RealPlayer

RealPlayer is an application that plays sound and video in several formats. If you have experience with Windows, you may have used RealPlayer in that environment. RealPlayer 10 for Linux is much improved over previous Linux versions. It's particularly useful for playing .mp3 and .mpeg files.

At the current time, many distributions do not include RealPlayer, so you may need to install it yourself. In the future, it may be included so check the main menu before installing.

RealPlayer provides an installer for Linux. The installation procedure is somewhat unusual for Linux, different from the package installation procedures described in Chapter 10. To install RealPlayer 10:

1.	Open Mozilla and go to www.real.com. You should see the following Web page. Figure 16-3. RealPlayer Web site. NOTE If you go to the RealPlayer Web site from Windows, you see a different Web page, appropriate for RealPlayer for Windows.
2.	Click the yellow button to download RealPlayer.
3.	A file named RealPlayer10GOLD.bin is downloaded. Save the file to disk.
4.	After the file is downloaded, open a terminal window. If necessary, change to the directory where the downloaded file is saved.
5.	Execute the file, using the root account. Be sure you have execute permission for the file. For instance, type the following commands: chmod a+x RealPlayer10GOLD.bin (notice the uppercase characters) ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
6.	When you see the prompt: Configure System-wide symbolic links? [Y/n] Type: Y<Enter>
7.	When prompted for a path to use for installing RealPlayer10, type a path that is included in your system path, such as /usr/local/bin. Remember the path you select, because you occasionally need to enter this path in response to prompts.
8.	When the installation completes, start the newly installed RealPlayer. You can start it by executing the file realplay in the directory you designated during the installation procedure (e.g., /usr/local/bin/realplay). In addition, a menu item has been added for RealPlayer in Main Menu->Sound & Video.

When you start RealPlayer the first time, a configuration procedure runs. Answer the questions asked. When the window displays the following two questions, uncheck the first check box and check the second. (Because you just downloaded the software, no update check is needed.)

 Check for updates Configure mozilla helpers 

When RealPlayer starts from the menu, the RealPlayer window shown on the right opens. The video plays in the window. You can change to a full screen video in the View menu.

If you open an audio file, the video screen in the window disappears, as shown below. The player now looks similar to an audio player, with play, stop, etc. buttons, a volume slider, and information about the sound file that is playing.

In addition, a Mozilla plug-in is installed when RealPlayer 10 is installed so that you can run files directly in Mozilla. For instance, if you encounter a .mpeg file on the Web, Mozilla can play it in the browser window. Test the plug-in by running a video file. For instance, go to www.imdb.com and run some movie trailers.