Linux-Noob Forums

I want to download Windows Media Player to be able to see some videos.

 

I downloaded .exe but when I try to open it, I get this error:

 

There is no installed viewer capable of displaying the document.

 

Can someone tell me what I need to do?

I am using Fedora Core RIII

login to a console (terminal) as root (type su -)

 

then do this

 







 

that will install mplayer which should play most movie types...

 

cheers

 

anyweb

Well I did that, but what do I do then - do I try to install the .exe file, cause that doesn't work.

I want to look at the videos here: [/url][url=http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=224352]http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=224352

And they still wont open...

Unless you use an emulator like Wine, you cannot run Windows executables on a Linux machine. Mplayer is a Linux executable that will provide the same functionality.

So I either have to get wine or Mplayer?

 

Which would be easier for a noob like me to 'get'?

And then the 10 000 dollar question...

 

How?

 

 

=)

Stick with mplayer. You can use the apt-get method anyweb listed above, you can do the same with yum, or can manually download the rpms from, say, freshrpms.net. If you go the apt-get or yum routes, you will need to configure your repositories; there are howtos on freshrpms.net.

Assuming that you have installed mplayer (as detailed above with apt-get) then the following TWO additional things, should allow you to play most wmv (windows media video) without too much problems in linux.

 

 

 

1. Install CODECS for mplayer

 

go here and download the mplayer codecs pack

 

[/url]http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/dload.html

 

the ones you should download are called 'essential' codecs, here is a

 

direct link

 

once downloaded do as follows as normal user

 







 

now that will create a directory in your home folder probably called something like

 

/home/anyweb/essential-20041107

 

once done, login as root (su -) and do this

 







 

that's it, done !

 

2. Install the mplayer PLUGIN.

 

Now that you have the codecs, let us add a 'plugin' to FireFox, which will allow you to 'play' most Windows Media Videos directly in FireFox.

 

go http://mplayerplug-in.sourceforge.net/download.php and download the RPM for your distro, so if you are using Fedora Core Release 3 then get this one [url=http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mplayer...86.rpm?download]http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mplayer...86.rpm?download

 

once you have downloaded the rpm, you'll need to install it as root, so login (su -) and do as follows

 







 

That's it, now close FireFox and restart it, go to some website that 'hosts' videos and try playing one.

 

mplayer should now open it and play it back within a FireFox window :)

 

cheers (and thanks to grep420 for the tip for where to stick the codecs for mplayer and thanks to Hijinks for the mplayer plugin link)

 

anyweb

Is that what you did for me?

yes, but i didn't install the mplayer plugin for firefox yet, so you can try that, it's in the notes just above ^^

 

cheers

Ok this is right, right? *raises an eyebrow*

 

[root@localhost miss_lia]# ls mp*

mplayerplug-in-2.75-0.FC3.i386.rpm mplayerplug-in-4.75-0.FC3.i386.rpm

mplayerplug-in-3.75-0.FC3.i386.rpm

[root@localhost miss_lia]# rpm -ivh mplayerplug-in-2.75-0.FC3.i386.rpm

Preparing... ########################################### [100%]

package mplayerplug-in-2.75-0.FC3 is already installed

[root@localhost miss_lia]#