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[xotoad]

 We have one of the first OLPC XO G1G1 computers.   First thing we did was to install Skype (without video), Opera, and Java, and even Flash.  All worked, but the little XO was slow and finicky.  Once the novelty wore off nobody wanted to use the XO on a daily basis.  The fun was over.

For several months the XO sat in the closet and it was sad.  I began to use it as an eReader, and that was fine, but when we got a Kindle, the XO went back into the closet.

I did not like the idea of retiring the XO, so I installed a program called Mplayer.  This works great.  Nikki could download her TV shows, movies, and play them on her lunch break.  We have an old V-Mate by Sandisk, which enabled us to copy any movie or TV show on to a SD card.  So any video from the internet or the TV/Netflix could be put on a SD card and played on the XO.  For two years Nkki used the XO at lunch to read ebooks or watch her videos.  What a success!! 

For Christmas I bought Nikki an Archos 7o Internet tablet (android), the lighter and thinner tablet replaced the XO, and back into the closet it went.   

Here is how we now use the XO  today. 

The XO has a  SSD and not a spinning hard drive.   There is no fan, so the XO runs cool 24/7 and does not use a lot of electricity.  Sounds good, but "what am I running 24/7??? -- I use it as an internet radio and podcast/music audio broadcaster. 

 I have a C.Crane FM Transmitter to broadcast throughout the entire home.  So any radio in the house that is tuned in 90.5 fm gets what ever is being broadscasted from the XO.  Usually you will find the following being played at my home:

RFI Musique (www.rfi.fr)
No agaenda show Podcast (either streaming or downloaded copy)
RFI Monde News and Talk

I have also begun to place my Podcasts on a USB stick and POP it in the OLPC for playing throughout the house while cleaning or working in the garage. 

My favorite Podcasts
New York Times podcasts
TWIT Podcast and Shows
No Agenda Show
Canadian Broadcast CBC

So I pile a whole bunch of podcasts on the USB Stick and it will play all of them or my internet radio stations (streaming).

So you might ask why I need this.  I don't,  but I hate to have this maching go to waste, so I am using it everyday 24/7 now and it works very well.  I don't like the idea of running the Windows machine just to play a podcast or listen to the internet radio.   Mplayer plays just about every audio and video format.  There you have it, this is how I use my XO today.

I would like to add that I am a "returned Peace Corps Volunteer"  so listening to Radio France International crystal clear (instead of on my short wave) is a huge pleasure.  I can stream their news channel or their music channel all day and night.  I love the music, as you will hear music that you never hear in the states. 

Being that I have one of the first G1G1 XO models, I have to add a few comments.

The keyboard was replaced only a few weeks after we received it.  The mouse problems and sticky key problems went away forever.  We run the 767 build, as it is the only newer version that works on my unit.  I have only two activities installed.  Terminal and Browser.   Yes, I have only three icons on the home page, Journal, Browser and Terminal.  Sorry this post has taken so long to edit, but my Chemotherapy has been rough on me.  Special thanks to Anna for her posts. 

[anna]

I've got that old mplayer binary on my server.  Check your PMs for the link.  I'm running this server out of my house, so I don't post things like that in public so my bandwidth doesn't get hammered.

[GregYohn]

Hola!

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/howdoi/?p=199
This might help, yum install mplayer


I posted recently how to install the old Skype from the Polish website.

I had the Flash 9.0.48.0 but it did not allow me to view my Deportivo Vali football game against Tolima. That's Colombian Football.for you Norte Americano's! Flash Player 10 can not run on the XO and I tried to download the latest version. I think it is 9.0.247? Just not doing it correct!

[anna]

Not to veer off the initial topic too much, but I thought I'd try out compiling mplayer tonight...

...and got mplayer compiled on os300py, but cannot for the life of me get full screen video.  It's either on the top left corner in a little bitty window, or with the -fs option, a little bitty window in the center of the screen.  But at least there's sound and video!  I suppose that's progress.

BTW, yes, I compiled it on the XO, which took forever and a bit of finagling.

Seriously, I've tried everything I could find on the Google to try to get this full screen.  Does anyone out there have any tricks to get this to work?

EDIT:  I got it working!  Apparently I was missing some dependencies.  It turned into an 11M binary.  I dropped it into /usr/bin on a fresh os300py, did "modprobe snd-pcm-oss" and then set up /home/olpc/.mplayer/config like on Teapot's Ubuntu.  Awesome mplayer goodness at fullscreen!

[ChristophD]

Have you guys tried using the JAMedia activity made in Uruguay?

I just got back from a weekend trip where we used it on an XO-1.5 to watch Futurama episodes during the bus-ride and it worked like a charm

Cheers,
Christoph

[jl]

I've been looking for a way to reinstall mplayer as well, although even if anna is nice enough to send me a pm with a link to the binary, I'm not sure what to do with it -- I always used Roto's initial wget instruction to download mplayer to my home directory.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, but I'm probably out of luck.

jl

[davewa]

Have you guys tried using the JAMedia activity made in Uruguay?

I just got back from a weekend trip where we used it on an XO-1.5 to watch Futurama episodes during the bus-ride and it worked like a charm

Cheers,
Christoph

I'm using it on my XO-1.  Very nice even though I don't understand more than five words of Spanish.

Five minutes after installing the program, I went into the code and added a "radio station" so I could listen to Hawaiian music. 

[anna]

I've been looking for a way to reinstall mplayer as well, although even if anna is nice enough to send me a pm with a link to the binary, I'm not sure what to do with it -- I always used Roto's initial wget instruction to download mplayer to my home directory.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, but I'm probably out of luck.

jl

I uploaded the tarball to http://www.sendspace.com/file/hm4ybf

Simply download it, then unpack it

Code:

tar xjvf mplayer.tar.bz2

You'll probably need to make it executable

Code:

chmod 755 mplayer

Either move it to your path

Code:

sudo mv mplayer /usr/bin

Or run it from that directory

Code:

./mplayer myfile

Don't forget to put your options in your /home/olpc/.mplayer/config file.

[xotoad]

thank you very much Anna for your mplayer file.

Downloaded it and I have found it in the /home/olpc/       

tried to unpack it, but I think I have to move it first.

I want to use it in Terminal, but can't remember how to move, unpack, install.

When I did installation before, "roto mplayer method", it was so easy.

Stuck

[jl]

I second the thanks to Anna for the mplayer binary. If you follow the instructions she gave in the pandora radio thread for using a usb stick to download and move the file, and substitute the mplayer instructions, it works.

[anna]

I second the thanks to Anna for the mplayer binary. If you follow the instructions she gave in the pandora radio thread for using a usb stick to download and move the file, and substitute the mplayer instructions, it works.

Don't thank me for this mplayer binary - it's Roto's.  I just reposted it, as I happened to still have the file.  I am sorry for all the confusion regarding downloading and installing.  Sometimes I don't know what other folks don't know.

When you move to an F11 build and use the mplayer I compiled, then you can thank me. 


http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=4863.msg32424#msg32424