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Play MPEG Movies Under LinuxPPC
Jason Haas writes: "We now have instructions for playing MPEG movies under LinuxPPC, and
they're posted on our Web site on this page. Sam Lantinga of Loki Software wrote a number of the utilities we use (thanks!), along with one by Jan Hubicka. Happily, they're all in RPM format, which shouldn't be a problem for anyone to handle. We also have instructions for editing Netscape's setup to automagically play MPEGs when they're downloaded. It is most cool to see and hear your LinuxPPC box playing a movie." Maybe I can find a nice cheap green iMac to try this on.
Glad to see Jason is back on his feet. :) After the status updates on his progress stopped, I started wondering what was happening. Welcome back, Jason! :)
æeee!
Fuck karma. Post anonymously.
Why couldn't they use xanim? I realize some of the proprietary codecs only come in binary form but my understanding was that MPEG was unencumbered...
Finally - i hope this will put a little bit more effort into the development of a full good movieplayer for all kind of distributions. If there's one point where i still use windows, it's in fact for using the media player, which has to be one of the best things ever to come from microsoft :-) I've used MTV a bit, but it's not free (which media player infact is. :P) .. and that has kinda bothered me. What we now need, is a way to play mpeg4/divx and hopefully DVDs. As long as we're not going to get to play our DVDs under linux, we'll still have to boot windows. Currently my windowsbox is restarting about every 2 days, so naturally, this is not something i want to continue running - at least not when it freezes in the middle of playing a DVD (kinda boring when you're watching it together with a couple of good friends on a 3x2meter projector on the wall :-).
mats
One man's ceiling is another man's floor.
I've been using linuxppc for a long time now, and Xtheater has always worked perfectly fine for me.
I'm not so sure the superfriends mpeg is a good test movie to see if the software is working, it's just skippy and jumpy by compression:)
hmm thought I went to slashdot.org not freshmeat.net...
its kinda funny how stories like this get posted, but useful ones get dropped..
way to go Tim.
The basic sleazeware produced in a drunken fury by a bunch of UCBerkeley grad students was still the core of BIND. --PV
Two answers to your delema:
#1: If you mean "Why would you run Linux instead of MacOS?" Well, a myriad of reasons actually. MacOS is rather nice in many respects, but programing on it ain't the best experience in the world. (Yes, I've done it.) Also, it plays very well with MacOS (as in can be put on any partition regardless of position and won't (read: won't unless you screw it up) ruin your HFS/HFS+ partitions, so there's no need to ditch MacOS.
#2: If you mean "Why would you run Linux on PPC instead of Linux on Intel?" Well, besides the hardware being more expencive... Linux on PPC is the easiest install/maintain that *I've* ever done. I was shocked at how much of a pain in the arse it was to install on an x86 compared to the absolute breese on PPC. Some of this is starting to go away though, ie LILO cylender restriction gone by-by, so this might not be the case in another year or so. But anyway, that's a good reason.
Yummy, pancakes.
I wonder if it can play that weird vcd format that
is popular in some foregin countries.
Not really a new solution...
But anyway, I've found mtv to be a very good player. Install mtv and it comes with another program called mtvp that doesn't have the timeout (or the gui) of mtv.
Full screen mode is very good and all of that.
~Chris
Happily, they're all in RPM format
.tar.gz source code.
I for one, can't understand this favoring of a distro's packetmanager instead of just plain old
Even if it needs to be a binary package, then USE THE STANDARD TOOLS(tar + gzip) so people that don't want to infest their system have a chance.
-H
the way freshmeat (and other software sites) are set up, they're often better as places to nab software from when you already know what you're looking for (netscape 4.7375a) than as a place for interesting news about platforms you don't run yourself.
... which useful ones are you thinking about? I've heard lots of people complain about the disparity in available apps under Linux running on PPC (and Alpha) hardware vs. Linux on Intel. Could be useful to them.
And when you say "stories like this get posted, but useful ones get dropped"
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
...try Tripping the Rift. It's MPEG format.
(Warning: it's for mature audiences, analogous to an R-rated movie. And it's five minutes long. You may break out in uncontrollable laughter.)
-- Sunlighter
Sunlit World Scheme. Weird and different.
I read from the smpeg page that a pentium II system is required for playback with sound. Does there exist a decent mpeg player for linux that works on older machines (a pentium)? There's mtv, but it isn't free (i know, i know, the command line version is, but there're no playback controls).
One of the libraries listed there is aalib - isn't that the one that renders stuff in ASCII Art? Can you actually render an MPEG movie in ASCII Art in real time?
it's going to take quite a bit to keep me from going back to apple when mac os x comes out. linuxppc is quite fun, despite the overall slant to lintel, there is some realy great stuff out there. but can this compete with mac os x? something which is reported to have a gui at least a step ahead of anything around right now, coupled with a complete cli. (now) normal mac apps, running with awesome mac os x native apps, and anything i get off of freshmeat that i wish to compile? the best, the better, and the open! linuxppc better be able to offer at least dvd, and quicktime by 2001 to compete. the only thing that could posibly stop me now is not being able to replace aqua with something that does not make my screen look like a sticky mess.
Linux, always on the cutting edge of technology, is now supporting a movie a new format called "MPEG". This latest advance, promises Linux advocates will continue to widen the gap between other competing operating systems, which have a far smaller portion of the OS market.
"With this new addition to LinuxPPC, I expect Apple to abandon any further development on any OSes they may be researching. Clearly, the ability to play MPEG movies is something else nobody can boast." said Sam Lantinga, who wrote some utilities used for this technological leap. "Luckily for our competitiors, nobody is using such new technology... it should be ages before anyone can harness this new power," Lantinga contiuned.
In the Intel market, Linux also continues to dominate, due to its ease of installation, consistent interface and clear documentation.
http://www.talknerdy.org
Why is this "news" for slashdot? I have had this setup on my Linux box (PMac) for months now since there was a decent port of AA.
Is Slashdot now going to start posting every Linux newbie-config page that gets submitted? Of course not. This is News for Nerds! Timothy should re-check his audience.
i've playing mpegs for years on ppc linux. this isn't news.
MPEGs...how 1995!
For a more broadly useful video format, Apple will have to port QuickTime to Linux. For a company that used to officially support MkLinux, you'd think they'd get off of their collective ass and at least release binaries. Hell, you can even stream Quicktime from Linux, but you can't watch it.
There used to be, as of a few months ago, a petition up at neutron.resnet.gatech.edu/qt-petit ion.html, but that appears to have gone away. (As has the server.) Maybe the guy graduated and took his server with him.
I'm told that xanim plays Quicktime, but I've never tried it. Still, I'd like to have a plug-in, and something that supports that full functionality of Quicktime. I wish Apple would do something about it.
-Waldo
umm... no
I am a happy used of debian/powerpc and there is a slackware/powerpc too I think
The Matrix is going down for reboot now! Stopping reality: OK. The system is halted.
no, loki wrote it and it's open source (BSD or BSD-like license I think)? I think there is a page on the sdl somewhere at http://www.lokigames.com/development
no exact url handy, but smpeg is deginitely open, hopefully you can find it. It works nicely (WAY better than xanim). If you want a nice frontend, I have a debian package called gtv-smpeg that uses it and wraps a small, but nice, gtk interface around it.
The Matrix is going down for reboot now! Stopping reality: OK. The system is halted.
xanim can already play quicktime's file and stream format, and most of the codecs through cinepak. Unfortunately, almost all quicktime content on the net now uses the sorenson codec, which is patent-encumbered and so can't legally be implemented.
The Matrix is going down for reboot now! Stopping reality: OK. The system is halted.
(Jason being the person who submitted the story)
Interesting that Jason is back at the keyboard after his very bad car crash. I'm wondering how that experience has affected him....
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Um..yay? We Windows users have enjoyed the ability to play mpeg movies for quite a while now. Playing an mpeg is hardly an amazing feat of technology. Why not post an article on Windows Media Player and the many formats it supports?
So the Linux community doesn't want QuickTime for QT, they want it because it has the best codec. Why doesn't the community spend more effort on making a kick ass OSS quicktime codec?
It's like Apple gave the community a car with no engine, and the community decides they'd rather build a vehicle from the ground up.
Pride over convenience?
what i don't understand is that apple doesn't work more on quickTime for java and develop code that is portable. apple supports windows but not linux. why Windows and not linux?
Seems like that only looks like a troll if you don't know what RPMs are.
Stallman: 'programmers tend to favor polyamorous or non-monogamous relationships'
Umm, men period tend to favor polyamorous or non-monogamous relationships. The fact that programmers are overwhelmingly male skews his viewpoint -- the majority of female programmers that I know don't jibe with his statement.
Well, it's been nice knowin' y'all, even the ones who've flamed me, but after contemplating Richard Stallman having sex, I think I'm going to go kill myself now.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
When those two distributions and their derivatives drop tgz and deb formats for rpm, only then will I consider rpm "standard".
Why doesn't Red Hat at least *fix* the problems with RPM, and upgrade the technology to be at least competitive with Debian? I should hope that Red Hat hasn't already fallen into the pit of compatbility that killed Microsoft's quality.
youll also have to get a three button mouse and get it to work (which may be simple, i dont know) apple better do something about this for the maya port. even the NT version requires 3 mouse buttons.
Lokisoft has had RPMS of smpeg for linux/ppc for ages. ftp://ftp.linux.tucows.com/pub/Loki/open-source/sm peg/
You get Windows Media Player 6.3b for PowerPC right here!
Granted, it only runs under MacOS, and even then in typical MicroShaft fashion, only plays streaming media. ie If you want to play an MS-encoded AVI that you downloaded elsewhere, it won't work.
Pope
Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength! Monopolies offer Choice!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
This is WAAAY off topic, however I happen to agree.
The proliferation of the RPM format is rather disgusting. Not everybody runs redhat, and there are those of us that treasure the cleanlyness of our filesystems. If developers want to release RPM, that is just fine, but whatever happened to good old tar.gz ?
For a company that used to officially support MkLinux, you'd think they'd get off of their collective ass and at least release binaries
... but you won't, because I can't, and neither can a whole lot of other people much smarter than you.
e vdocs/PDF/QTFileFormat.pdf
Um, Apple's position on this is very clear and simple: "Where's the revenue model?"
If you want to watch QT on Linux, you have three options:
1. Come up with a revenue model that is defensible to Apple shareholders. I can guarantee direct delivery to Frank Casanova if you DO
2. Have Red Hat or somebody license QuickTime. You may have noticed in the news that Kodak did last week. Apple will license QT to anyone who ponies up a reasonable amount of cash, and "reasonable" is probably "not too bloody much" in the context of a new player platform I'd be pretty confident.
3. The QuickTime file format is publicly documented. Download it at
http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/quicktime/qtd
and put your sorry whining ass to work.
Hooray for LinuxPPC and all, but they aren't the only source for these tools on PowerPC -- Debian has 'em, too, and has for some time.
I looked at the LinuxPPC page, read the descriptions of the RPMs, then did apt-cache search SDL, which told me
Then I did
and my system happily installed these and two additional packages (libggi2 and libgii0), and I was in business.
It's not like the Debian people scrambled to catch up, either. I'm using potato (frozen), which hasn't updated packages for PPC for several days.
Linux != x86 Linux; LinuxPPC != PPC Linux.
So the Linux community doesn't want QuickTime for QT, they want it because it has the best codec. Why doesn't the community spend more effort on making a kick ass OSS quicktime codec?
The Linux community wants QuickTime to be able to play quicktime movies that get to them.
It's like Apple gave the community a car with no engine, and the community decides they'd rather build a vehicle from the ground up.
No, it's more like the Apple gave the community complete car [1], but which can only run on roads [2] built by Apple. Which is fine; only Apple prohibits the community to use that Apple-built roads.
So the value of "gift" is very, very low (I'd say null, but it has same educational value I guess). By supporting it, community would only show that it is happy when being treated like that. Since it is not, it does not want to use something that is useless to them.
[1] being QuickTime player
[2] being the codec in question
Let me tell you, it is much better being back at home than at the hospital. :) Having a beautiful wife helps, too. (Add her super-literacy and other undiscussable things, and.. yeah!)
;)
:>
I can now use a computer for at least two hours, and that's only with one good eye! Who knows what I'll be up to when they give me a new lens for my left eye.
BTW, FYI, there are progress updates on the www.linuxppc.com web page.
Take care,
-- haaz.