I'm sorry to take so long to get back to you, but I had a lot of downloading to do to get to this point :^(.
On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 21:56:42 -0600, Charlie Mahan wrote: > On July 30, 2004 20:17:08, deedee emrys wrote: > > Is there a way to fix mplayer so that the resolution and depth is > > reduced just for it (or is this a monumentally stupid question)? The > > current resolution and depth work very nicely overall and I would hate > > to change that. > > If it's working you're lucky. I glanced back through my notes on customer > systems using that chip-set on various motherboards and found a case of, > "some work at 1024x768, others are for kaka." 6/5 and pick'em, luck of the > draw and the whim of the Gods of Silicon. I didn't do anything special to get it to work well. However, the display is very nice. Although the screen is really 15", it shows a bigger picture (and clearer picture) than my expensive 17" monitor (???). I didn't expect that from a budget system. > The biggest thing is the colour depth anyway. Higher resolution does draw more > memory and processor cycles but not to the same extent as going from 65,000 > odd colours to 16,000,000. I doubt you would see the gradations of colour > anyway. I can't. For some reason the difference is visible on this unit. > It was worth a test but I don't think you need to go 800x640 as long as you > stay at 16 bit colour. In any event, it didn't work :^(. > How much memory are you using for graphics and how much do you have in total? > The reason I ask is that on-board graphics with some rare (getting less rare > but...) exceptions use the CPU for all playback functions unlike a separate > graphic adaptor (read as video card) which has a Graphics Processing Unit. > Let's start there. Good question. I don't know the answer. How does one determine the amount of memory being used for graphics? > In the "budget systems" (on-board graphics etc) I've assembled for people > Athlon XP+ anything is OK as long as there's enough memory, Duron maybe, > Celeron not so much. I don't recall off the top of my pointy head whether > that chip-set was ever used on an Intel board or only for AMD processors. AMD > only I believe. I'm using a newer generation of the SiS chip-set in the > system I'm writing this on. > > So is it a Duron? Actually, it is an Intel P4 processor (1.7GHz) with 256Mb RAM plus another 256Mb swap. > > >> I ran 'xvinfo' as suggested in the logs and got the following: > > >> > > >> X-Video Extension version 2.2 > > >> screen #0 > > >> no adaptors present > > That doesn't look too promising. A whole whack of stuff should be displayed by > that command. Sorry for the length of this: > > nanook]$ xvinfo > X-Video Extension version 2.2 > screen #0 > Adaptor #0: "SIS 300/315/330 series Video Overlay" > number of ports: 1 > port base: 56 > operations supported: PutImage > supported visuals: > snip I had expected that mine would have been long as well. Actually, it was when I saw that xvinfo indicated no adaptors were present on my system that I decided I needed to ask someone about that. Am I right in assuming that the adaptors should have been installed or configured or whatever when I installed Linux? Of course, I could be on a completely wrong track, but I'm thinking that XFree86 has something to do with this and maybe mine is not recent enough. I'm using XFree86-4.3-5mdk. This came up again when I was downloading. Two of the libraries I needed apparently are included in XFree86-4.3-30mdk which comes with ML10 but not ML9.1 or 9.2. XFree86 in 9.1 only goes up to 4.3-8. > > > What kernel? Have you upgraded? > > > > The kernel is 2.4.21-0.25mdk. I notice that the kernel with ML10 is 2.4.25. Do you know if trying to install and run XFree86-4.3-30 with my current kernel will cause problems? It's looking like I may have to upgrade to ML10 if I want mplayer to work correctly. > Two things, where'd you find *that* kernel and why don't you download the > update kernel? > > ftp://ftp.proxad.net/pub/Distributions_Linux/Mandrake/official/updates/9.1/RPMS/kernel-2.4.21.0.32mdk-1-1mdk.i586.rpm I need the kernel sources (for something else) and that file takes a couple of days to download using my system. ML9.1 comes with 2.4.13 or something. I did two upgrades of the kernel to get where I am now, so I know it takes a long time for me to bag the sources. > If you're wondering why I always link to proxad in Paris it's because I know > it's synchronized to Mandrake and it's fast. > > I know it's slow on dial up but it is a security and usability issue. I don't mind the download taking so long generally (it all happens in the background anyway), but I'm currently sitting on the fence debating on whether to upgrade altogether. I'm very happy with the way my system is currently working and this is a very busy time for me, so I'm not excited about upgrading. However, two of the programs I use a lot of have gone through enormous changes over the years I've had 9.1 and an upgrade might be in order for them as well. > Whatever works is good. Don't worry about the 3D if you aren't a gamer, and if > you were you probably would have sacrificed non-essentials from your budget > to use something a bit more performance capable than that chip-set. > > You know, things such as food, shelter, clothing. <g> I'm definitely not a gamer. I play games, but food, shelter, clothing all come ahead of them. It takes me forever to finish a game anyway. I still have two cases filled with some great DOS fantasy role-playing games that I'm slowly working my way through. It'll take me years yet to finish them :^). I'm in no hurry. > Mplayer should work. But not necessarily. Is the file available anywhere or is > it something you have on a disk? If it's available I'd take a look since some > Windows media formats are "supported but not" if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the file (which is over 85Mb) contains proprietary information and I'm not at liberty to allow anyone else to view it. I noticed that there were later versions of the win32 codecs on the plf url, so I downloaded them. > Apple Quicktime Movie Trailers is the site I use to be sure the mplayer > plug-in and other "items" are functional for customer's boxes after assembly > and installation: > > http://www.apple.com/trailers/ Super. Thanks for the link. > The link I provided earlier. PLF. It may be a pain, it may aggravate hell out > of you, but add plf as a media source and try the urpmi mplayer command as > super user. When asked if it's OK to download and install the packages select > n and make a note of everything you need to download. That way you can do it > in your own time. I downloaded everything that ML says I needed, except for libXFree86-4.3.-30mdk which contains libXinerama.so.1 and libXxf86vm.so.1. I suspect that if I try to install libXFree86-4.3-30mdk, I will find myself with another bunch of dependencies to deal with, namely, XFree86-4.3-30mdk itself. I don't think I'm up for that. > I would _strongly_ suggest that you get a friend that has a broadband > connection to download everything in the updates directory at one of the > mirrors and burn it to CD for you. Then keeping it fully up to date with > rsync is relatively easy and painless. I'll provide a link to an easy > tutorial if needed but I think one was copied to the Community TWiki. > > Or I'll just send you a bash script to use. Actually, I have the 9.1 powerpack which I got as soon as it was originally released. I really, really love 9.1. I also get update CDs from Edmunds-Enterprises. I notice those have come to an end for 9.1. However, I have all the updates available through March 2004, plus the updates for software I actually installed and use are current. I intend to take your advice and get all the remaining updates. > > Thanks, > > > You're welcome deedee but I really haven't helped you that much. Yet... > > I think you need to seriously consider that upgrade. I agree that I need to consider an upgrade of one sort or another. Since XFree86 affects the display, I'm loath to do anything to mess that up. I expect I will have to bite the bullet and get ML10 before I can determine what if anything is the problem with getting video output from mplayer. Thanks, again, for your help. It has been a major learning experience (which I consider a good thing). deedee Registered Linux User #327485 Visit "WordStar & GNU/Linux" http://www.wordstar2.com Also, see the WordStar Users Group http://cbabbage.wordstar2.com -- _______________________________________________ Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
____________________________________________________ Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com ____________________________________________________
