[MPlayer-users] rtc question; conf problems solved

[Cheryl Homiak]

Ok, here's what finally worked. I changed the permissions back for 
/usr/local/bin/mplayer. I wasn't going to add my own personal group to 
/dev/rtc; that would only be a stopgap solution because I'd still be in 
the same predicament if for  some reason I added another user. I did try 
doing chgrp and using audio; this time I got a little different error and 
was told to add the echo line to my startup scripts--different than what 
had been in the error report before. So I did two things. first, I left 
/dev/rtc as it was as far as being "root root" but I changed the 
permissions from 660 (that's what they were on my machine) to 664. 
secondly, I added the echo line to /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh. chuck's 
solution was part of what I needed to do because while you can echo that 
line, it will I believe revert when you reboot if you don't have it in 
your startup scripts. I rebooted and this worked; I did try going back to 
the original 660 permissions for /dev/rtc and as soon as I logged out and 
back in it wouldn't work so this was necessary for me apparently.

Btw, the warning/error about "unable to open /dev/rtc" isn't purely 
diagnostic from what I read in the faq. This message means that rtc is not 
being used and that your system has to fall back to something less 
efficient. so no, it doesn't bring mplayer to a grinding halt, but it 
appears to me that it is still preferable to get rtc usage if possible.

I do appreciate everybody's help and advice with this problem. Stefan's 
warning is also well taken. However, while we can advise each other, it is 
up to each of us to make our own decision as to what we will do on our 
machines; to become all-caps adamant about what a person should or should 
not do isn't really helpful. You can warn me calmly, clearly and 
respectfully  of the risks of taking 
certain actions, and that is appreciated, but ultimately it's my decision 
to make.
Thanks.

-- 
Cheryl

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."