[Mplayer-cvslog] CVS: main README,1.3,1.4

[Diego Biurrun CVS]

Update of /cvsroot/mplayer/main
In directory mail:/var/tmp.root/cvs-serv28607

Modified Files:
	README 
Log Message:
Reorganized the README.  More general information up front, more concise
steps.  Added Step0 with downloading instructions instead of repeating this
in several steps.  Mention system wide as well as per user file locations.
Rewordings everywhere, hopefully clearer.


Index: README
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mplayer/main/README,v
retrieving revision 1.3
retrieving revision 1.4
diff -u -r1.3 -r1.4
--- README	31 May 2002 21:39:12 -0000	1.3
+++ README	26 Jul 2002 03:53:27 -0000	1.4
@@ -1,72 +1,113 @@
 
 Welcome to MPlayer, the Unix movie player. MPlayer can play most standard video
 formats out of the box and almost all others with the help of external codecs.
-MPlayer currently works best from the command line, but there is a GUI with
-skin support in the alpha development stage.
+MPlayer currently works best from the command line, but visual feedback for
+many functions is available from its onscreen status display (OSD), which is
+also used for displaying subtitles. A GUI with skin support is in the alpha
+development stage, but not completely finished yet.
+
+This document is for getting you started in a few minutes. It cannot answer all
+of your questions. If you have problems, please read the documentation in
+DOCS/documentation.html, which should help you solve most of your problems.
+Also read the man page to learn how to use MPlayer.
 
-This document is for getting you started in a few minutes.  It cannot answer
-all of your questions.  If you have problems, please read the documentation in
-DOCS/documentation.html.  It is extensive and should answer most of your 
-questions. Also read the manpage to learn how to use MPlayer.
 
-To compile MPlayer with X11 support, you need to have the XFree86 development
-packages installed, for the GUI you also need the GTK development packages.
+Requirements:
+- To compile MPlayer with X11 support, you need to have the XFree86 development
+  packages installed.
+- For the GUI you need the GTK 1.2 development packages.
+
 
 Before you start...
 Unless you know what are you doing, consult DOCS/video.html to see which driver
-to use with your video card to get the best video quality and performance.
-Most cards require special drivers not included with standard X11, to drive
-the 2-D video acceleration features (YUV, scaling etc) of your card!
+to use with your video card to get the best quality and performance. Most cards
+require special drivers not included with XFree86 to drive their 2-D video
+acceleration features like YUV and scaling.
 
 A quick and incomplete list of recommendations:
-- ATI cards: get the GATOS drivers for X11/Xv or use vidix
-- Matrox G200/G4x0/G550: compile and use mga_vid for Linux, use vidix for BSD
-- 3dfx Voodoo3/Banshee: get XFree86 4.2.0+ for Xv or use the tdfxfb driver
-- nVidia cards: get the X11 driver from www.nvidia.com for Xv support
-Without having accelerated video, even a 800MHz P3 may be slow to play DVD!
+- ATI cards: Get the GATOS drivers for X11/Xv or use VIDIX.
+- Matrox G200/G4x0/G550: Compile and use mga_vid for Linux, on BSD use VIDIX.
+- 3dfx Voodoo3/Banshee: Get XFree86 4.2.0+ for Xv or use the tdfxfb driver.
+- nVidia cards: Get the X11 driver from www.nvidia.com for Xv support.
+- NeoMagic cards: Get an Xv capable driver from our homepage as described in
+  DOCS/video.html.
+
+Without accelerated video even an 800MHz P3 may be too slow to play DVDs.
+
+
+______________________
+STEP0: Getting MPlayer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Official releases, prereleases and CVS snapshots, as well as fonts for the
+OSD, Win32 codecs and a number of different skins for the GUI are available
+from the download section of our homepage at
+
+  http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
+
+A set of fonts is necessary for the OSD and subtitles, the GUI needs at least
+one skin and Win32 codecs add support for some more video and audio formats.
+MPlayer does not come with any of these by default, you have to download and
+install them separately.
+
+MPlayer is also available via anonymous CVS. Issue the following commands to
+get the latest sources:
+
+  cvs -d:pserver:anonymous at mplayerhq.hu:/cvsroot/mplayer login
+  cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous at mplayerhq.hu:/cvsroot/mplayer co main
+
+When asked for a password, just hit enter. A directory named 'main' will be
+created. You can later update your sources by saying
+
+  cvs -z3 update -dPA
+
+from within that directory.
+
 
 ___________________________________
 STEP1: Installing FFmpeg libavcodec
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-If you are using an official release, skip this step, since official releases
-always include libavcodec. To verify this check if the libavcodec subdirectory
-is empty or contains the sources!
-
-The FFmpeg project provides libavcodec, a very portable MPEG4/DivX codec with
-excellent speed and quality.  It is the preferred codec of MPlayer for playing
-mpeg4 and divx video.  You have to get libavcodec directly from the FFmpeg CVS
-server. Use the following commands in a suitable directory outside the MPlayer
-source directory:
+If you are using an official (pre)release, skip this step, since official
+releases include libavcodec. CVS sources and CVS snapshots do not include
+libavcodec. To verify if you do have libavcodec or not, check if the libavcodec
+subdirectory in the MPlayer source tree is empty or not.
+
+The FFmpeg project provides libavcodec, a very portable codec collection (among
+the supported formats is MPEG4/DivX) with excellent quality and speed, that is
+the preferred MPEG4/DivX codec of MPlayer. You have to get libavcodec directly
+from the FFmpeg CVS server.
+
+To get the FFmpeg sources, use the following commands in a suitable directory
+outside the MPlayer source directory:
 
 cvs -d:pserver:anonymous at cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login
-cvs -z9 -d:pserver:anonymous at cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg/libavcodec
+cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous at cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg/libavcodec
 
 When asked for a password, you can just hit enter.
 
-Now, replace the empty libavcodec directory with the FFmpeg libavcodec source
-by removing the libavcodec subdirectory in the MPlayer source tree and then
-copying (symbolic linking does not suffice!) the freshly downloaded FFmpeg
-libavcodec directory back into the MPlayer source tree.
+Now, replace the empty libavcodec directory in the MPlayer source tree with the
+FFmpeg libavcodec source by removing the libavcodec subdirectory in the MPlayer
+source tree and then copying (symbolic linking does not suffice) the freshly
+downloaded FFmpeg libavcodec directory back into the MPlayer source tree.
 
 
 ______________________________
 STEP2: Installing Win32 Codecs
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-While MPlayer and libavcodec has built-in support for the most common audio
-and video formats, some others are playable only with the Win32 DLLs
-or the XAnim binary plugins. Few examples: WMV video, Divx/WMA audio, Indeo.
-This step is not mandatory, but recommended for getting MPlayer to play more
-different file types!
+MPlayer and libavcodec have builtin support for the most common audio and video
+formats, but some others are playable only with the Win32 DLLs or the XAnim
+binary plugins. Examples include WMV video, DivX with WMA audio (not normal
+DivX files) and Indeo. This step is not mandatory, but recommended for getting
+MPlayer to play more different file types. Note that Win32 codecs only work on
+Intel compatible PCs.
+
+Unpack the codecs archive and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer
+will find them. The default directory is /usr/lib/win32/ but you can change
+that to something else by using the '--with-win32libdir=DIR' option when you
+run './configure'.
 
-Grab the win32 codecs package from the download page
-
-  http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
-
-unpack it and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer will find them.
-The default directory is /usr/lib/win32/ but you can change that to something
-else by using the '--with-win32libdir=DIR' option when you run './configure' .
 
 __________________________
 STEP3: Configuring MPlayer
@@ -76,9 +117,8 @@
 
   ./configure
 
-to configure MPlayer with the default options.  The options you installed above
-should be autodetected, except GUI support, which has to be enabled separately,
-run
+to configure MPlayer with the default options. The codecs you installed above
+should be autodetected. GUI support has to be enabled separately, run
 
   ./configure --enable-gui
 
@@ -90,10 +130,11 @@
 
 to see the available options and select what you need.
 
-The ./configure script prints a summary of enabled and disabled options.
-If you have something installed that ./configure fails to detect, check
-the file configure.log for errors and reasons for the failure. Repeat this
-step until you are satisfied with the enabled feature set.
+The configure script prints a summary of enabled and disabled options. If you
+have something installed that configure fails to detect, check the file
+configure.log for errors and reasons for the failure. Repeat this step until
+you are satisfied with the enabled feature set.
+
 
 ________________________
 STEP4: Compiling MPlayer
@@ -109,65 +150,57 @@
 
 provided that you have write permission in the installation directory.
 
-If all went well, you can run MPlayer by typing 'mplayer'
-You should get a summary of the most common options and keys (help screen).
+If all went well, you can run MPlayer by typing 'mplayer'. A help screen with a
+summary of the most common options and keyboard shortcuts should be displayed.
 
-If you get 'unable to load shared library' or similar errors, then run
+If you get 'unable to load shared library' or similar errors, run
 'ldd ./mplayer' to check which libraries fail and go back to STEP 3 to fix it.
-Sometimes just running 'ldconfig' is enough.
+Sometimes running 'ldconfig' is enough to fix the problem.
 
-NOTE: If you run Debian you can configure, compile and build a proper deb
-package with only one command:
+NOTE: If you run Debian you can configure, compile and build a proper Debian
+.deb package with only one command:
 
   fakeroot debian/rules binary
 
+
 ____________________________________________
 STEP5: Installing the onscreen display fonts
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-To enable OSD (onscreen status display) and ASCII/TEXT subtitles you need some
-fonts. Get them from our homepage:
+Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes. Then copy the
+font files of the corresponding size into /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/ or
+~/.mplayer/font/ (or whatever you set with './configure --datadir=DIR').
 
-http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
-
-Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes.  Then copy the
-font files of the corresponding size into /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/
-(or whatever you set with './configure --datadir=DIR').
 
 ____________________________
 STEP6: Installing a GUI skin
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-Please remember that the GUI is still in the alpha development stage and not
-completely finished yet. Features like playlist, preferences and equalizer
-do not work at all. Expect them for the 1.0 release
-Basic stuff like file selection and seeking works, though.
-
-If you want to use the GUI you need to download a skin, since MPlayer does not
-come with a skin by default. Choose one from the download page
+Unpack the archive and put the contents in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or
+~/.mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in the default/ subdirectory of
+/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or ~/.mplayer/Skin/ unless told otherwise via
+the '-skin' switch. You should therefore rename your skin subdirectory or make
+a suitable symbolic link.
 
-  http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
-
-unpack it in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in 
-the default/ subdirectory (/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/*) unless
-told otherwise via the '-skin' switch. You should therefore rename your
-skin subdirectory, make a suitable symbolic link or set the skin name in
-the file mplayer.conf by 'skin=skinname'.
 
 __________________
 STEP7: Let's play!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-That's it for the moment.  To start playing movies, open a command line and try
+That's it for the moment. To start playing movies, open a command line and try
 
   mplayer <moviefile>
 
-or for the GUI:
+or for the GUI
 
+  mplayer -gui <moviefile>
   gmplayer <moviefile>
-  (just 'gmplayer' is enough to use the GUI fileselector)
 
-To play VCD track or DVD title, try:
+gmplayer is a symbolic link to mplayer created by 'make install'.
+Without <moviefile>, MPlayer will come up and you will be able to use the GUI
+filepicker.
+
+To play a VCD track or a DVD title, try:
 
   mplayer -vcd 2 -cdrom-device /dev/hdc
   mplayer -dvd 1 -alang en -slang hu -dvd-device /dev/hdd
@@ -175,11 +208,14 @@
 See 'mplayer -help' and 'man mplayer' for further options.
 
 'mplayer -vo help' will show you the available video output drivers. Experiment
-with the '-vo' switch to see which one gives you the best performance!
-If you get very jerky playback or no sound, experiment with -ao (see -ao help)
-Note that jerky playback is caused by buggy audio drivers or too slow cpu/vga.
-With a good audio and video driver combination, one can play DVDs and 720x576
-DivX files smoothly on a Celeron 366. For slower systems, you need -framedrop.
+with the '-vo' switch to see which one gives you the best performance.
+If you get jerky playback or no sound, experiment with the '-ao' switch (see
+'-ao help') to choose between different audio drivers. Note that jerky playback
+is caused by buggy audio drivers or a slow processor and video card. With a
+good audio and video driver combination, one can play DVDs and 720x576 DivX
+files smoothly on a Celeron 366. Slower systems may need the '-framedrop'
+option.
 
 Questions you may have are probably answered in the rest of the documentation.
-The place to start reading is DOCS/faq.html and DOCS/documentation.html.
+The places to start reading are the man page, DOCS/documentation.html and
+DOCS/faq.html.