Media (DVD, mp3, etc) playback in Fedora

  • 3 min read
    • The Fedora project believes in free software, and seeing as such patent-encumbered or proprietary formats are not included in the Fedora distributions. Unfortunately, that means that that media such as DVDs, MP3s, many types of video, Java content and .swf Flash content cannot be viewed on a fresh install of Fedora. This guide will show you how to install various plugins and codecs to allow the playback of this type of content.

    Need more help or want to ask a question? Discuss this topic here.

    Requirements

     

    All at Once!

    To install all the codecs, applications and plugins mentioned in this howto at once, run:

    yum -y install totem-xine libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay livdvdnav lsdvd libdvbpsi \
    mplayerplug-in mplayer mplayer-gui xine-lib-extras-nonfree \
    xine-lib-extras libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay compat-libstdc++-33 \
    gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly
    su -c "totem-backend -b xine"

    DVD Playback

    yum -y install libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay libdvdnav lsdvd libdvbpsi

    Note that libdvdcss and the other libraries listed here may be illegal to distribute, install or use depending on your local copyright laws. Distribute/install/use at your own risk, I'm not responsible for anything that happens as a result.

    Totem-Xine

    Totem-Xine is a movie player that is based on Xine and not GStreamer. Using the Xine backend will allow for playback of media such as DVD, WMV, MPEG video and more! Recent changes in Fedora 9 have allowed you to install the Xine and Gstreamer backends at once - Here's how to select the Xine backend as the default one:

    yum -y install totem-xine xine-lib-extras-nonfree xine-lib-extras
    su -c "totem-backend -b xine"

    MPlayer and MPlayerPlug-In

    MPlayer is also a movie player like Totem, although I find interface of MPlayer harder to use compared to totem-xine and additionally there is no support for DVD menus at the moment. Still, mplayer offers a web plugin for Mozilla/Firefox and packs in tons of codecs making it a valuable package.

    yum -y install mplayer mplayer-gui mplayerplug-in

     

    GStreamer plugins

    Seeing as Fedora uses the GStreamer engine for many programs, it's a must to install the extra GStreamer plugin packs. This is the package that will allow for MP3 playback on your Fedora system.

    yum -y install gstreamer gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly

     

    Macromedia Adobe Flash Player

    rpm -Uhv http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
    yum -y install flash-plugin

    Java (JRE) and JRE web plugin

    yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin

     

    RealPlayer

    Please click 'RPM Package' on this page, then save that file in your home. Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories or System Tools > Terminal) and type:

    rpm -Uhv RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm && rm RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm -f

    RealPlayer and the Mozilla plugin should now be installed.

     
    Need more help or want to ask a question? Discuss this topic here.

firewing1.com, info

  • 1 min read

    • firewing1.com and firewing1.info should redirect here now...

Audio, Video, Pitch!

  • 1 min read

    • I did something random but rather amusing this weekend:

    1. Take your favorite video, it doesn't matter what.
    2. Use Avidemux2, a great video editor to export just the audio as a WAV. To do this, select WAV PCM as your audio codec and then select Audio > Save from the menu.
    3. Open the resulting .wav in Audacity and use the Change Pitch filter on the entire file.
    4. TIP: -30% sound like low-pitch and +35% sounds more high-pitch.
    5. Export your Audacity project as a .wav PCM file.
    6. Now, return to Avidemux and select Audio > Main Track. Choose External PCM from the dropdown and now locate your saved WAV from Audacity.
    7. Change the audio codec to FFmpg MP2, 128kbps.
    8. Change the video codec to DVD(lavc) and make sure the Container is 'MPEG PS+AV'
    9. Save your new video and laugh

    It usually takes a while to encode, and the quality won't probably be great... But it's still pretty funny. Some of my mpeg's didn't work, for that I had to play to fiddle with the framerate & filters among other things for an hour or two before they turned out right.

Installing 3rd party repositories for Yum

  • 4 min read

    • There are many third party RPM repositores available for Fedora and/or RedHat based repos such as Livna, FreshRPMs, Dries (RPMForge) and Dribble. Soon many of these will merge into one repo called RPMFusion, but until then this guide will show you how to install these third party repos without giving you headaches.

    Before we start...

    Q: What in the world is a repository?
    A:     A repository (often called a 'repo') in terms of Yum (Yellow dog Updater, Modified) is a location which Yum can use to download packages from. Fedora offers Core and Extras as the official repositories, however many third-party repos are available that allow for the installation of various codecs such as mp3/DVD/WMV playback or for packages that are not allowed to be packaged in the Core and Extras due to legal reasons.

     

    Q: I can't install anything! I'm getting transaction errors like this:

    error: can't create transaction lock on /var/lib/rpm/__db.000

     A: This is because to install packages, you have to become the root user which is the only user which should have access to your package database. To do so, run this command before you start any of the commands below:

    su -

    (That's su followed by a space and a dash)
    You'll only need to execute this command once before anything mentioned below, as you will stay as root until you close the terminal or type the exit command.

     

    Livna

    Installing Livna is one command:

     

    Dribble

    The beauty of the Dribble repo is that one command will work for all Fedora versions. Make sure you have livna installed and run:

    rpm -ivh http://dribble.org.uk/repo/dribble-release-5-3.noarch.rpm

     

    FreshRPMs

    To install FreshRPMs, run:

    wget http://ftp.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrpms/fedora/linux/7/freshrpms-release/\
    freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm
    rpm -Uhv freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm
    rm -f freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm

     

    RPMForge (Dries)

    Currently there is no release RPM for Dries (RPMForge) and as a result it must be manually configured. Below is a generic configuration that should work, however if it doesn't work properly, please see the Dries configuration page for more information. Place a the following contents into the /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo file:

    # Name: RPMforge RPM Repository for Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch
    # URL: http://rpmforge.net/
    [rpmforge]
    name = Fedora 7 - i386 - RPMForge - Dries
    baseurl = http://apt.sw.be/dries/fedora/fc$releasever/$basearch/dries/RPMS
    enabled = 1
    #gpgkey = file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dries
    gpgcheck = 0

    Common Questions

    Concerning repos and Fedora development

    If you are using rawhide (aka Fedora Development), follow the instructions like normal and if a specific version is required as in the case of Livna, use the latest version possible. To enable the development repo, look in the /etc/yum.repos.d folder and you should find name.repo file and a name-devel.repo file. Edit the name.repo file and change:

    enabled=1 

    to:

    enabled=0

    Now, in the name-devel.repo file, change:

    enabled=0

     to:

    enabled=1

    This will disable the regular repository and enable the development repository so that the packages are compatible with the Fedora's development repository(ies).

     

     A note of warning

    Please remember that until RpmFusion is completed, repositories such as FreshRPMs and ATRPMs have packages that conflict with packages from Livna and/or Fedora Core|Extras. If you would like to avoid these conflicts, it is recommended that you set the incompatible repos to the disabled state. Just as shown above, simply edit the respective .repo file and change

    enabled=1

    to

    enabled=0

    Refer to the table below to find the location of the various .repo files:

    Name of repository
    		Location of .repo file
    FreshRPMs/etc/yum.repos.d/freshrpms.repo
    ATrpms/etc/yum.repos.d/atrpms.repo
    RPMForge (Dries)/etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo 
    Dribble/etc/yum.repos.d/dribble.repo
    Livna /etc/yum.repos.d/livna.repo

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Q: I would like to use a repo, but you recommended I disable it - What's the point!?
    A:     Even if a repository is disabled, this does not mean Yum cannot use it - You can temporairily enable a repository by using the --enablerepo=name option with Yum or in Yumex by selecting the repositories for the run. For example:

    yum --enablerepo=freshrpms install package_from_freshrpms

    Will temporarily enable freshrpms and install package_from_freshrpms. Once yum has finished it's work, the FreshRPMs repo returns to it's normal disabled state.

     

Installing 3rd party repositories for Yum

  • 4 min read

    • There are many third party RPM repositores available for Fedora and/or RedHat based repos such as Livna, FreshRPMs, Dries (RPMForge) and Dribble. Soon many of these will merge into one repo called RPMFusion, but until then this guide will show you how to install these third party repos without giving you headaches.

    Before we start...

    Q: What in the world is a repository?
    A:     A repository (often called a 'repo') in terms of Yum (Yellow dog Updater, Modified) is a location which Yum can use to download packages from. Fedora offers Core and Extras as the official repositories, however many third-party repos are available that allow for the installation of various codecs such as mp3/dvd/wmv playback or for packages that are not allowed to be packaged in the Core and Extras due to legal reasons.

     

    Q: I can't install anything! I'm getting transaction errors like this:

    error: can't create transaction lock on /var/lib/rpm/__db.000

     A: This is because to install packages, you have to become the root user which is the only user which should have access to your package database. To do so, run this command before you start any of the commands below:

    su -

    (That's su followed by a space and a dash)
    You'll only need to execute this command once before anything mentioned below, as you will stay as root until you close the terminal or type the exit command.

     

    Livna

    Installing Livna is a matter of one simple command:

    Dribble

    The beauty of the Dribble repo is that one command will work for all Fedora versions. Make sure you have livna installed and run:

    rpm -ivh http://dribble.org.uk/repo/dribble-release-5-3.noarch.rpm

     

    FreshRPMs

    To install FreshRPMs, run:

    wget http://ftp.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrpms/fedora/linux/6/freshrpms-release/\
    freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm
    rpm -ihv freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm
    rm -f freshrpms-release-1.1-1.fc.noarch.rpm
    exit

     

    RPMForge (Dries)

    Currently there is no release RPM for Dries (RPMForge) and as a result it must be manually configured. Below is a generic configuration that should work, however if it doesn't work properly, please see the Dries configuration page for more information. Place a the following contents into the /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo file:

    # Name: RPMforge RPM Repository for Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch
    # URL: http://rpmforge.net/
    [rpmforge]
    name = Fedora Core 6 - i386 - RPMForge - Dries
    baseurl = http://apt.sw.be/dries/fedora/fc$releasever/$basearch/dries/RPMS
    enabled = 1
    #gpgkey = file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dries
    gpgcheck = 0

    Common Questions

    Concerning repos and Fedora development

    If you are using rawhide (aka Fedora Development), follow the instructions like normal and if a specific version is required as in the case of Livna, use the latest version possible. To enable the development repo, look in the /etc/yum.repos.d folder and you should find name.repo file and a name-devel.repo file. Edit the name.repo file and change:

    enabled=1 

    to:

    enabled=0

    Now, in the name-devel.repo file, change:

    enabled=0

     to:

    enabled=1

    This will disable the regular repository and enable the development repository so that the packages are compatible with the Fedora's development repository(ies).

     

     A note of warning

    Please remember that until RpmFusion is completed, repositories such as FreshRPMs and ATRPMs have packages that conflict with packages from Livna and/or Fedora Core|Extras. If you would like to avoid these conflicts, it is recommended that you set the incompatible repos to the disabled state. Just as shown above, simply edit the respective .repo file and change

    enabled=1

    to

    enabled=0

    Refer to the table below to find the location of the various .repo files:

    Name of repository
    		Location of .repo file
    FreshRPMs/etc/yum.repos.d/freshrpms.repo
    ATrpms/etc/yum.repos.d/atrpms.repo
    RPMForge (Dries)/etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo 
    Dribble/etc/yum.repos.d/dribble.repo
    Livna /etc/yum.repos.d/livna.repo

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Q: I would like to use a repo, but you recommended I disable it - What's the point!?
    A:     Even if a repository is disabled, this does not mean Yum cannot use it - You can temporairily enable a repository by using the --enablerepo=name option with Yum or in Yumex by selecting the repositories for the run. For example:

    yum --enablerepo=freshrpms install package_from_freshrpms

    Will temporarily enable freshrpms and install package_from_freshrpms. Once yum has finished it's work, the FreshRPMs repo returns to it's normal disabled state.