Can't create folder

[empro]

help ! i just downloaded mplayer and installed it fine..... but when i tried to create a dir for the codecs, they told me that i do not have permission to write

[Markus]

How did you install mplayer?
What codecs? Does "apt-get install w32codecs" help?
Are you root when creating the dir?
Where are you creating it?
Oh, and this is a hd install, right?

[empro]

yes it is a hdd install..... i installed mplayer by downloading the file, then unziped it and ./configure, make, make install.... for the codecs, they asked me to extract the files to " Put the files contained in this archive in a directory where MPlayer will find them. The default directory is /usr/local/lib/codecs/ " so i opened right clicked the file, then tried to extract the file to that location..... then it says no such folder or something and ask me if i wanted to create.... but i cant create it...... i dont know if i am in root when i am creating it or not

[Joe Soap]

i dont know if i am in root when i am creating it or not

Type
whoami in the command line and enter. The response will be root if you're logged in as root or your username if you're not logged in as root, eg:
saltheart@andelain:~$ whoami
saltheart

[empro]

yeah it shows ' root '......

[fingers99]

If you'll pardon me for saying so, building mplayer from source is a really daft idea.

Just add

#multimedia
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main

to your sources.list (just like that, copy n'paste it)

(as root)

vim /etc/apt/sources.list

save it, run (as root)

apt-get update

then:

apt-get install mplayer (it'll ask for your system -- or which version of mplayer you want)

then

apt-get install w32codecs

and that's it.

[empro]

hmm..... after i paste it in sources.list, i cant save the file...... it shows

" The document could not be saved, as it was not possible to write to file:/etc/apt/sources.list.
Check that you have write access to this file or that enough disk space is available. "

[fingers99]

If this is a HD install, either you're not editing /etc/apt/sources.list as root or you've not got enough disk space.

But from that error message, I'm unsure of the editor you're using: doesn't sound like vim or gvim......

[Markus]

Like fingers99 said, you have to be root to edit sources.list and use apt-get.

The file should be writable for owner (root):
markus@mrk-fujibox:~$ ll /etc/apt/sources.list
-rw-r----- 1 root root 4688 May 2 12:33 /etc/apt/sources.list

And why not also check hd space with: df -h

[empro]

ok i think i got it...... i typed kdesu kate at run command and edited the sources.list.....