[MPlayer-users] [draft] mplayer quickstart guide

[Diego Biurrun]

Hi!

I have written a short mplayer quickstart guide that I want to replace
the current README file.  The README currently just says "Go read
DOCS/documentation.html" which is quite of reading material.  My
README is designed to teach the basic steps to get mplayer up and
running.  It does not intend to go in depth, for this we have the docs
after all.

This is just a rough draft.  Please let me know what you think, so
that I can revise it.  Is it detailed enough?  Did I miss any
important parts?  Should I put in the commands that you use to do
stuff like 'cp XYZ ~' or is it enough to say "Copy XYZ to your
homedirectory"?  Is the wording clear and understandable?
Regards

Diego



_________________________
MPlayer Quickstart Guide:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to MPlayer, the Unix movie player.
This document is for getting you started in a few minutes.  It cannot answer all
your questions.  If you have problems, please read the documentation.  It is
extensive and should answer most of your questions.  Start by reading the manpage
and DOCS/documentation.html.


____________________________
STEP1: Compiling the sources
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one is straightforward.  Unpack the sources and then run

./configure
make
make install

For the last step you need to have root privileges as usual.  Configure has a
lot of options, run './configure --help' to see them.  If you want a GUI, you
will have to enable it with './configure --enable-gui'.


____________________________________________
STEP2: Installing the onscreen display fonts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MPlayer has a nice onscreen display.  To enable it you need some fonts.  Get
them from our homepage.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html

Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes.  Then create the
directory ~/.mplayer/font/ and copy the font files into that directory.


______________________________
STEP3: Installing the GUI skin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you want to have a GUI in addition to the command line, you need a skin.
Download a skin from the download page

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html

unpack it and put the contents in ~/.mplayer/Skin/default/.