Couple of questions

KDE panel: righ click the button, and choose 'move button'

DVD codecs, mm, thats strange. Which codecs did you download??

the dvd being listed as a cdrom is a normal thing. Depends on how the hardware is advertised. Not to worry, you will be able to play dvds, start looking in Xine option screens which codec path is set, and post back with that.

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

We have a problem....I've already tried right-clicking and there is no such "move" option. On SUSE and Kubuntu, there were these spacerbars in between the different sections that you could drag and move the icons.

The paths are correct in Xine (At least I think so):

path to realplayer codecs: /usr/local/RealPlayer/codecs
path to Win32 codecs: /usr/lib/win32

I downloaded the libdvdcss2 v1.2.8.-0.0, libdvdnav4 v0.1.9.3 and libdvdread3 v0.9.4-5 using synaptic package manager.

When I try to open a DVD in Xine and Kaffein I get two errors:

1. The source can't be read. Maybe you don't have enough rights for this, or the source doesn't contain data (eg no disc in drive) (/dev/dvd)

Xine: cannot find input plugin for MRL (dvd:/)
Xine: imput plugin cannot open MRL (dvd:/)
Xine: found input plugin: DVD Navigator

2. No plugin found to handle this resource (dvd:/)

> We have a problem....I've already tried right-clicking and there > is no such "move" option. On SUSE and Kubuntu, there were these > spacerbars in between the different sections that you could drag > and move the icons.

there is an option in the menu for the panel which will put the handles back.

Right click on the taskbar/menubar --> configure panel --> Appearance Tab --> Advanced --> Applet Handles.

Change that to something other then hide.. I use Fade Out myself

Thanks Now, if only this Xine issue would go away.......

I was having the same problem. If you've already installed the libdvdcss2 package, then there is a very strange but workable solution. When you put the dvd in, open xine. click the "VCD" tab and wait for the disk to spin up (make the whirring noise). Then click the DVD tab. My hardware is finicky and your mileage may vary.

How many optical drives (CD and/or DVD drives) do you have on your system. My guess is that you have a CDROM or CDRW on secondary master (ide 1:0) and a DVDROM on secondary slave (ide 1:1). If I'm right then it's because /dev/dvd is pointing to /dev/cdrom. If your setup is like what I said above then it should point to /dev/cdrom1.

As root in a shell type..
ls -l /dev/dvd
and this will show you what /dev/dvd is pointing to.
now type
ln -sf /dev/cdrom1 /dev/dvd
that will change it to point to cdrom1 drive
now type (again)
ls -l /dev/dvd
to make sure it changed..

the cdrom drive you should point to should match the name of the drive on your desktop you click when opening a CD in that same drive

We, I'll be damned all over again... that worked!! Thanks so much

Would be nice if they updated Xine to make it smart enough to at least ask where the DVD is though.

Thanks, again

Herewith I just want to thank 1000x times the person which wrote this. Yith you I resolved my problem yhich I had since 3 weeks in running Xine! THABNKS A LOT AGAIN

Chris

I would like to see an installer for the NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards for thickie's like me who cannot (despite many attempts) install the graphics card drivers from NVIDIA and ATI.

The installer would grab all the necessary bits and pieces for their graphics card, it would install and compile where necessary; the graphics card. Yes! I know its a lot to ask but I cannot use Goolge Earth because of insufficient drivers!.

In my humble opinion it would make life a whole lot easier for the newbies like myself to get the best out of Mepis Linux.

Thanks Steve

Your wish was Warren's command. Long time ago already....

Check out menu > system > MEPIS > MEPIS X-windows assistant. ATI and Nvidia tabs.

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Okay, been there done that but it still doesn't work, I don't need generic drivers; I need the correct drivers direct from NVIDIA; my PC is okay until I want to do something that requires the proper drivers like running Google Earth.
The Mepis X-windows assistant is a good start but still not good enough because
1: it doesn't download the drivers direct from NVIDIA (sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9639-pkg1.run)
2: it does not have enough information for the people (like myself) who are not rocket scientist's thus creating more confusion!.

Mepis is a great system but without proper graphic card driver support it is of no use to me because I cannot enjoy the full benefits of my PC!.

Newbie or not a Newbie; I'm not a dumb man but lack the expertise that is required from Linux based systems and if Linux is to overthrow the Microsft empire it must make the system easy to use (Mepis has done a good job I must admit!).

Thanks Steve

Are you saying your card is not supported by the native Nvidia driver that comes with MEPIS? What card do you have?

edit
I should explain that:
The MEPIS assistant is meant to install the NVIDIA CLOSED DRIVER, so not the generic driver. It installs the driver via Synaptic, but it is binary equal to what yoy get from the Nvidia site.

BUT: There are newer cards that sometimes do not work with an older Nvidia driver. In those cases, and ONLY in those cases, do you need to install the nvidia driver manually.

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Okay; I finally got the graphic card drivers downloaded and they did install but only after I tried a couple of them out; like I said in a previous message you must be aware that there are a lot of newbies like myself out there who don't have the full understanding of how Linux works sooooooo!,
1: please put a "Graphics Card Installer Icon" on the desktop so it is visible from the onset immediately after the new installation is finished so the "Newbie" can see it!
2: More info explaining which of the 4 choices they may or may not need because like I said; I did it by trial and error not knowing which of the choices I needed!. What is xorg?, what is vesa?.
3: when the PC reboots; it doesn't (didn't) go straight into a graphical desktop and I had to do crtl+alt+F7/8 which was on-screen but the newbie might be frightened by this sudden change in display so a warning beforehand might be good there!.

Hey; otherwise I must say that Mepis is a great system, keep up the great work that all you people do.

Thanks a bunch for all your help.

Regards Steve

thanks for those clear suggestions, we'll send them up the pipeline