Installing VLC (or Mplayer or Xine) on a PS3 running Yellowdog Linux using YUMEX

After a little work I've managed to get VLC working. Ultimately the install was easy but I have to admit I started off taking the wrong road. The key was having YUM set up correctly and activating the right REPOS...

UPDATE: I tried installing MPlayer and Xine using yumex and both installed and ran without incident. This really underlines the point made above, that getting yum configured properly is the key to getting the most out of your linux installation.

Some assumptions:
1. You're running Yellowdog 5.0 Linux on the PS3 (Firstly, it's not tough to install, secondly, if you're running Yellowdog 6.0 or higher please take a look at Roberto's comment below)
2. You selected the full install option (can't remember if you get a choice with the PS3)
3. You have an internet connection (PS3's built in WiFi wasn't working last time I checked but a wired Ethernet connection seems to work fine)
4. You're running Yellowdog under GNOME (before you enter your username and password to login, click on "Session" and Select GNOME)
5. You have a copy of the Yellowdog DVD inserted in the PS3's drive (or a copy of the RPMs on connected storage)
6. You're logged in as root (This isn't necessary if you know what you're doing but if you don't then that's the way I would go.)

1. What does YUM do?
I've talked about YUM in a previous post. However, I didn't provide too many details, something I aim to rectify now.

For those of you familiar with Microsoft's Windows Update Tool, YUM should be fairly easy grasp at the conceptual level. The key difference is that YUM lets you choose where you look for updates, whereas with the Microsoft Tool you don't have to worry about this step.

Another notable difference is that on a Windows System you can get by comfortably without running the Windows Update Tool (not recommended), on a Linux System life without YUM is very painful; there are a lot of tools and applications available for free download to linux systems, YUM makes it easy to get your hands on this software. Without YUM, or some other alternative, getting this software can be a time consuming and frustrating experience.

2. How do I configure YUM?
Firstly, if you've installed Yellowdog on the PS3, YUM has already been installed for you. You can test this by opening up a Terminal (Menu: Applications->Accessories -->Terminal) and typing yum:

Depending on your past experience this can look a little scary. The good news is that you wont be spending that much time using the Text Based Version of YUM. More on this later.










Pointing to the right updates:

I've already mentioned that a key activity is to point yum to the right updates. Unfortunately I'm not a Linux expert so I can only show you which update libraries I've configured and how I've configured them.

UPDATE: Apr 11, 2008

It's been a while since I published this and it appears that Yellowdog has updated to v6.0. "Roberto" has left an important comment (April 11th, 2008) that illustrates how to go about making the necessary changes.  Thanks Roberto!

Pointing to the right updates involves changing some files and creating some files. The first file you have to change is called yum.conf. You can find this file by navigating to your Computer in GNOME's explorer (Menu: Places->Computer) and double clicking on the etc Folder.

Scroll to the bottom of this folder and you should see a file called yum.conf. Right click on this file and Open With->Text Editor. Make sure the contents look like this:

[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum
keepcache=0
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
pkgpolicy=newest
distroverpkg=yellowdog-release
tolerant=1
exactarch=1
obsoletes=1
gpgcheck=0
plugins=1
metadata_expire=1800

# PUT YOUR REPOS HERE OR IN separate files named file.repo
# in /etc/yum.repos.d

Next scroll up above the yum.conf file in the etc folder and open the folder called yum.repos.d. You'll should find 3 files in this folder:
a. yellowdog-base.repo
b. yellowdog-updates.repo
c. yellowdog-extras.repo

The contents of these 3 files should be modified as follows:
a. yellowdog-base.repo:
[base]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Base
baseurl=http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/yum/5.0/base/
mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-base-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

b. yellowdog-updates.repo
[updates]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Updates
baseurl=http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/yum/5.0/updates/
mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-updates-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

c. yellowdog-extras.repo
[extras]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Extras
baseurl=http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/yum/5.0/extras/
mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-extras-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

In addition to these 3 files we'll be adding 3 more. The following files should be created (right click on an empty spot in the folder and select Create Document->Empty File)
a. ydl-extras.repo
[ydl-extras]
name=YDL Extras
baseurl=file:///media/CDROM/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=0

b. Fedora-Extras.repo
[fedora-extras]
name=Fedora Extras
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
enabled=0

c. livna.repo
[livna-stable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (stable)
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
enabled=0

d. freshrpms.repo
[freshrpms]
name=FreshRPMs
baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/5/ppc/freshrpms/
mirrorlist=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/5/mirrors-freshrpms
enabled=1
#gpgcheck=1

That's all there is to it. yum should now be configured and you're ready to download your first update.

3. Installing YUMEX
As I mentioned earlier you don't have to run YUM in Terminal. There is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) available for the YUM tool and you can use YUM to download and install this tool.

UPDATE: Jan 30 2007
Thanks to some comments below I discovered that FreshRPMS doesn't provide yumex and running yum search yumex, without making some modifications to your yum configuration, will fail. In order to get around this do the following:

a. Modify Fedora-Extras.repo as follows:
[fedora-extras]
name=Fedora Extras
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

Now running yum search yumex should work. Follow the section below on installing yumex (yum install yumex) and when you're done revert the Fedora-Extras.repo:
[fedora-extras]
name=Fedora Extras
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
enabled=0

Note: The fedora-extras repo contains more than 6000 packages, keeping it enabled all the time will slow down your "yuming" experience!

Open Terminal and type yum search yumex If all went well you should see something like this:
# yum search yumex
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Searching Packages:
Setting up repositories
base [1/4]
base 100% ========================= 1.1 kB 00:00
updates [2/4]
updates 100% ========================= 951 B 00:00
freshrpms [3/4]
freshrpms 100% ========================= 951 B 00:00
extras [4/4]
extras 100% ========================= 951 B 00:00
Reading repository metadata in from local files
primary.xml.gz 100% ========================= 759 kB 00:05
base : ################################################## 2208/2208
Added 2208 new packages, deleted 9 old in 25.77 seconds


yumex.noarch 1.0.3-3.0.fc5 installed
Matched from:
yumex
http://linux.rasmil.dk/yumex

Assuming you successfully found yumex (It should be found by the FreshRPMS.repo you created earlier) go ahead and install it by typing in Terminal: yum install yumex

Once the package is installed type: yumex in Terminal and wait for YUMEX to open.

4. Installing VLC with YUMEX

Understanding Dependencies:
When you try to install software with YUM, it will often check to see if the software you wish to install requires other software to be preinstalled. This is known as "dependency checking". If YUM finds that there are dependencies it will try to locate them and automatically download them to your PC, if it can't find the dependencies the installation fails (and, if you're using yumex, you'll see a lot of red text on the screen)

Enabling REPOS:
If yumex is not open, then type yumex in a Terminal window (or Menu: Applications->System Tools->Yum Extender)
Once yumex opens you're ready to enable / disable repos. To work with REPOS click on the REPOS icon. You'll see new view containing a list of your REPOS. Check REPOS you want to enable and uncheck those you want to disable.

VLC's required REPOS:
The VLC installer is available through FreshRPMS, however, on my system, VLC had approximately 18 dependencies. Dependencies, in this context, refers to software that must be installed prior to installing the software you're actually trying to install. In VLC's case these dependencies found through the Fedora-Extras REPO and not the FreshRPMS repo. Therefore make sure that both Fedora-Extras and FreshRPMS are selected and press the Refresh Button.

UPDATE: If you have problems with SDL_Image/libSDL
SDL 1.2 is actually available on the Yellowdog DVD. I know this because that's how I installed it. Once SDL is installed you shouldn't have any problems installing SDL_Image. If you configured YUM to include the YDL-EXTRAS (that's the Yellowdog DVD Repo you created earlier) you should be able to find SDL by searching for it in YUMEX. I'm guessing that if you ensure that the YDL-EXTRAS repo is checked along with Fedora-Extras and FreshRPMS, prior to installing VLC you may not have any problems at all.

Installing VLC:
This next part is simple. All you have to do is:
i. click on the Install Icon
ii. type vlc in the search bar and press the search button
iii. select VideoLAN Client 0.8.5 (i.e. the non development version)
iv. press the add to queue button
v. Click on the Queue ICON
vi. Press Process Queue and hit OK a few times.

Once YUMEX tells you the package has been installed successfully you should find a VideoLAN Client shortcut under your Video and Media menu option (Menu: Applications->Video and Media->VideoLAN Client) I've tested this client using local and streamed Xvid and DivX files and it works reasonably well.

What about VLC 0.8.6+?
I tried very hard to get this to install prior to installing 0.8.5 using yumex. I had partial success, however, VLC refused to detect my FFMPEG installation without which DIVX and Xvid movies will not play. Both of these movie types worked fine on my 0.8.5 installation.