[PLUG] Helping MPlayer install to -not- suck ...

[guy1656]

:  You just watch the configure output go by and when it
: says "DVD Navigation Disabled" you go "whoops!" and run ./configure --help
: again and see that you should have appended --enable-dvdnav. 

How easy is it to know that, (in your case) you should have 'appended' 
"--enable dvdnav"? This is where good feedback (telling the operator what's 
happenig in a language he can understand) is critical to usability. 

: Now, I also think it's a GOOD THING that MPlayer doesn't enable everything
: by default.  It's a big piece of software with lots of components and some
: people may not want all that crud on their system (I wouldn't compile in
: the DVD features if I didn't have a DVD ROM, for example).  So it makes
: sense that you have to find the right options and enable them. 

After reading this part, (and to offer something constructive to the whole 
list) 

: I think `make all install` is pretty simple and familiar. 

I never heard of 'make all install.' (I'm not setting myself up a s'the' 
reference standard, but it's also NOT in the indices of my:

Mandrake 8.0 "Installation and User Guide"
Mandrake 8.0 "Reference Manual"
Siever, "Linux in a Nutshell" (O'Reilly)
Cornes, "Linux A-Z" (Prentice Hall)
Welsh, Kaufmann "Runnin Linux" (O'Reilly)

This indicates that 'make all install' is far less well-known and certainly 
not explained in a quickly accessable fashion. (Remember we're -still- trying 
to wacth the movie, not read 5 books.)

OK - on to the constructive suggestions:

It occurs to me that, since (a) I'm not alone, and (b) WAL-MART has been 
selling Lindows machines for $199, that there will be a GROWING (read: 
"profitable?") market for simple CD's that implement simple 'appliance' 
programs FOR you.

How big is MPlayer when uncompressed and installed? A couple of megs?)
Next question: How much is the space for -all- the required dependent 
libraries for -all- the available functions? 100M tops? (I don't know - if my 
guesses are wrong please feel free to tweak the numbers.)

What I'm driving at is this: If the process of interrogating a machine and 
finding out what's there and what's not, PLUS writing a GUI to ask the user 
what he* wants and don't want (DVD? etc.) is -sooo- easy:

Then could a company be formed to prodice and market an 'MPLayer installer 
CD?' I'd pay $12 - $22 bux for it. 

The CD has - what - 650MB or more available? So, we should be able to write 
(in 400MB?) a program to help the user find and fix what's wrong.

What do you think? Can we do this? Does anybody want to? Gather seed money 
and do a website or product launch? I already have a company and a rented 
mailbox. Anyone interested?

-GLL

*he/she - My copy of Strunk & White, 5th ed, says 'he' is usable here.