Hi Todd,
I downloaded "vlc-2.1.4.tar.xz" from the first FTP in your list. It is
18.7mb. Now I have to locate my multi format extraction program.
I wonder what the ".xz" represents?
In response to another person(s), I use Media Player and
FLVPlayer. Both do a good job, but some of my computers are
old with "slow" CPUs such as 500-700mhz. Playing a .FLV video(s)
on them doesn't "work" well. Note: I have a program (YTD, YouTube Downloader)
that converts the format from .FLV to WMV. In this format, they play fine,
but the video file(s) size is greatly increased.
Again Thanks, John
For Windows, a typical useful file extension would be .exe or .zip.
If source code was involved, the thing was Linux related, you might see
"tar" in the name. Tar stands for "Tape Arvhice", basically ZIP without
compression. The Linux/Unix guys apply compression after gathering
their files together in a "tar" archive. The .xz on the end is the
compression applied after tarring up a folder tree. So .tar.xz is
a tape archive with LZMA2 7zip-like compression. It might
be opened with 7-ZIP as a utility. I would not run a Windows
computer without 7-ZIP installed. It's the first program I install
from
www.7-zip.org . Virtually any version on that site can be
used, and don't let the "alpha" designation scare you. I've never
had a problem with Igor's alpha releases. Most recent version
in use here, is 9.30.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xz
"xz ... incorporates the LZMA2 compression algorithm.
xz can be thought of as a stripped down
version of the 7-Zip program"
I opened the file in question with 7-ZIP, and indeed, it is
a source tarball, with all of the files needed to compile
VLC for Windows or Linux/Unix. You do not need a source
tarball, in order to view movies with the VLC executable.
I think you missed a chunk of path in your fetch attempt.
/pub/videolan/vlc/2.1.4 has some .xz source files but
it also has a win64 directory
/pub/videolan/vlc/2.1.4/win64/ has an extensive Windows collection
vlc-2.1.4-win64.exe 24469 KB
The win64 folder has several formats, and some of the
formats save on their download costs, as the files
are slightly smaller. The LZMA2 compressors are better
at it, than what is used in ZIP, but take a lot more
time to prepare a compressed file. The ratio between
compression time and decompression time, is around 40:1
or so (in tests here). LZMA2 is a pig as a compressor.
When downloading files, there is no guarantee of what is
inside any file. A thing ending in .exe could be a program,
it could be an installer that puts a program in your
Program Files folder, but it could also be a self-extracting
archive. And just about anything could be inside a self-extracting
archive. It is only "by convention", that in this case I
download the .exe for a look. On the "assumption" it is
intended for Windows users to do an installation. Many times
I will need to download more than one file, when the
conventions have been ignored, and I find I got the
wrong thing.
And this is one reason for doing the FTP in your browser
interactively, so you can view the file list and make an
intelligent choice. Even the interactive FTP session in
Command Prompt, you can do "dir" in there, to get a list
of files in the current working directory of the server
connection you've made.
In this case, you also want to verify whether your OS
is a 32 bit OS or a 64 bit OS. Most WinXP users would be
running 32 bit, with only a few using WinXP x64 SP2. At
the time x64 was offered, driver support was poor, so few
bought the 64 bit version. You're most likely to want a
32 bit version of the VLC software.
Users on Vista/Win7/Win8 machines, it's harder to predict what
they'll be using. For those OSes, when I run them in
virtual machine software as a guest OS, I use 32 bit versions.
When I install them on 64 bit hardware directly, I can use the
64 bit version of the OS. The System Control panel may note
the OS is 64 bit, if it is the 64 bit case, whereas for
32 bit Windows, the System control panel will contain no
special notation. Another way to tell with 64 bit Windows,
is the presence of two Program Files folders. And that's one
of the reasons that smooth transitions between 32 bit and
64 bit OS installations are not allowed, as the Program
Files part of the structure is different. It complicates matters.
Summary of transfer methods:
1) Put this in your web browser, and it presents a directory
to view, shows you interactively what files are available.
This is the best way of using the "convention" rules, to
decide precisely which file to try first. For example, I could
then click on the win64 link on this web page, if I wanted
to see what is in that directory.
ftp://ftp.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/2.1.4
2) When someone gives you a complete path, you can either
click a link like this in your browser...
ftp://ftp.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/2.1.4/win64/vlc-2.1.4-win64.exe
or you can go to Command Prompt, and get it from there. I
only presented this Command Prompt method, as a counterpoint
to WGET, not because it's my first choice. This is better than
WGET, in the sense that you're less likely to download gigabytes
of the wrong stuff. This is a more surgical tool.
ftp ftp.videolan.org
(username) type in "anonymous"
(password) type in "(e-mail address removed)" or similar
cd /pub/videolan/vlc/2.1.3/win32/
dir
binary
get vlc-2.1.3-win32.7z
quit
Knowing how to use these methods, still has value in
2014 (until people stop using FTP on servers...) .
3) WGET is good for scripting. It's hardly the first tool
you give to someone who wants a single file. If improperly
used, you're more likely to download way more stuff than is
needed. You could walk away from the computer, and find
gigabytes of stuff on your hard drive if you aren't careful.
That's because it supports recursion (download the whole server!).
This is less likely to happen with (1) or (2) above. You
might bumble (1) or (2), but perhaps you end up needing to
download two files, until you get the right one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wget
As a hint for noobs, don't make the mistake I made about
a week ago, using WGET. That was forgetting to use the
--no-parent command line argument. You'll get fewer
gigabytes of stuff you did not expect with WGET, if you
include --no-parent in your command. Because depending on
how a web site is constructed, links on the page could walk up
the tree. And --no-parent helps control boundless traversal
and download.
WGET, is like giving someone a machine gun, to drive a nail
HTH,
Paul
