DVD Playback

[Johnson David]

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