Multimedia disaster

English Applications
#1

I have been using Suse (KDE) since version 9.1 and currently have four computers running 10.3. I consider it a stable distribution. Yesterday I decided to re-install 10.3 GM on one of the boxes that I use for testing new applications. To clean out any accumulated unused junk. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Kaffeine and xine-ui did not work. The audio was there, but not the picture. Yes, I ran the online update after installing. Yes, I removed all of the crippled software with Yast. Yes, I re-installed xine and then Kaffeine via the Packman repository only using Yast. But when I try to view an Xvid movie xine-ui tells me that the Xvid codecs are not installed. I spent the next six hours following links on this site, linuxquestions.org, and even the one-click install on Restricted Formats/10.3 - openSUSE-Community. Every single one ran into dependency problems that I could not resolve. I even tried deleting everything and re-installing from different Packman repositories.

The good news is that I had backed up my entire 300 GB drive to an external drive and after four more hours of copying I was back in business with the former bloated software installation. I decided to try again when I have 14 hours (including original backup) to waste.

The bad news is this question from me, a dedicated Suse user. How can we expect the real world to move to Suse when a seasoned user (me) still cannot unravel an essential function (movie playing) in a timely fashion. Yes I know all about DRM and legal requirements, but Ubuntu works right out of the box and lets me play the same movies less than 10 minutes after the installation is finished.

That’s my rant of the day. Sorry to take your time.

#2

Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide - openSUSE Forums

#3

Real world uses newer versions of the OS, such as 11.0 or 11.1 which offer newer and better ways to install software.

#4

ionmich, I suspect you ran into a glitch associated with openSUSE-10.3 that is easy to resolve. 6 hours is too long. Next time, STOP after 30 minutes (maximum) and post here. We have users very experienced who can help.

The link caf4926 gave you refers to openSUSE-11.1. I do not believe that will help you solve your dependency problem.

IMHO the first thing you need to do is ensure your software package manager is setup / configured with only 4 repositories. Just 4. Adding more can complicate the dependency issues you are having, and cause many other problems. Those 4 are OSS, Non-OSS, Update and Packman. In particular do NOT add Videolan. Do NOT! There is guidance for adding those 4 in openSUSE-10.3 here: Repositories/10.3 - openSUSE-Community
Again, ONLY OSS, Non-OSS, Update and Packman. No others. None.

Once you have those 4 added, go to YaST > Software > Software manager and mark xine-lib for removal. Do NOT apply that yet. Instead, also mark for installation the packman packaged version of libxine1. Then apply both at the same time.

After that is applied, also install the packman packaged version of xine-ui, smplayer, mplayerplug-in, vlc, ffmpeg, libffmpeg0, w32codec-all. The last two in particular add many codecs.

Note you can tell packman packaged versions by the “pm” in the version number.

And if you continue to run into problems post here, do NOT waste 6 hours. Do NOT!!!

#5

Sorry, I don’t subscribe to that philosophy. Sometimes “new and improved” has turned out to be worse than “old and lousy”. MS Vista would be a good example for most users. In any case I prefer to solve problems rather than work around them. Must be a sign of old age, eh?

#6

rotfl! Tell me about it. My wife also reminds me continually that I get grumpy with old age. rotfl!

#7

Yes, wise words I will try to remember.

The link caf4926 gave you refers to openSUSE-11.1. I do not believe that will help you solve your dependency problem.

Well that is one problem with using older versions.

IMHO the first thing you need to do is ensure your software package manager is setup / configured with only 4 repositories. Just 4. Adding more can complicate the dependency issues you are having, and cause many other problems. Those 4 are OSS, Non-OSS, Update and Packman. In particular do NOT add Videolan. Do NOT!

That is exactly what I did, having run into the Videolan problem before.

Once you have those 4 added, go to YaST > Software > Software manager and mark xine-lib for removal. Do NOT apply that yet. Instead, also mark for installation the packman packaged version of libxine1. Then apply both at the same time.

While I didn’t follow the above exactly, when I removed all xine related packages and selected xine-ui to install Yast automatically chose libxine1.

After that is applied, also install the packman packaged version of xine-ui, smplayer, mplayerplug-in, vlc, ffmpeg, libffmpeg0, w32codec-all. The last two in particular add many codecs.

I did not select smplayer, mplayerplug-in or vlc, trying to install the fewest packages. That might be part of the problem.

And if you continue to run into problems post here, do NOT waste 6 hours. Do NOT!!!

Yes of course you are right, but at my age stubborness and vanity sometimes get in the way. I do appreciate the helping hand you are holding out and when I try it again I will print out your suggestions and tape them to my monitor to remind me that help is nearby.

Thanks a bundle wise oldcpu.

#8

I think your approach of trying to install the fewest packages is an EXCELLENT approach. It does mean one can run into problems sometimes, and hopefully if there is no urgency, a few posts on a forum such as ours can clarify things.

I propose smplayer and vlc in particular because:

  • smplayer will install MPlayer as a dependency, and mplayer has its own codecs list, so often a multimedia file that won’t run in xine because of codecs, will run in MPlayer, and
    *]I believe vlc also does not use identical directories for codecs as xine, and hence sometimes vlc will be able to play a multimedia file, where xine will not
    But in truth, most codecs are installed by the dependencies that come with libffmpeg0. The package w32codec-all only adds a small number of extra codecs. With respect to “xvid” I do not know for certain if xvid is covered by both libffmpeg0 and w32codec-all, and you may need to install the Packman packaged libxvidcore4 and xvidcore.
#9

And Windows 7 has been praised as an excellent piece of software which has garnered positive reviews here and there proving that newer software can indeed be an improvement.

10.3 had a lousy, lousy software stack. 11.0 improved on this greatly and on 11.1 it has been getting to the point where I would compare it easily with the likes of apt-get/synaptic in speed, usability and reliability.

If installing new software is the solution to the problem that makes it work so be it. I’m more interested in “making things work” rather than trying to “solve an issue”.

If we were dealing with software that costs money and would thus requirement a monetary investment to upgrade I would agree with you but as we are dealing with something that costs absolutely zilch and upgrading is a non-issue I cannot see it your way.

#10

On Wed, 20 May 2009 09:16:03 GMT, Chrysantine
<Chrysantine@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>ionmich;1988479 Wrote:
>> How can we expect the real world to move to Suse when a seasoned user
>> (me) still cannot unravel an essential function (movie playing) in a
>> timely fashion.
>Real world uses newer versions of the OS, such as 11.0 or 11.1 which
>offer newer and better ways to install software.

Yeah right. Who are you trying to fool? KDE 4 is not even beta
ready. And reading this NG i have been given reason to believe the
same about opensuse 11.1 as well (not to mention 11.0).

#11

On Wed, 20 May 2009 11:56:01 GMT, Chrysantine
<Chrysantine@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>ionmich;1988526 Wrote:
>> Sorry, I don’t subscribe to that philosophy. Sometimes “new and
>> improved” has turned out to be worse than “old and lousy”. MS Vista
>> would be a good example for most users.
>And Windows 7 has been praised as an excellent piece of software which
>has garnered positive reviews here and there proving that newer software
>can indeed be an improvement.
>
>10.3 had a lousy, lousy software stack. 11.0 improved on this greatly
>and on 11.1 it has been getting to the point where I would compare it
>easily with the likes of apt-get/synaptic in speed, usability and
>reliability.
>
>ionmich;1988526 Wrote:
>> In any case I prefer to solve problems rather than work around them.
>> Must be a sign of old age, eh?
>If installing new software is the solution to the problem that makes it
>work so be it. I’m more interested in “making things work” rather than
>trying to “solve an issue”.
>
>If we were dealing with software that costs money and would thus
>requirement a monetary investment to upgrade I would agree with you but
>as we are dealing with something that costs absolutely zilch and
>upgrading is a non-issue I cannot see it your way.

Oh, i do it when it gives me something better than what i have. The
11 series does not look mature enough for production work yet. That
is why i am running 10.3. KDE4 is overloaded with eye-candy. (No
make that eye-heroin, addicting and toxic.)

#12

Ok, here we go again.

I installed all the software as instructed above in the same order. When I clicked on an .avi file to play it I got the following error from SMplayer…

“Mplayer has finished unexpectedly. Exit code : 127”

When I clicked on “Show log” I got the following message…

"/usr/bin/mplayer -noquiet -nofs -nomouseinput -sub-fuzziness 1 -identify -slave -vo xv, -ao alsa, -nokeepaspect -framedrop -nodr -double -input conf=/usr/share/smplayer/input.conf -stop-xscreensaver -wid 39845902 -monitorpixelaspect 1 -ass -embeddedfonts -ass-line-spacing 0 -ass-font-scale 1 -ass-styles /home/ingrid/.config/smplayer/styles.ass -fontconfig -font Arial -subfont-autoscale 0 -subfont-osd-scale 20 -subfont-text-scale 20 -subcp ISO-8859-1 -subpos 100 -cache 2000 -osdlevel 0 -vf-add screenshot -slices -channels 2 -af equalizer=0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 -softvol -softvol-max 110 /home/ingrid/Creature Comforts (AC3-2ch).avi

/usr/bin/mplayer: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libschroedinger-1.0.so.0: undefined symbol: oil_function_class_ptr_multiply_and_acc_8xn_s16_u8"

Suggestions?

#13

If you have errors about missing libschroedinger symbols, that means the library has been installed from a location where the parent program wasn’t and thus is of different version. If you installed MPlayer, you should also installed that library from Packman.

You should be able to see various versions of it under YAST under the “versions” tab. (At least on the QT version of the package management)

#14

Well the installed version is 1.0.5-0.pm.1. Does the “pm” not indicate it was installed from Packman? In any case since I do not recall specifically requesting libschroedinger to be installed I suspect Yast installed it as a dependency. Is Yast not responsible for finding the correct dependency?

#15

did you install liboil? I think schroedinger needs it

#16

It should but only if the package itself is correctly set to require it.

#17

liboil is installed but it does not have a “pm” in the version id. That particular version of liboil (0.3.9-67) is the what Yast reports. Of course it does show other versions available (0.3.16-0.pm.1) but since Yast installed it I hesitate to assume I am smarter than Yast. Once again I have to ask, is Yast not responsible for installing the correct dependency? If mplayer needs schroedinger and schroedinger needs liboil, how is a user to know where the chain starts and ends? Perhaps a re-installation of 10.3 followed by an online update is the simplest way to clear the mess.

#18

Go to liboil in software management go to the versions tab and select the radio button for the Packman version

#19

In fact it’s liboil-0
from Packman

#20

That did the trick.

Thank you all for being patient with me and for all the guidance. I hope I can make it up to you by helping someone else.