From owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 27 16:43:08 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A3B7416A4CE for ; Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:43:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from zeus.acuson.com (ac17860.acuson.com [157.226.71.80]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5E8EE43D7D for ; Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:42:13 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from DavidJohnson@Siemens.com) Received: from mvaexch02 ([157.226.230.209]:1908 helo=mvaexch02.acuson.com) by zeus.acuson.com with esmtp (Exim 4.14) id 1AldmA-00048i-3c; Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:41:50 -0800 Received: by mvaexch02.acuson.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) id ; Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:34:26 -0800 Received: from Siemens.com (dhcp-46-107.acuson.com [157.226.46.107]) by mvaexch01.acuson.com with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2657.72) id VDN32FGB; Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:33:00 -0800 From: Johnson David To: Eric Podany Message-ID: <401704C2.5030402@Siemens.com> Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 16:39:30 -0800 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040113 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <001e01c3e52c$905754b0$9a377286@ericldjyh5q5k0> In-Reply-To: <001e01c3e52c$905754b0$9a377286@ericldjyh5q5k0> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Scanner: exiscan for exim4 (http://duncanthrax.net/exiscan/) *1AldmA-00048i-3c*tSWZwKSqgus* cc: "FreeBSD, Newbies" Subject: Re: DVD Playback X-BeenThere: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Gathering place for new users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 00:43:08 -0000 Eric Podany wrote: > Hello all, I'm even more of a newbie than most on this mailing list, > so forgive my ignorance. I'm trying to switch from W2k to FreeBSD, > so I need to get a few integral pieces working, and I'll figure out > the details later. I've been looking at the ports listing, and found > a few DVD players - mplayer, kplayer, and ogle. Any recommendations > on what to use? Kplayer says it is for use with KDE, but I can't > remember what window manager I am using. How do I check that out? > And also, how do I download the ports to my machine? I've found > documentation on pkg_add stuff, but I'm still feeling tentative about > it. And will the ports integrate themselves into the window manager > automatically after I download them, or do I need to set that up as > well? I recommend mplayer. It has always worked for me. You'll need the gtk+ front end as well to get a GUI interface. The other option is xine, but I don't have experience with it. kmplayer is merely a KDE front end to mplayer. You still need mplayer with it. It's interface is rather lackluster, but it's main advantage is that it acts as a browser plugin to Konqueror. How do you find out what window manager you're using? Gee, never thought of it before. Usually you just know because you're the one who configured it! Do you have a taskbar or panel on the top or bottom of the screen? If so, then you're using KDE if there's a 'K' icon in the corner, or using GNOME if there's a foot icon instead. If neither, you're probably using something else. If you never bothered setting up a desktop, then you're most likely using the default twm window manager. Installed ports will NOT integrate into the window manager menus automatically. While many would like to see ports do this automatically, it violates one of the most sacred principles of ports: don't touch anything that doesn't belong to you. That said, KDE and GNOME applications will automatically put themselves into their appropriate desktop's menu. Further details on using ports can be found in the most excellent FreeBSD Handbook. David