Getting closer to a complete system.
With a bit of work, and help from Fresh RPMs I now have xmms working and playing mp3 files. Not only that, it can now play wma files.
Also, xine is installed and with additional help from the mplayer libraries, capable of playing wmv files properly. I was pleasantly surprised to find it also plays fli files of which I have a couple. I hadn't been able to play those at all on Mandrake.
There's still more to do. Like get a real version of Audacity, one that understands mp3 files. I do have lame installed so I should be able to encode to mp3, once I get programs that know what it is. I also need to see about getting Grip and also getting Flash to work in Opera again.
And now to get away from things for a while. A trip to Sioux Falls is in order, for comics, for supper, and to see some friends and a show. Any more computery stuff can wait til tomorrow.