Compiling from Source

I am in a really good mood. After 2 hours of pounding esoteric code into the Ubuntu terminal, I finally managed to compile MPlayer from its source code, and trust me, this stuff requires at least a above basic understanding of terminal commands.

For anyone else still using Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope, you can try compiling MPlayer for yourself from this link.

Then at the very end, install the SMplayer GUI after adding the SMPlayer PPA to your Software Sources.

Why compile from source? Because Ubuntu does not ship with the latest version in its depository by default, and MPlayer's developers themselves say:

The recommended way to install MPlayer is to compile from current SVN source

Which simply means in a very non-geeky babble speak, you get the most stable, most feature-packed, and less likely to kill you version of probably the most powerful media player for the OpenSource community.

That and because I was anal enough to want to do an overkill of extracting audio from YouTube videos.

rewarp@Enceladus:~/Desktop$ mplayer -ao pcm:file=Melt.ogg -vc dummy -vo null Melt
MPlayer SVN-r29952-4.3.3 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing Melt.
libavformat file format detected.
[lavf] Audio stream found, -aid 0
[lavf] Video stream found, -vid 1
VIDEO:  [H264]  480x360  24bpp  29.955 fps  465.8 kbps (56.9 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 major_brand: mp42
 minor_version: 0
 compatible_brands: isomavc1mp42
==========================================================================
Forced video codec: dummy
Cannot find codec matching selected -vo and video format 0x34363248.
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [faad] AAC (MPEG2/4 Advanced Audio Coding)
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 126.3 kbit/8.95% (ratio: 15785->176400)
Selected audio codec: [faad] afm: faad (FAAD AAC (MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio))
==========================================================================
[AO PCM] File: Melt.ogg (WAVE)
PCM: Samplerate: 44100Hz Channels: Stereo Format s16le
[AO PCM] Info: Faster dumping is achieved with -vc null -vo null -ao pcm:fast
[AO PCM] Info: To write WAVE files use -ao pcm:waveheader (default).
AO: [pcm] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...
A: 260.5 (04:20.5) of 260.5 (04:20.5)  0.9%

Somehow or other, I broke VLC while compiling MPlayer, but it is a small price to pay. I will be experimenting all  the way because Ubuntu demands to be treated like a game. The more you play, the greater the level advancement.

Also, I was in the mood for some Michio Kaku action

I didn't really get Dawkins' explanation of the poetic way Einstein used the word God, but after Michio Kaku explained it so eloquently, I finally understand Einstein was basing his theories on what if there was a creator who wanted order in the universe he was creating?