vlt skins download

[rooster7]

I downloaded a vlc-skins.zip file to my desktop from:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.php

The drill is:

Put the downloaded VLT files in the following folder:

On Linux/Unix: ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2

Then open your VLC settings and change your interface from native to skins. You can choose your desired skin already there or change it when you are in the skins mode by rightclicking somewhere on the skin and going to Interface>Choose Skin.
VLC needs to be restarted to change to skins mode.

I copied the vlc-skins.zip d/l to /usr/share/vlc/skins2.

When I start vlc and go to Settings > Switch Interface and click on Skins2 ... I get nothing.

[3breadt]

If you downloaded the skins pack you have to unzip it to ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2
All other VLT files you just put into that folder without unzipping them.

[rooster7]

I did that OK. Sort of ...

I "extracted" the file using the “Extract To” option on the KDE Right Click drop down menu.

The

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/usr/share/vlc/skins2

folder showed the list of skins was added. When I > Switch Interface and click on Skins2 I got the same black on grey default “window”. When I R Click on a Skin from the drop-down list, vlc exited; i.e. was killed.

I took another boo at the skins2 folder and saw the skins were still .zip. Evidently “Extract” is not synonymous with “unzip”. I deleted them. Murphy lives!

When I try now to unzip it to /usr/share/vlc/skins2 I get:

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# unzip /home/rooster/Desktop/vlc-skins.zip /usr/share/vlc/skins2 Archive: /home/rooster/Desktop/vlc-skins.zip caution: filename not matched: /usr/share/vlc/skins2

I've googled this “caution” 'till I'm dizzy, But I can't find a satisfactory sol'n.
Can you help me correct what must be bad code? Or can I simply copy (drag/drop) the
file from Desktop to the /usr/shar/vlc/skins2 folder and try to unzip it there?

[rooster7]

Update:

I hope madness (mine) isn't contagious.

I finally figured out part of my problem: using the wrong destination folder. My bad.

The right folder is /home/rooster/.local/share.

I created a new folder “home/rooster/.local/share/vlc/skins2” and tried to unzip the .zip file there. I ran into problems.

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# unzip /home/rooster/Desktop/vlc-skins.zip /home/rooster/.local/share/vlc/skins2 Archive: /home/rooster/Desktop/vlc-skins.zip caution: filename not matched: /home/rooster/.local/share/vlc/skins2

AFAICT the folder is where it's supposed to be, and named correctly. But this is what ls -a shows.

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/home/rooster/.local/share# ls -a . .. applications mime Trash vlc%2fskins2

Is there some significance to the altered delimeter: or what?

[3breadt]

the folder ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2 should already exist, enable "show hidden files" in your file browser.

[rooster7]

the folder ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2 should already exist, enable "show hidden files" in your file browser.

Thanks but: I had that done.
The folder "~/.local/share/vlc/skins2" did already exist. But I couldn't find any way to d/l the vlc-skins.zip file to it. I first tried to do it directly as the instructions stipulated.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.php

Put the downloaded VLT files in the following folder:
<snip>
On Linux/Unix: ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2

As su/root, I tried to do that from Xterm and by Konqueror (as root). No matter what code I tried, all I got were error messages indicating the destination folder was not recognized.

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checkdir: cannot create extraction directory: /root/.local/share/vlc/skins2

When I performed ls -a on the "~/.local/share" folder, I could see the the "/vlc/skins" file, that I assume was created when I installed vlc, but it was designated “/vlc%2fskins2” with the hex delimeter. I have no idea what this was supposed to signify. But the upshot was, neither KDE/Konqueror nor Xterm would recognize the “/vlc/skins2” folder. Period. I could have gone the “mkdir” route, but that seemed to defeat the purpose... or so I thought.

I resolved the problem eventually by drag/drop the “vlc-skin2.zip” file from my Desktop to the “~/.local/share” folder, then 'moving' it into the existing (as you knew it was) “vlc/skins2” folder, and using the KDE “Extract here” GUI to unzip it in situ. Note: I could not unzip it using:

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# unzip ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2/vlc-skins2.zip

... even though the query still put out:

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~/.local/share# ls -a . .. Trash vlc%2fskins2

Even so, I still can't access the unzipped file as per <http://www.techzilo.com/vlc-skins/>

Once the skin is installed, open VLC settings and change interface from native to skins. Then, right click anywhere and go to Interface>Choose Skin to select your skin. VLC needs to be restarted to change to skins mode.

That looked straightforward. But it weren't. When I went to vlc “Settings” > change interface to “Skins2” I got the standard dialoq window titled “Open a Skins File” ... It went thusly:

Settings > Change Interface > skins2 > File System > root > “chaos.vlt” [Open]

vlc “closed”/exited by itself.
I did a restart, opened vlc
No change (no new skin)

Back to:

Settings > Change Interface > skins2 > File System > root, R clicked on/highlighted “chaos.vlt” from the list of skins.

New dialog box promting: “Open Location”.
Screenshot (forum attachment utility doesn't like 110.0 KB PNG Image from Ksnapshot)
[img=http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7327/17971598.th.png]

Right!!! I knew where that was going!
Suffice it to say, I've tried entering every combination of uri </root/.local/share/vlc/skins2> in that dialog box and they all produce error messages.

I feel sooo stupid!

[3breadt]

That vlc%2fskins folder is strange.

I could have gone the “mkdir” route, but that seemed to defeat the purpose... or so I thought.

Maybe you should have gone that route You probably shouldn't place the files inside the /root/ folder.

erwan10 can you help? Or some other skins user experienced on linux? (I'm a windows user sorry)

[rooster7]

That vlc%2fskins folder is strange.

I could have gone the “mkdir” route, but that seemed to defeat the purpose... or so I thought.

Maybe you should have gone that route You probably shouldn't place the files inside the /root/ folder. <snip>

Well ... here's the thing:
the instructions for d/ling the skins file specify the "~/.local/share/vlc/skins2" directory/folders. It now looks like this:

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~/.local/share$ ls -a . .. applications mime Trash vlc%2fskins2

* the install of the vlc program from my repo "must have" created the file in that root directory because it was there... I didn't/wouldn't have invented it. So the file must be there for a reason; eh?
* there is another vlc/skins2file in “/usr/share”.

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royrogers:/usr/share/vlc# ls -a . pda-preferencesb16x16.xpm .. pda-rewindb16x16.xpm http pda-stopb16x16.xpm osdmenu skins2 pda-forwardb16x16.xpm vlc16x16.xpm pda-openb16x16.xpm vlc48x48.ico pda-pauseb16x16.xpm vlc.xpm pda-playb16x16.xpm wxvlc.xpm pda-playlistb16x16.xpm

On the face of it, that looks like a sensible place to put the skins. But that's still in a root directory folder; eh?
Can you see why I'm going crazy here?
I'm a linux noob... making naïve assumptions is part of the learning process. I “assumed” once I had the “/vlc/skins2” file in the “~/.local/share/vlc/skins2” folder and did the restart as specified, all the necessary updating would occur programaticaly.

Somebody out there must be running vlc on a Debian Etch Desktop and can diagnose the problem.
Right now, I'd be happy to find out what uri to type in the “Location” box.

[rooster7]

Resolved?
It seems the instructions given on my OP viz.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.ph
misled me into this mess. Rightly or wrongly, the inference in those instructions is that the skins2 files need to be downloaded to a root folder.
"Put the downloaded VLT files in the following folder:
On Linux/Unix: ~/.local/share/vlc/skins2"

As it turned out on my system, the simplest regime is to d/l it to Desktop, unzip/extract there, and that's all there is to it. I've deleted all vlt skins2 bumph from my root directory folders and encountered no problem with accessing the skins2 files.
I'm loathe to speculate, but I'm wondering if those instructions are intended for someone using vlt on a server versus a simple Stand-Alone Desktop.

Thanks for all your help.

rooster

[3breadt]

erm ~ is not a root folder but its your home folder (e.g. /home/rooster) which you have all rights to write to.
Unless though you are logged in as root, then it'd be the root's home folder. But you wouldn't log in as root.

[rooster7]

erm ~ is not a root folder but its your home folder (e.g. /home/rooster) which you have all rights to write to.
Unless though you are logged in as root, then it'd be the root's home folder. But you wouldn't log in as root.

Good catch.
Methinks I cited the wrong source above. Checking back over my documentation I see I took my first cue about installing vlc from:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-debian.html

Debian oldstable (etch)
A version (0.8.6) is packaged in etch. However, if you want libdvdcss (DVD decryption) support, you will need to add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian etch main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian etch main
For a normal install, do:
# apt-get update
# apt-get install vlc libdvdcss2

For a noob like me, that "#" pretty much dictated that the normal install required being logged on as root. When I explored the files that installed with vlc, I noticed a couple addressed as "vlc/skins". One in "/usr/.local/share" and another in "/root/.local/share". Being old and easily confused, I deduced that the "vlc/skins2" install would have to be done as root as well.

There were a couple of other decision points that confused me in the “vlc/skins.zip” install; but I don't think it would advance this thread to elaborate on them. Noob Blues; eh?

Thank you very much for your help.