vlc media player (ah! sweet videos on my system again, yah)

If you don’t know about the vlc media player by now, you have been living in a dark, dingy and videoless world so far. I had used it on my windows system in the bad old days and since i am pissed off with the players that come along with the slackware linux on my system for not being able to play flv files and similar obscure video extensions, i got myself the package. All you have to do is to go super user and run the command:

installpkg vlc-0.8.5-i686-3.tgz

or whatever the name of the package is then and… thats it. Run vlc by typing “vlc” (duh) in the command prompt or making a shortcut on the desktop. As most of you already know, vlc makes an excellent dvd player too, not to mention playing all those flv files downloaded from youtube (using the UnPlug plugin). Shhh!

Gtalking

1. Click Accounts > Add (At the main login screen)
2. From the protocol dropdown select Jabber
3. Your screen name will be your gmail address except @gmail.com Example: If your address is xyz@gmail.com then your screen name will be xyz
4. Change the server from jabber.org to gmail.com
5. Password will be the same password that you use for Gmail
6. Click show more options
7. “Use TLS is available” should be checked
8. The connect server should be “talk.gmail.com”

“Rar”ing to go

Since we all download rar files at some point in our lives, i found UnRar for linux a handy tool. And since i am using slackware, all i needed to do to install it was to download the slackware package and put the unrar binary file in /usr/bin. To use it, type in the command:

unrar -e filename

using tar to copy files

I found the ”tar“ command quite useful in copying a directory (including all its files and sub-directories) to another directory of my choice:

cd /from-stuff/
tar cf – . | (cd /to-stuff; tar xvf -)

/from-stuff/: the directory from which you want to copy the files
/to-stuff/: the directory to which you want to copy your stuff

I have not figured out the tar command yet, so i am currently using this like a black box with input(from-stuff) and an output(to-stuff)

mounting the usb dvd drive

Since the dvd drive which came along with my laptop can only “read-write” dvd-r’s (and not dvd+r), it was imperative for me to be able to mount my usb dvd+r drive on slackware. Here is how it is done:

mount -r /dev/scd0 /mnt/dvd/

/dev/scd0: seems like this is used for scsi devices

xchm

For all those of us geeks who collect .chm ebooks, xchm is a necessary program in linux. I finally got it up on slackware after having failed to install it on fedora(seems that i didn’t follow the instructions to the letter).

removing kde’s trash can from the desktop

I prefer to keep the program shortcuts on the panel and so it became an annoying to see that lone trash can teasing me into deleting it. But ofcourse, right-clicking on it gives no such option. So we had to do it in the hacker’s spirit. First I made a shortcut for the icon on my panel. Then I opened the terminal and typed:

rm -R ~/Desktop/trash.desktop

viola! a clean desktop finally

how to build a program in linux

In linux, its the trinity of commands “configure_make_make-install” which you use to install most programs. But before you do that, it is advisable to take a look at the “install.txt” file before proceeding because there might be some extra flags or commands one have to add to get it correct. Else, first extract the file by right clicking on it in kde (or gnome) and selecting extract here. Then open a terminal, “cd” to the location you have extracted your file to and type:

./configure
//system spits out crap
make
//more console crap
su
//enter root password
make install
//more… yeah! you get it
exit
//goes out of su mode

now all one has to do is to either type the name of the program in the console or make a shortcut on the desktop

mounting the pendrive

This was similar to mounting the cdrom:

mount -rw -t auto /dev/sda1 /mnt/pendrive

-rw: readable and writable
-t auto: filetype detected automatically
/dev/sda1: seems that this is the type of device for pendrives
/mnt/pendrive: i had to create the “pendrive” folder in the “/mnt” directory

after having done this, open the “/mnt/pendrive” folder to access its contents. After you are finished with it, close all related “/mnt/pendrive” folders and konsoles, and unmount it with the command:

umount /mnt/pendrive

if it gives an error message saying that it is busy, then give the command:

umount -l /mnt/pendrive

-l: “lazy” unmount which means, it will unmount as soon as the device stops being busy

getting slackware to play sound

Before slackware, i had fedora 7 on my system along with windows xp. It was not possible to play mp3s on fedora since it didn’t include the required propriety codecs. And after erasing the hard-disk of both XP and fedora, i thought i wouldn’t be able to play my music.
I did a little hunting around the kde menu’s and came upon KMix where i made sure that “LED’s” where switched on especially for the option “PCM”. Then i made sure all the volumes where not on mute and fired up amarok to test it. And yes! it did work! thank you kde-help

PS: i am surprised that slackware 11 can play mp3s… and when i checked, mpegs and divx too (although it was slow)… a task for another rainy day, i suppose