Fossa64 Which VLC?

[peppyy]

I see in the internet archive downloads there are 3 versions of VLC for fossa64.

vlc-3.0.11-x86_64.pet10-Dec-2020 10:43 5.1M

vlc-3.0.12-x86_64-fossa.pet 01-Nov-2022 04:18 5.0M

vlc-3.0.18-x86_64.pet 28-Nov-2022 12:03 15.3M
I also looked at http://ftp.nluug.nl/ftp/pub/os/Linux/di ... s-fossa64/
3.0.11 was the only one listed there.

Since I was having issues with VLC I removed it with ppm. I was wondering which is the "Preferred" version before I reinstall.
I want to start fresh so, other than in my downloads I have no traces of vlc according to pfind.

[Jasper]

@peppyy

I compiled a build of VLCv-3.0.18-x86_64.

If you want to try it, here's the link:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/mxk760x0 ... 4.pet/file

Let me know if it works for you.

[ally]

I run vlc-3.0.11-x86_64-fossa.pet on my own fossa64

[bigpup]

Since I was having issues with VLC I removed it with ppm.

What were the issues?

[OscarTalks]

vlc-3.0.12-x86_64-fossa.pet 01-Nov-2022 04:18 5.0M

It would be interesting to know what issues you were experiencing and also which version you were using and where you obtained it from.

The one you mentioned above may be this one (possibly re-uploaded elsewhere) which I compiled from source in FossaPup and originally uploaded in March 2021:-
http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks/vlc-3.0. ... -fossa.pet
Obviously it is not the latest version now, but should be OK. Runs as root, does not try to connect to pulse or jack which don't exist.
There are some (mostly rarely needed) features which are optional when building VLC which are left out. They involve having to add extra libraries at build time. It depends on what you want VLC to do for you, hence the question about "issues".

If you want the latest version you could try the build by Jasper and report any issues you experience with that. I have compiled 3.0.18 in a couple of other Puppy versions, but not in FossaPup as yet. I might have a go at that at some point in the future.

[peppyy]

@bigpup I was having issues with it playing any video but, mostly streams. It was interesting the one I ran in wine worked just fine.
@OscarTalks I got the original one at the official nluug ftp for fossa64. 3.0.11 I believe. It seemed to work as long as I disabled video acceleration. In terminal it complained about my video driver, r6000 or something. I ended up using it mostly for audio cd's.

I have a network camera for my bee hives that I can pull up fine on smplayer with mpv. It is an rtsp stream with username and password. I was hoping to be able to cast live video to the web for a couple friends. On VLC I tried several formats for the link and got the standard cannot open rtsp stream error. Again the version I ran in wine worked fine. I used it just to test to see if it would run. It was a portable version.

The camera specs say that it supports , ONVIF 2.4(backward compatible), TCP/IP, HTTP, DHCP, DDNS, RTP,RTSP, PPPOE ,SMTP, NTP, UPNP

I wrote a very basic script that opens with one click in smplayer.

Note: I was just thinking that 3.0.11 on my wife's "all in one" hp with the same version of fossa64 works. I will have to confirm that when she is not using the computer

[rockedge]

@peppyy Why not use Zoneminder to make streams available for remote viewing by authorized viewers? I have a version that is ready to go in a Bionic32 system that is in ISO format. It's not the latest greatest but still rock solid robust Bionic32 and decent version of ZM. Advantage is ZM can be used right away and linked up with a free dynamic DNS and IP updater on the host machine you can give the friends of bees a URL with an alias domain name that'll point to your machine. One small Port Forward in your router setup and you will be running with pack and not back peeing with the puppies.

The Dev's over at Zoneminder are interested in video monitoring the beehives if you ever do set this up!

[OscarTalks]

On VLC I tried several formats for the link and got the standard cannot open rtsp stream error. Again the version I ran in wine worked fine.

I believe that for RTSP, VLC needs to be compiled with live555 support. FossaPup does not have this as standard and with many of my VLC builds I try to stick to linking only against the libraries that are included in the original Pup so as not to add to the bulk of the package with optional libraries that are seldom used. If you install other VLC packages (such as the Ubuntu build via PPM) you may find that the RTSP does work, because other libraries get dragged in as dependencies by the package manager, but then in Puppy you may encounter other issues such as refusal to run as root or errors because of missing pulse, jack and maybe other things. So as I said, it depends on what you want your personal VLC to do. That determines which version you install and from where.

Having said that, I have compiled versions of VLC in other Pups in the past with live555 support added as an optional. It is not too hard to do and the plugin will link statically against the libraries making it quite tidy, so I will bear that in mind for future builds.

[peppyy]

@rockedge I remember I spent a long time trying to set up Zoneminder shortly after I got the camera. I had issues with a lot of packages I installed. I downloaded your Puppy iso for zoneminder and booted it to a laptop I had and it worked great. We just never got it working on my frugal install of fossa64. I think we started about a year ago in this thread. https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 425#p28425

@OscarTalks

have compiled versions of VLC in other Pups in the past with live555 support added as an optional.

I am guessing that may well be the problem with the ones I have tried. I also tried to get rid of any "artifacts" I may have had from previous installs / upgrades. I think I will try the 3.0.12 you suggested. Even though I am not lacking for system resources on this computer, I have the feeling that VLC is being pushed by "Other Operating Systems" to report everything. I/E Datttta colllllection

[OscarTalks]

. I think I will try the 3.0.12 you suggested.

I have had a go at compiling VLC-3.0.18 in FossaPup and I have tried to include live555 support.
Perhaps you would be willing to test it and let me know if it works with your RTSP stream?
I see that there are settings in Preferences > Input/Codecs relating to live555 and RTSP so not sure if you might need to change those or if it will all work out of the box or not at all.
http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks/vlc-3.0. ... -fossa.pet

EDIT:-
Testing this VLC build with the RTSP test stream here:-
https://www.wowza.com/developer/rtsp-stream-test
It does seem to work, showing Big Buck Bunny video with watermark

[peppyy]

As for the current version I have installed, 3.0.12, Any stream link I have encountered is a no-go.
VLC could not connect to "wowzaec2demo.streamlock.net:554".
Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'rtsp://wowzaec2demo.streamlock.net/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_115k.mp4'. Check the log for details.
I tried it with the firewall off just in case. No change.

I tried another version of 3.0.18 and it would only launch in terminal, (Right click, Run in terminal). After trying several times I opened htop and filtered vlc. There were multiple copies running that would not accept the standard kill signal so I had to use option 9 sigkill.

I will have a look at your pet. Should I uninstall this one first?

[OscarTalks]

I will have a look at your pet. Should I uninstall this one first?

Yes, uninstall any previous versions before installing this one. It has the executable in /usr/local/bin so make sure you don't have any /usr/bin/vlc still lingering.
I would not expect most of those other builds to support RTSP because FossaPup does not ship with the live555 libraries so you have to make a point of adding them (as I did with this one) if compiling in FossaPup because it is an optional dependency. If you want to remove the old config settings and start afresh, delete /root/.config/vlc (directory and contents).

[peppyy]

@OscarTalks Did an unstall and cleanup and installed your pet. It appears to open local files fine however, rtsp streams fail to connect. Just a bouncing progress bar. I do see however, under tools / Media Information it gets the file information. location and title. It does not report an error, just stops.

I also can't seem to get the error log going. I followed these directions https://ourtechroom.com/tech/location-of-vlc-log-files/

All I seem to get is this.
-- logger module started --
main: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
main: playlist is empty

vlc-stats1.jpg (56.88 KiB) Viewed 841 times

[OscarTalks]

I also can't seem to get the error log going

Thanks for testing. I had never tried the logging function before but the plugins for logging are present and it seems to work here. I just enabled it in the Preferences, set the path to /root/vlc-log.txt and the log file was created at that location. Maybe you could try increasing the verbosity setting in Preferences to see more detailed output.

I thought I had made some progress by adding live555 and verifying that the test stream works for me. Maybe the specific task you are trying to do requires something else as well. If you do any further investigations and find any clues, let me know and I will see if I can add or amend anything. I think this latest build will work for most common media player tasks, but no other ideas spring to mind for me right now.

There is Mike Walsh's portable VLC which you may wish to look at. I am not sure if it will run as root or only as spot and it is much bigger but can be run from outside of pupsave. It is also based on the appimage so should be fully featured I think. Have a read of the thread here:-
http://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=5197

[Jasper]

@peppyy

Maybe this application might help?
Included are two clients OpenRTSP (fully featured) and testRTSPClient (basic)

More info here:
http://live555.com/

[peppyy]

@OscarTalks I am starting to wonder if I have a syntax issue in my link? Funny thing is that it launches fine with mpv or smplayer/mpv.
I open terminal and type
mpv rstp://username:password@ipaddress/streamnumber
and it plays.
A Hint when I do the same in terminal with vlc.
VLC media player 3.0.18 Vetinari (revision 3.0.13-8-g41878ff4f2)
Created new TCP socket 18 for connection
Unable to determine our source address: This computer has an invalid IP address: 0.0.0.0

I will see what I can find on the error.

EDIT: Opens with ffplay too.
All I can find about the 0.0.0.0 relates to a bug to versions after 3.0.11 although that version did the same thing.
The only other thing I found was about a kernel bug. There was also a mention of a bug in live55.

[peppyy]

OK. after all the fun discussion I have found it to be 2 things.
#1 I had to disable hardware acceleration.
#2 I had to disable the Puppy firewall.

desktop(3).jpg (47.3 KiB) Viewed 737 times

I always wondered why VLC said the bunny clip was 10:23 and the progress went nowhere.

My Beecam on VLC

desktop(4).jpg (69.19 KiB) Viewed 737 times

Is there a certain port I have to open on the firewall and how would I find out?

Now that I have it this far, I will see if I can cast it somewhere

[peppyy]

@Jasper Thanks for the input! That is where I found the ip conflict issue in live55.
Turns out it is mostly from my settings and firewall.

[peppyy]

Interesting that I can play rstp streams with ffplay , mpv and smplayer with the firewall on, however VLC refuses to play them unless you turn the firewall off.
Haven't figured it all out yet. Guess it is not the firewall but instead a setting of some type in VLC.