plugger.so gets placed in the pluggins dir of the browser you are using.
7. Otherwise, do 'make localinstall'.
   (this will place most of the executables in '.plugger' under your HOME dir.)
8. done! (for other options read the README file)

Flash

    Flash Player runs Macromedia swf Flash files that are available on the Internet. If you do not have Flash then go to http://www.macromedia.com and download the latest version for Linux. install_flash_player_7_linux.tar.gz was the latest. The install is performed from the command line. (no point and click) To have proper access, it would be advisable to install this as root. Just my humble opinion.

1. Download the file
2. Uncompress install_flash_player_7_linux.tar.gz. A directory called install_flash_player_7_linux will be created. Navigate to this directory.
3. From the command line, type ./flashplayer-installer to run the installer.
4. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser.

To verify, choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser's menu.

GQview

    GQview will allow plugger to display most image types. Notice that this is used in conjunction with Plugger. It is 'normally' included with your Linux distribution.

GV (GhostView)

    GV (GhostView) will enable Plugger to display PDF and Postscript files. Here we have another that is used with Plugger. It is also 'normally' included with your Linux distribution.

*******************************************************
At this point you can probably stop. If you click on the 'List Your Plugins' on my site, you will see almost everything listed. However, if you think they are needed you can install the following.
*******************************************************

MPG123

    mpg123 is used to play MPEG audio files in streaming mode. This may or may not be provided with your system. Plugger listed above is supposed to handle these anyway. To obtain a copy go to: mpg123 and download a copy.

RealPlayer

    This is used for movies and songs and other stuff. Check out the site and download it if you think you need it. RealPlayer

MIDI Sounds

    Well now, after fighting to get the wav file to work I get another card that has a midi in it!! Ok now, Timidity is supposed to be the fix for Linux to use the midi stuff. It is with Plugger. I had some trouble getting Plugger to configure cause they switched to xorg.

    

    Allllrighty. With the above items installed you should be able to cruise the Net and see and hear everything ... almost.

Java

    Licensing and Restrictions. These can be and are a problem. Sun, like nVidia doesn't want SuSE and others including all their stuff. So you have to go out and get it. Now then, after installing the OS, I saw alot of stuff for Java. How-some-ever, none of the areas contained a plugin for the browsers. So, you have to go out and get one... at this Sun Download Site. Instruction for installation are also provided there.

    SuSE note: Extracted to /usr/java, which was not created during the OS install, then linked to Netscape Plugins dir:

      ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so .

  After the above download and link, Java worked in Netscape 7.2 on SuSE Linux.

    

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