Guest imanoob Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 (edited) Ok, so I just installed the newest version of Mandriva. It is the only system on my laptop. On previous computers I have only had windows and this is my first experience with linux. Everything is going smoothly except I dont really understand how to install programs... I need an instant messaging program and pidgin was the first thing to pop up in google so i went ahead and downloaded the tar file and extracted it, but i have no idea where to go from there. I also need a program that plays DVDs. Xine seemed perfect so i downloaded a bunch of rpm files from their website and installed them, but i dont know what to do with them. Kaffeine still doesnt play DVDs even though i have the libdvdcss file under the software manager (i guess). Also, I downloaded the newest version of firefox as a tar file. I am currently using Firefox 3.0, and right now when i click on the firefox icon in my toolbar and such Firefox 3.0 starts, but if i logoff my computer then all of the icons and such revert back to 2.0. How do i fix it so Firefox 3.0 is my permanent default? It's not really a big deal, but i would prefer to be able to just click on the firefox shortcut instead of having to go into the 3.0 folder and clicking on the firefox in there. Please when you respond remember that i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing. If i really cant figure this out I might just have to buy XP from my school... please help. I've been trying to figure this all out for hours and it's really frustrating me. Edited July 15, 2008 by imanoob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 If you download the tar file of Firefox, then this will be why you're icons reset - because they are for the version of Firefox installed as a package from Mandriva. Therefore, if you visit the easyurpmi link at the top of this page and add all repos - you'll need main,contrib, backports, plf and the updates repos and you'll have access to all the packages you require. You hardly ever need to download a tar file to use this. If you used the tar, you manually have to create your own icons that point to this version of Firefox. However, it needs to be done for all users. If you install the repos like I mentioned, then you can install the package, and everyone automatically has access to the latest packages. This will also apply to pidgin as well. You also hardly ever have to download rpms manually, because xine is also available via the repos I just mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking777 Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 What Ian says. But if you can install from tarballs you are not so much of a noob as you make out!! Hope you enjoy Mandy anyway, it is a good choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imanoob Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Ok, thank you for your help. I managed to install pidgin and fix my problems with firefox, but i still can't play dvds! I tried downloading and installing mplayer a few times in a few different ways from different sources, but every time it wont run. They wont play in xine or kaffeine and i have libdvdcss2 and libcss0. (at least i think i do) Is there any way for me to easily make my dvds work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking777 Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 In Package manager search for 'codecs' you probably need the W32 package. If that doesn't work try any others you find there that you think might work. (You may have guessed I am not an expert!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imanoob Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Ok i finally got mplayer to work, but I still cant play dvds. I installed the plf win32 codecs.. when I try to play a dvd, mplayer says no stream found to handle url dvd://1. How do i fix this? Thank you again for all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking777 Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 (edited) This is just a thought, but have you tried paying it with Kaffeine? Or you could always install VLC media player and try it with that. VLC plays just about anything. Edited July 15, 2008 by viking777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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