Running Linux, 5th Edition - Matthias Kalle Dalheimer [70]
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Tip
You don't need to mount a DVD or video disc: just press Play. You do, however, need to be sure that the /dev/dvd or /media/dvd device exists on your system.
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Tinkerers will note that Totem uses the Xine backend, which is as configurable as Totem is simple. For example, not all QuickTime video subformats (there are several) are supported, but users of most recent x86-based hardware can copy the QuickTime DLLs from a Windows installation into /usr/lib/win32 and access their system's hardware support. In addition, if you have RealPlayer for Linux installed, Totem is able to display the RealVideo format using RealPlayer's own binary codecs. For more information about media playback on Linux, including performance tuning hints, updates to the Xine libraries, and links to other media playback systems, visit http://www.xinehq.de.
Additional Applications and Resources
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of other GNOME applications, from software development tools to games to flowcharting and diagramming tools. The best ways to explore them are to visit the http://gnome.org web site and browse the software map or to try installing a few from your update system, whether it's Red Carpet, up2date, apt-get, or YaST.
If you get stuck, there are several places to turn for help. In addition to the Nautilus help system and the gnome.org web site, try looking for help in chat systems. Developers can be found on irc.gnome.org in #gnome, so if you have software development questions, go there. A web search on the text of an error message can often turn up the solution to a problem. Searching Google for an error message you've seen can turn up postings to public forums from people who have seen (and hopefully solved) the same error.
Chapter 4. Basic Unix Commands and Concepts
If you've come to Linux from Windows or another non-Unix operating system, you have a steep learning curve ahead of you. We might as well be candid on this point. Unix is a world all its own, even though it has become a lot more user-friendly over the last few years.
In this chapter, we introduce the rudiments of Unix for those readers who have never had exposure to this operating system. If you are coming from Microsoft Windows or other environments, the information in this chapter will be absolutely vital to you. Unlike other operating systems, Unix is not at all intuitive. Many of the commands have seemingly odd names or syntax, the reasons for which usually date back many years to the early days of this system. And, although many of the commands may appear to be similar to their counterparts in the Windows command-line interpreter, there are important differences.
Instead of getting into the dark mesh of text processing, shell syntax, and other issues, in this chapter we strive to cover the basic commands needed to get you up to speed with the system if you're coming from a non-Unix environment. This chapter is far from complete; a real beginner's Unix tutorial would take an entire book. It's our hope that this chapter will give you enough to keep you going in your adventures with Linux, and that you'll invest in some more advanced books once you have a need to do so. We'll give you enough background to make your terminal usable, keep track of jobs, and enter essential commands.
Part 2 of this book contains material on system administration and maintenance. This is by far the most important part of the book for anyone running his own Linux system. If you are completely new to Unix, the material found in Part II should be easy to follow once you've completed the tutorial here.
One big job we merely touch on in this chapter is how to edit files. It's one of the first things you need to learn on any operating