VLC problems - was Open Office 4.1

[David Graser]

Still no go.   I have updated everything that can be updated.  As far as I can see, I have everything needed.  I am going back to version 3.2.

Something else.  I downloaded VLC3.0.  This does not work also.  Hoewver, VLC2.8 worked just great.  Has anyone else seen this?  I am going to have to go back to VLC2.8

[Mo]

Hi David,

did you open a Command Prompt window and startet VLC or AOO from there? This usually tells you what is missing.

Bests

m

[David Graser]

Hi David,

did you open a Command Prompt window and startet VLC or AOO from there? This usually tells you what is missing.

Bests

m

Hi Moritz

I found the problem with VLC3.  I had to add the its "lib" folder to the Libpath statement in the config.sys,  It now works as it should.  The VLC program object kept saying it could not find the VLC.exe even though the program object pointed right to it.  It finally dawned on me that maybe it could not find the dlls.   Once the lib folder was added to libpath, everything works as it should.

Will check OO later.  Thanks

David

[David Graser]

I contacted bitwiseworks and it he stated "Most probably you miss the xslt rpm."

Again, where can this file be found?

I went through the readme.1st and decided to try the rpm install of the other necessary components.  In YUM quick install I typed

yum install libc libgcc1 libgcc-fwd openssl curl libjpeg libxslt libicu zlib libxml2 mmap pthread urpo

The one component that I did not have and did not come with ArcaOS was the "libxsit".  It installed and I rebooted and now I have a working Open Office 4.1.  I hope my experience can help others.  Thanks for all the suggestions.  When in doubt, use tthe quick install.

David

[Dave Yeo]

Sounds more like, when in doubt, read the fine documentation

[Dariusz Piatkowski]

Hi David,

...I found the problem with VLC3.  I had to add the its "lib" folder to the Libpath statement in the config.sys,  It now works as it should....

...but if you are starting VLC through it's program object you certainly do not need to add the path to the LIBPATH variable, you would only do that if you intend to start vlc from CL, and therefore you would also want to add it to the PATH as well.

What you have done is certainly not wrong, but a more flexible/safe way would be to create a vlc.cmd file in the VCL directory which modifies the LIBPATH for just the VLC session, that way the VLC install will not impact anything else on your system.

Here is what's in my vlc.cmd:

=== START ===
SET BEGINLIBPATH=G:\apps\multimedia\vlc2\usr\local\lib;%BEGINLIBPATH%
G:\apps\multimedia\vlc2\usr\local\bin\vlc.exe %1
=== STOP ===

...then my VLC program object simply points to the VLC.CMD script.

[David Graser]

Thanks Dariusz!  I am going to give it a try.  I have been wondering if I would have to keep adding to my libpath statement every time I use one of these ported programs.

David

[Dave Yeo]

Cmd files like Dariusz posted are the way to go. You can even put them on the path as well as associate the programs icon with a program object. Sometimes good to add LIBPATHSTRICT=T to it as well.
I'd extend it with a few more %2 %3 %4 etc in case of wanting to pass more then one parameter.

[David Graser]

It worked great.  One more question.  A command prompt comes up before the program starts.  The program starts with the command prompt in the background.  I tried settings in properties to minimize the command prompt after it starts, but nothing works.  Any suggestions?

David

[Rich Walsh]

...I found the problem with VLC3.  I had to add the its "lib" folder to the Libpath statement in the config.sys,  It now works as it should....

[...] a more flexible/safe way would be to create a vlc.cmd file in the VCL directory which modifies the LIBPATH for just the VLC session, that way the VLC install will not impact anything else on your system. Here is what's in my vlc.cmd:

=== START ===
SET BEGINLIBPATH=G:\apps\multimedia\vlc2\usr\local\lib;%BEGINLIBPATH%
G:\apps\multimedia\vlc2\usr\local\bin\vlc.exe %1
=== STOP ===

...then my VLC program object simply points to the VLC.CMD script.

Just because the people who package these things can't be bothered to do so in a sensible, OS/2-friendly way doesn't mean that you should have to tie your system in knots with LIBPATH entries, command files, or ludicrously long paths.

I created my own 'VLC' directory and populated it with the exe from 'bin', the dlls from 'lib', and the 'vlc' subdirectory also in 'lib'. I dragged the exe to the Desktop so the WPS would create a program object and I was done - except for deleting all the unnecessary garbage that was left behind.

[David Graser]

...I found the problem with VLC3.  I had to add the its "lib" folder to the Libpath statement in the config.sys,  It now works as it should....

[...] a more flexible/safe way would be to create a vlc.cmd file in the VCL directory which modifies the LIBPATH for just the VLC session, that way the VLC install will not impact anything else on your system. Here is what's in my vlc.cmd:

=== START ===
SET BEGINLIBPATH=G:\apps\multimedia\vlc2\usr\local\lib;%BEGINLIBPATH%
G:\apps\multimedia\vlc2\usr\local\bin\vlc.exe %1
=== STOP ===

...then my VLC program object simply points to the VLC.CMD script.

I created my own 'VLC' directory and populated it with the exe from 'bin', the dlls from 'lib', and the 'vlc' subdirectory also in 'lib'. I dragged the exe to the Desktop so the WPS would create a program object and I was done - except for deleting all the unnecessary garbage that was left behind.

Thanks Rich! That was an even better solution.  It was so easy what you suggested.

David

[Dave Yeo]

Just because the people who package these things can't be bothered to do so in a sensible, OS/2-friendly way doesn't mean that you should have to tie your system in knots with LIBPATH entries, command files, or ludicrously long paths.

I created my own 'VLC' directory and populated it with the exe from 'bin', the dlls from 'lib', and the 'vlc' subdirectory also in 'lib'. I dragged the exe to the Desktop so the WPS would create a program object and I was done - except for deleting all the unnecessary garbage that was left behind.

Seems you'd lose access to the plugins going this way as they're often hard coded to use relative or worse, absolute paths. It looks like KOMH went to the trouble to build them all for OS/2.

[Rich Walsh]

I created my own 'VLC' directory and populated it with the exe from 'bin', the dlls from 'lib', and the 'vlc' subdirectory also in 'lib'.

Seems you'd lose access to the plugins going this way as they're often hard coded to use relative or worse, absolute paths.

I don't want to be giving out half-assed advice, so I took your comment to heart and did some testing.

I moved the 'vlc' subdirectory (x:\vlc\vlc) with the plugins and scripts to a more orthodox location (x:\vlc\lib\vlc) but vlc.exe wouldn't start, saying it couldn't find its plugins. Using my simplified directory structure, it had no problem finding them so the relative or hard-coded path issue isn't an issue for vlc.

When I opened "Tools->Effects and filters", my console window displayed a bunch of errors reporting that it couldn't find various video effects. Looking through the 'video_filter' directory, it became obvious that the problem was the various dlls' 8.3 names which were too short and not the usual "file not found" error. Attempts to use these effects caused both vlc _and_ seamonkey to crash, and left me with trashed video that required a reboot.

FWIW... I was writing this posting as I was doing my experiments and getting these crashes. Every time I reopened SM, it restored what I had typed so far without losing a word. I'm impressed (for once).

[David Graser]

I created my own 'VLC' directory and populated it with the exe from 'bin', the dlls from 'lib', and the 'vlc' subdirectory also in 'lib'.

Seems you'd lose access to the plugins going this way as they're often hard coded to use relative or worse, absolute paths.

I don't want to be giving out half-assed advice, so I took your comment to heart and did some testing.

I moved the 'vlc' subdirectory (x:\vlc\vlc) with the plugins and scripts to a more orthodox location (x:\vlc\lib\vlc) but vlc.exe wouldn't start, saying it couldn't find its plugins. Using my simplified directory structure, it had no problem finding them so the relative or hard-coded path issue isn't an issue for vlc.

When I opened "Tools->Effects and filters", my console window displayed a bunch of errors reporting that it couldn't find various video effects. Looking through the 'video_filter' directory, it became obvious that the problem was the various dlls' 8.3 names which were too short and not the usual "file not found" error. Attempts to use these effects caused both vlc _and_ seamonkey to crash, and left me with trashed video that required a reboot.

Rich, setting my VLC up the way you suggested and opening "Tools->Effects and filters", everything displays normally.  I checked other items listed in the Tools menu and it all worked fine.  I had copied all the items listed in the "lib" folder including all its subdirectories to the main folder where I had copied the executable.

David

[Heikki Kekki]

VLC readme.eng says

4. How to launch
----------------

  1) Add 'x:\vlc2\usr\local\lib' to LIBPATH in CONFIG.SYS
     (x is the drive letter where VLC is installed)
 
  2) Reboot
 
  3) Launch 'vlc.exe' on command line or on WPS

VLC 1.1.9 is eldest, I found on my disk. Downgrading from 3.0.0 to 1.1.9 was simple. I renamed vlc2 to vlc300 and moved VLC 1.1.9 to x:\vlc2. No other changes needed. Upgrading is as easy. Editing config.sys is one time only.

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