5 ms·

The xine hacker's guide (2003)

50 points by Lammy 4y ago

anta40 4y ago
Man. "xine" is a name I haven't heard for many years. Wonder how many people are still using it. As as university student in 2006, fast internet access was a still relatively pricey thing. I already knew how to do basic things in Debian, and would have similar Linux experience at home. Surpsingly, Slackware (3 CDs at that time) provided all the apps (C compiler, LaTeX etc) needed for doing homework. And of course, a multimedia player called "xine" was bundled. Playing all the ripped videos wasn't problem at all. I assume the development was practically halted years ago and no fork? Update: https://sourceforge.net/projects/xine/files/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/xine/files/ Oh it's still alive :)
- muyuu 4y ago
  Xine, mplayer, divx, xvid, etc these things were a lot more temporary than I anticipated, but it does make sense when you take into account the competitive advantage of newer codecs, hardware acceleration, etc. And of course the death of the CD-R and the DVD in the mainstream.
  - M_bara 4y ago
    Brings back memories… along with skinning XMMS. Good times
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - AlecSchueler 4y ago
    I still use MPlayer every day. I thought it had similar traction with Linux users as vlc.
    - t-3 4y ago
      It's been superseded by mpv.
      - anthk 4y ago
        You can have both. Mplayer2 it's lighter on older devices.
    - blensor 4y ago
      mplayer user here as well. Every time I start a video from the commandline I use mplayer.
  - iotku 4y ago
    As far as I know mpv is descended from mplayer and still plays a pretty big part in the media player landscape these days.
    - mananaysiempre 4y ago
      And Celluloid (ex GNOME MPV) is a pretty snazzy GNOME wrapper for it.
  - goldenpreppy8 4y ago
    Did any of you guys use Totem, Kaffeine? Man I just looked this up, XINE was integrated into these media players. Man i used those two alot back in the day. I was in college, so that means must of been like in 2001 or something...
    - anthk 4y ago
      Kaffeine for easy TV channel seeking.
    - doubled112 4y ago
      What a flashback! I don't miss the days of bouncing between media backends hoping one would play a media file better than another.
  - Nux 4y ago
    I use mplayer almost every day, still. One of the constants in my life. :)
  - TEP_KimIlSung 4y ago
    [dead]
- goldenpreppy8 4y ago
  Memories:) I remember Xine having a plug-in architecture, which would of allowed developers to add new features and functionality to the software and create "forks". Think its safe to assume it did many times since xine was open-source, under GNU General Public License.
komadori 4y ago
That brings back memories! I used to have commit privileges for xine and worked mainly on hardware acceleration for Solaris/SPARC. When I started university the internet access in the student accommodation was only via HTTP proxy, and I couldn't access Sourceforge or Blastwave properly any more. So, perversely, my Computer Science degree forced me out of open-source for a while :-P.
- InCityDreams 4y ago
  Genuine question: how do you regard getting a degree in CS at that time [given the unbelievable changes in tech since then]?
  - bayindirh 4y ago
    I guess that I’m around the same age to the author you’re replying to, and if you accept my answer, it’s pretty simple “I’m glad I got it, and would do it again if I had the choice”. Because while people have access to what we have learnt and beyond for free, going through a proper academic curriculum with the interactions the environment brings makes you a different person, and allows you to tackle depths of any issue without fear and uncertainty. Being self taught or having a greater breadth with less depth brings you flexibility, but being “T” or “I” shaped brings much more than that. Lastly, having that power is fun to begin with. Makes life enjoyable.
  - komadori 4y ago
    I think the experience was and remains valuable to me. I don't think that the changes in technology that I've seen in my career thus far have been so profound as to invalidate the value of that eduction. I often hear the sentiment that technology moves so fast and everything you knew yesterday is obsolete, but it doesn't really resonate with me. Languages, libraries, protocols, and practices come and go, but they're all linked together in one long chain of incremental change. Maybe large-language models will sweep everything away one day, but we had to start somewhere.
  - pertymcpert 4y ago
    I'm curious as to what unbelievable changes in tech you think would impact getting a degree?
anthk 4y ago
Xine, w32codecs, XawTV, AleVT, TVTime, NXTvEPG.. good times. Now allmost all of these are dead. I think no one updated TVTime for DVB. It was a supreme TV tuner and viewer.
- LeoPanthera 4y ago
  Tvheadend is alive: https://tvheadend.org https://tvheadend.org
  - anthk 4y ago
    It's like VDR?
karauzum 4y ago
I'm feeling old right now, this and also XMMS. Good old days, so much memories...
throwaway892238 4y ago
As a young newb, I couldn't figure out how to make DVDs play on Linux, even with the DeCSS code. Xine played them just fine though, with a great UI. <3 to those wonderful developers.

50 points by Lammy 4y ago

Man. "xine" is a name I haven't heard for many years. Wonder how many people are still using it. As as university student in 2006, fast internet access was a still relatively pricey thing. I already knew how to do basic things in Debian, and would have similar Linux experience at home. Surpsingly, Slackware (3 CDs at that time) provided all the apps (C compiler, LaTeX etc) needed for doing homework. And of course, a multimedia player called "xine" was bundled. Playing all the ripped videos wasn't problem at all. I assume the development was practically halted years ago and no fork? Update: https://sourceforge.net/projects/xine/files/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/xine/files/ Oh it's still alive :)

muyuu 4y ago
Xine, mplayer, divx, xvid, etc these things were a lot more temporary than I anticipated, but it does make sense when you take into account the competitive advantage of newer codecs, hardware acceleration, etc. And of course the death of the CD-R and the DVD in the mainstream.
- M_bara 4y ago
  Brings back memories… along with skinning XMMS. Good times
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- AlecSchueler 4y ago
  I still use MPlayer every day. I thought it had similar traction with Linux users as vlc.
  - t-3 4y ago
    It's been superseded by mpv.
    - anthk 4y ago
      You can have both. Mplayer2 it's lighter on older devices.
  - blensor 4y ago
    mplayer user here as well. Every time I start a video from the commandline I use mplayer.
- iotku 4y ago
  As far as I know mpv is descended from mplayer and still plays a pretty big part in the media player landscape these days.
  - mananaysiempre 4y ago
    And Celluloid (ex GNOME MPV) is a pretty snazzy GNOME wrapper for it.
- goldenpreppy8 4y ago
  Did any of you guys use Totem, Kaffeine? Man I just looked this up, XINE was integrated into these media players. Man i used those two alot back in the day. I was in college, so that means must of been like in 2001 or something...
  - anthk 4y ago
    Kaffeine for easy TV channel seeking.
  - doubled112 4y ago
    What a flashback! I don't miss the days of bouncing between media backends hoping one would play a media file better than another.
- Nux 4y ago
  I use mplayer almost every day, still. One of the constants in my life. :)
- TEP_KimIlSung 4y ago
  [dead]
goldenpreppy8 4y ago
Memories:) I remember Xine having a plug-in architecture, which would of allowed developers to add new features and functionality to the software and create "forks". Think its safe to assume it did many times since xine was open-source, under GNU General Public License.

komadori 4y ago

That brings back memories! I used to have commit privileges for xine and worked mainly on hardware acceleration for Solaris/SPARC. When I started university the internet access in the student accommodation was only via HTTP proxy, and I couldn't access Sourceforge or Blastwave properly any more. So, perversely, my Computer Science degree forced me out of open-source for a while :-P.

InCityDreams 4y ago
Genuine question: how do you regard getting a degree in CS at that time [given the unbelievable changes in tech since then]?
- bayindirh 4y ago
  I guess that I’m around the same age to the author you’re replying to, and if you accept my answer, it’s pretty simple “I’m glad I got it, and would do it again if I had the choice”. Because while people have access to what we have learnt and beyond for free, going through a proper academic curriculum with the interactions the environment brings makes you a different person, and allows you to tackle depths of any issue without fear and uncertainty. Being self taught or having a greater breadth with less depth brings you flexibility, but being “T” or “I” shaped brings much more than that. Lastly, having that power is fun to begin with. Makes life enjoyable.
- komadori 4y ago
  I think the experience was and remains valuable to me. I don't think that the changes in technology that I've seen in my career thus far have been so profound as to invalidate the value of that eduction. I often hear the sentiment that technology moves so fast and everything you knew yesterday is obsolete, but it doesn't really resonate with me. Languages, libraries, protocols, and practices come and go, but they're all linked together in one long chain of incremental change. Maybe large-language models will sweep everything away one day, but we had to start somewhere.
- pertymcpert 4y ago
  I'm curious as to what unbelievable changes in tech you think would impact getting a degree?

anthk 4y ago

Xine, w32codecs, XawTV, AleVT, TVTime, NXTvEPG.. good times. Now allmost all of these are dead. I think no one updated TVTime for DVB. It was a supreme TV tuner and viewer.

LeoPanthera 4y ago
Tvheadend is alive: https://tvheadend.org https://tvheadend.org
- anthk 4y ago
  It's like VDR?

karauzum 4y ago

I'm feeling old right now, this and also XMMS. Good old days, so much memories...

throwaway892238 4y ago

As a young newb, I couldn't figure out how to make DVDs play on Linux, even with the DeCSS code. Xine played them just fine though, with a great UI. <3 to those wonderful developers.