Acer Aspire One - Linux - installing VLC

The Acer Aspire One (Linux edition) runs a version of Red Hat/Fedora Linux V8.

The built in media player has a limited set of CODECs and so can not play all the available video formats (i.e. Divx & Xvid video formats). You can install the VLC video player which will play a large selection of different types of video files.

Firstly, we need to open up the interface to allow extra software to be added.

1. Go to the green Files pane at the bottom right of the screen and left-click on My Documents.
2. Now left-click on File & Terminal – you'll see a text window open with a $ prompt.
3. Type in xfce-setting-show and press Enter – up pops the Xfce Desktop Manager.
4. Left-click on Desktop, then select the Behaviour tab. Now tick Show Desktop Menu on Right Click.
5. Type Exit to close a Terminal screen.

Now, if you close all those open windows & get back to the standard Aspire One desktop, you'll find that, if you now do a right-click, you'll get a Menu appear!

Installing the VLC video player.

1. Right-Click on the Desktop and select Terminal and type in the following lines at the $ prompt.
   nu -
   (Your appropriate password)
   sudo yum install fedora-release
   sudo rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-8.rpm
   sudo yum install vlc python-vlc mozilla-vlc
2. When prompted answer Y & Enter, when complete close all open windows.
3. Right Click anywhere on the Desktop and go to MultiMedia -> VLC Media Player. (You might need to restart your Netbook.

Adding Icons to the Aspire One

It's all very well having the Advanced Menu, but for some apps you'd also like the fast access provided by the desktop. Here's how you make them appear. Press Alt-F2, type in xterm to open the command line (Terminal) window - and click on Run...

At the command line, type:
sudo mousepad /home/user/.config/xfce4/desktop/group-app.xml and hit Enter. This calls up the desktop's configuration file. Scroll through and you'll see how the entries are arranged.

Add to the Fun desktop section (Possibly 7) the following line to add a link to the VLC player.

"/usr/share/applications/livna-vlc.desktop"

Remembering to select a unique sequence number the number describes the order of the applications.

Save the file then restart your Acer Aspire. Click on the right-arrow button in the Fun section, and you should see a new VLC icon. Drag and drop it higher in the list if you prefer.

Links:
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/
Ten tweaks for a new Acer Aspire One.