(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

VLC-GTK - a VLC player frontend
(thanks to zigbert, trio, ttuuxxx, technosaurus, BarryK, SFR, amigo and dejan555, keniv.. and others..)

https://github.com/sc0ttj/vlc-gtk

Download latest version, VLC-GTK 2.8.1 (stable)

Latest info: changelog here

NOTE: For VLC 2.2.x and newer you must use VLC-GTK 2.8.1 or newer.
For older VLCs, use older VLC-GTK versions.

Feedback welcome. I barely know what I'm doing.

It is strongly recommended you upgrade to at least 2.7!



-----------------------------

A small GTKDialog based frontend for VLC player, with on screen controls.

Requires:
- gtkdialog (in puppy), xdialog (in puppy)
- xdotool (needed for playback GUI controls .. FIXED LINK)
- rtmpdump (optional, for many live TV streams)
- sopcast(optional, 337kb)

- also, a vlc player package

Here are some supported VLC packages, which do not have a GUI:

(it is best to get the VLC package from your puppys repo or compile yourself)..

- vlc_nogui-1.1.9 (~1.6mb, 2 builds, 2nd one has lua/youtube support )
- vlc_nogui-1.1.5-w5.pet
- vlc_nogui 0.8.6-fixed (1.44mb, by technosaurus)
- vlc-0.8.6h-commandline.pet (2.44mb, by ttuuxxx)
- vlc-1.0.5-lite-i486-dpup.pet (2.79mb, by dejan555)

(Screenshots of VLC-GTK 2.1 below)

Features:
- supports playback and download video from youtube URLs
- supports transcoding/converting, DVD ripping, etc
- supports screen capture to file,
- supports batch file conversion
- supports multiple instances, non-root users, etc
- Open File, Dir, Playlist, DVD, VCD, Audio CD or online streams
- On-screen controls for video playback (screenshot in next post)
- Save dir as playlist (audio, video or both)
- Play and manage your favourite internet streams
- Set default playback device for CDs and DVDs
- supports auto and file subtitles, and sub delay
- Plays online TV from CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, Al Jazeera, RT News, SopCasts, more
- Change crop, aspect ratio and video output module settings
- Change the default OSD and subtitles display settings
- Store player settings and favourite streams in /root/.vlc-gtk
- Adds ROX right click options for VLC
- Supports the command line interface - set options before startup
- Show all commands sent to vlc in a popup window, using '--debug' (for testing)
- type vlc-gtk --help in the terminal for all options

Changelogs:

version 2.7: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 817#688817

version 2.6: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 667#659667

version 2.5.9: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 010#659010

version 2.5.8: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 982#658982

version 2.5.6: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 662#657662

version 2.5.5: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 239#657239

version 2.5.4: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 690#656690

version 2.5: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 212#654212

version 2.4.6: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 326#649326

version 2.4.4: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 266#646266

version 2.4: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 907#643907

screenshots

Way to go! I was about to suggest separate thread for this, seems like it has potential for a usable frontend (actually already is! ) Everything works so far on this one, I see you added cd/dvd drive wizard too, nice one.

In your vlc_nogui-0.8.6i-fixed.pet did you add support for Theora video and the other formats that are disabled by default?

abushcrafter wrote:In your vlc_nogui-0.8.6i-fixed.pet did you add support for Theora video and the other formats that are disabled by default?

No, I used technosaurus' version, but added a libdvdnav (and its libs), and also a symlink for the subtitle font.
But nothing more..

I'd like to get it re-compiled with a few more features, even if it grows a bit..

Out of interest, what sites/videos are encoded with theora??

also had it working somewhat with the stripped down 8.6h that I compiled for early 4 series 2yrs back
http://puppylinux.ca/tpp/ttuuxxx/alphat ... ndline.pet

ttuuxxx

ttuuxxx wrote:also had it working somewhat with the stripped down 8.6h that I compiled for early 4 series 2yrs back
http://puppylinux.ca/tpp/ttuuxxx/alphat ... ndline.pet

Thanks ttuuxxx..

It works well in TurboPup/Puppy Arcade, even after I deleted nearly all files in /usr/share/vlc..

You say you had my GUI working 'of sorts'... What was your issue? And on which Puppy version?

Cos I had a brief issue with my frontend.. All was fine, until..

My GUI started loading the vlc terminal window as normal, but without sending vlc any of the actual command parameters/options..

the vlc window was just sitting there waiting for something to do..
My gui would not work right until I rebooted..

Before rebooting, I tested through the terminal, and vlc itself was fine, but my gui wasn't sending it any command parameters..

I also uninstalled and re-installed vlc and my frontend... But no change..

After a full reboot all was OK again..

This hasn't happened at all with the version of vlc_nogui I posted above..

Any ideas??

updated to version 1.2 - see first post.

Wishlist? Suggestions?

Add checkbox to allow x11 video output ( --vout x11 )
xvideo doesn't show thru TV-out

Maybe button to toggle CD tray ( eject -T )

sc0ttman wrote:Out of interest, what sites/videos are encoded with theora??

It is part of html5. Here are some sites that I know of that use Theora:

• http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/
• http://adblockplus.org/en/
• http://techrights.org
• http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr

I have also found that Theora is superior than other video formats eg h264 in terms of quality and size!

abushcrafter wrote:It is part of html5.

Just to clarify for those that care, the HTML5 specification doesn't say what codec to use. Theora is supported by Chrome, Mozilla, and Opera. The h.264 codec is supported by Chrome, Safari, and upcoming versions of IE. Youtube is encoding video in h.264, which is annoying for those of us that don't like Flash but use Firefox or Opera.

abushcrafter wrote:I have also found that Theora is superior than other video formats eg h264 in terms of quality and size!

Apple and Google (by Google, I mean their child company Youtube) say the same thing if you swap the positions of Theora and h.264. The Theora people agree with you. Mozilla and Opera don't care, they just want an open codec instead of proprietary. That is pretty much the entire HTML5 video debate in a nutshell.

Back to the thread topic:
VLC without all those nasty dependencies? Yes, please! As soon as I'm back on my Puppy box I'll be giving it a try.

SirDuncan, Thanks for clarifying for other people.

updated to 1.3, see main post

[edit]

Thanks for the info on theora.. Also, for the 2 or 3 people who downloaded 1.3 so far:
If it's crashing when you choose a subtitle file, you need to re-download 1.3 (fixed)!

also way back in the beginning of vlc there was a gtk version, I don't know if it would be possible to update it to a newer base or not, but just an idea.
ttuuxxx

Can debug be optional? I think I compiled without debug.
Nice feature list there can't wait to try later.

dejan555 wrote:Can debug be optional? I think I compiled without debug.
Nice feature list there can't wait to try later.

The debug feature I added is my own, found in the GUI - I'm not tallking about the VLC debug option.. Sorry, I should make that clear..

Basically, if you load "vlc-gtk --debug" then all commands in the GUI that are sent to vlc, are instead output with xmessage - just a very simple way to check the commands being sent out..

The debug feature I created does not work as yet - all I need to do is stop the CL variable losing its value!!
It keeps returning blank inside functions..

Hope thats clear!

On another note, subtitle delay seems not to be a command line option in vlc, which I find hard to believe..
If anyone finds it, let me know!

[edit - solved in 1.5, main post]

I've uploaded version 1.4 ... Main post updated.

version 1.5 now out, see main thread...

I'm not gonna update this app much further than this - as 1.5 works perfectly for what I want it to do (I think..)

vlc-gtk updated to 1.7.. see main post