On Friday 19 June 2020 11:17:22 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp wrote: > Anno domini 2020 Fri, 19 Jun 11:03:09 -0700 > > William Morder via trinity-users scripsit: > > On Friday 19 June 2020 10:21:32 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp wrote: > > > Anno domini 2020 Thu, 18 Jun 15:19:49 -0700 > > > > > > William Morder via trinity-users scripsit: > > > > This is directed mostly to Nik (since I've heard him mention both > > > > Devuan and VLC); but also to anybody else who might have some inkling > > > > what is causing this issue. > > > > > > > > VLC is (or would be) my media player of choice on most of my machines > > > > or devices. I use it on my smartphone, and don't need anything else > > > > to play music, movies, stream videos or radio. (I've tried other > > > > media players, yes, but they are all inadequate by comparison, at > > > > least for my own needs.) So many good things to say about VLC ... > > > > until about a year or two ago. > > > > > > > > Ever since Jessie it will start up, but then immediately crashes. > > > > I've gone through looking for conflicts, but nothing obvious jumps > > > > out at me. > > > > > > > > Any suggestions about where to look, or what might be causing such an > > > > issue? > > > > > > > > Bill > > > > > > Sorry, I think I missed that message. If you have not solved it in the > > > meantime: delete "~/.config/vlc/" and "~/.local/share/vlc" > > > > > > Nik > > > > Hi Nik! > > > > No problem, as others jumped their suggestions. However I did miss the > > entry in "~/.local/share/vlc", so that helps me, too. And I did believe > > that I had resolved the issue, until I tried to play another film; when I > > tried to load the next item, however, I got the same problems all over > > again. > > > > I am still fiddling with it, looking for old configurations that used to > > work, to see if I can somehow adapt the settings, but it seems that VLC > > has changed something, and whatever has changed now interferes with its > > operation. > > > > In particular, I notice that I am asked for explicit permission for > > network access. But I don't stream videos from online sources; I only > > play local files, and have no need of Internet while I am watching; so > > that seems unnecessary. I don't remember being asked for such permissions > > before, but maybe I used my own settings to evade the problem until now? > > > > Anyway, at present I must delete VLC folders, etc., then start over for > > every time I want to play a film. At least I made some progress: I can > > use VLC (a little), whereas before yesterday, for a year or more past, I > > could not use it at all. > > Can you start vlc from commandline and post the error message - if any? > > > Does anybody else remember the promise, that computers would make our > > lives easier, and give us more free time? > > Yes. And the paperfree office. And then they published UT99 :) > > Nik > Sorry for the delay in responding. Sometimes I get tired of fighting against the machine. ;-) Well, so I got it going again, at least operable. I am a hoarder, and in one of my hoards I found some old configuration files for VLC that preserve my settings. I still have some problems playing anything directly from a saved iso, as well as some vobs and mpegs. I checked this with an iso that I created myself (so nothing weird to interfere with playback), and I still have problems with some of them. This doesn't seem right. I did find out something interesting, though. I have purged everything KDE4/5, as well as any traces of MATE or LXDE or whatever else, and even after purging I still keep finding KDE4/5 krap. It is like being in an abusive relationship. My old desktop doesn't want to let me go, and keeps trying to control me even after I have emotionally moved on to a better desktop. After getting rid of any lingering KDE4/5 files, I suddenly realized that VLC had been using KDE theme settings, rather than my TDE settings. (When I first installed Debian, I used a DVD that had made KDE5 one of the default choices, so I had to configure KDE Plasma before I could get TDE to work. Now I have got rid of KDE, but it seems not quite.) So I want to believe that I have it almost rebuilt as I like, but we'll see. At the moment, no errors messages to report, but it's still not running quite right. Whenever I can do a fresh installation on a new SSD, I will try to build a new machine as GNU/Linux Devuan with TDE from the bottom up. Bill