Soup Up GNOME 3 Desktop using Opera Widgets

 This article is about customizing your GNOME 3.2.1 desktop on openSUSE 12.1 . Since GNOME 3 desktops doesn't have any desktop icons the desktop real estate is free to be taken over by widgets , screenlets ,docks etc. I propose using  Opera widgets to decorate your GNOME 3 desktop as well as make it a place where you can read news , get weather updates , track stock market updates , play games, maintain your to-do lists , listen to online radio stations, maintain virtual aquarium and do a host of other things.
GNOME 3 Desktop With Opera  Widgets

Opera

Opera is a modern browser which supports all major web standards currently in use, like CSS 2.1, XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.01, HTML5, WML 2.0, ECMAScript, DOM 2 and SVG 1.1 tiny.It's main focus is on speed of browsing . Its page load speed is pretty good even on dial up connection. It has a lot of neat features like:-
==>Supports browser Add-ons / extensions.
==>Supports desktop widgets.
==>Has an in built torrent client.
==>Has an inbuilt mail client
==>First browser to introduce speed dial first
==>First to introduce syncing for bookmarks and other settings
==>First to introduce tabs concept in browsers
==>Inbuilt RSS reader
Install Opera on openSUSE 12.1 / GNOME 3.2.1
One can use this 1-Click Install to install GTk version of opera on GNOME 3.21 / openSUSE 12.1. The installer / YaSt screens / wizard will guide you through the various steps in the installation process.You may need to type in admin password / passcode when prompted.You may also need to click "accept" / "Trust" when it prompts for accepting  the repository key
Use Opera Widgets
There is no need for installation of a separate widget manager. It comes built into the browser . Once can download the widgets here.Opera defines widgets as "small web programs running outside the browser. Widgets can be both fun and useful, like games or development tools. They float on your desktop for quick and easy access to information or services". For those who are UN-initiated ,starting from version 10.10  Opera provides the ability to run the widgets as standalone applications. After the installation, the widgets can be seen as applications in the GNOME menu as an icon . The widgets on installation create link  under "/ home / <Profile> / bin" .There is no need for the Opera browser to intervene. The widgets run as a separate process.
Each widget can be rearranged according to the need on the desktop.
Widget Launch Links in Bin Folder

Launch widgets Along with OS / Add widget to GNOME startup
To add the widget to the start up on needs to launch "gnome-session-properties" through Alt+F2 command quick launch window.Then add an entry for the required widget in "Add Startup program" pop up windows by clicking add button in "Startup Application preferences". This will essentially start the widget when the gnome session starts up.
Launch gnome-session-properties" through Alt+F2

Add new entry for widget in Gnome Session Startup Manager

Hide The widgets in GNOME window switcher
 When one presses the left windows / Super key on the keyboard (OR) on moves the mouse cursor over "Activities" label in the top panel then the windows switcher can be accessed in GNOME 3 .Through the window switcher one can switch-over from using one application to the other application. In order to hide the widgets from appearing in the window switcher one can right click on each widget and set position" to "always below"
Before hiding widgets they appear in window switcher

Set to Always Below

After Hiding widgets they don't appear in window switcher

Widgets on My Desktop

The various widgets shown here in this post are:-
==>Analog Clock
==>BBC Headlines News
==>dotoo: To-do lists.One more upgraded version of too exists here
==>Stock Monitor
==>Weather forecast.This is a cool tool and has multiple display mode like 5 days forecast , compact mode etc.The display modes can be toggled by clinking on the widget.To set the city one should click the search or magnifying glass like thing on the widget and search for the relevant city and choose the  required city in the search results. The tool also allows users to set the display  of temperature to either Celsius or Fahrenheit
Weather Widget city search

Install sun java 1.6 update 30 and browser plugin on openSUSE 12.1

 Due to licensing issues openSUSE had to drop sun java from its repositories starting from openSUSE 12.1 onwards . Hence you need to install it from user maintained or community repositories . Only OpenJDK is offered in official repositories
Install Java
Based on the architecture the relevant package must be installed.You need  to install two packages:-
==>JRE or Java Run-time Environment is needed for executing jars or running class files on your system.Some application software like openoffice / libreoffice  need this to work properly.
==>Browser plugin is used to run applets on your browser
          We can install both JRE and browser Plugin using the 1-Click Install/One-Click for plugin as YaST will automatically detect that JRE is also required.You can also locate other 1-Clicks for Sun Java Plugin here
Important Note:- You may need to type in admin password / passcode when prompted.You may also need to click "accept" / "Trust" when it prompts for accepting  the repository key. Since we are using  1 click for plugin ,the installer /YaST will ask you to upgrade / install JRE also, you may need to allow the up-gradation of JRE.

Check Installation

Check version of Java/Jre in system
If you are looking to test your installation then you need to open the terminal
an execute the command "java -version"

Check version of Java plugin browser uses
To check browser plugin Navigate here or here
If the installation is successful you must see something like this :-

Run or Execute jar files

If you looking for launching (or) running jar files then ,look here

Vettai review (Contains Spoilers)

Protagonists
Arya as Gurumurthy
Madhavan as Thirumurthy

Protagonist's Love interests

Sameera Reddy as Vasanthi
Amala Paul as Jayanthi

Baddie

Ashutosh Rana as Annachi

Captain Of the ship

Linguswamy

  Vettai film is all about two brothers Madhavan as Thirumurthy and Arya as Gurumurthy.Like Jekyll and Hyde and two sides of a coin Guru and Thiru have diametrically opposite personalities. Thiru happens to be  dull headed and is a bit of scaredy cat,whereas Guru is a Ruf & Tuf and smart.The movie is about how the brothers fare in their life after the death of their father who happens to be a police officer . There is also a running gag that both of them  being sons of a policemen have policemen's blood running in them.

Pluses of the movie

==>Madhavan and Arya's screen presence is amazing.
==>As usual Lingusamy has paced the movie well.
==>Sameera Reddy looked natural even though she is not a local. Amala paul played the role of eye candy to perfection.
==>The script writers / dialogue writers have done a commendable job to keep the audiences interested even though the movie's story lacked substance.
==>The baddie sports a smart clean shaven look and performed well, and is a promising talent.
==>Did not feature any fart jokes unlike nanban

Minuses of the movie

==>The songs were terrible.The less said about the lyrics the better.This has been a typical trend in recent tamil movie.Only movie that came close to breaking this unsavoury streak was vaagai Sooda Vaa
==>Typical Kollywood,run of the mill movie.
==>This is the gazillionth film to portray an American fiancée as a dufus and complete moron.
Story
 The movie starts with the  Madhavan flying a kite along with other boys when another boy intentionally cuts his line When Madhavan confronts the aggressor he gets beaten and shooed away. Madhavan high-tails from the spot . He returns to the spot with his younger brother Arya who picks up a fight with the aggressor.The protagonist's father happens to catch Arya with another boy rolling in the sand and he takes both home and flogs Arya . Though Arya remains unperturbed , Madhavan weeps and feels guilty that he is the reason why Arya got flogged by their father.This scene sets the premise to rest of the film.
  Arya's father dies when the boys reach the age of twenty something and Madhavan gets coaxed by Arya to join the police force . Whenever  Madhavan gets into a tight situation with the baddies he calls up Arya and he takes care of them.This drama continues for sometime and Madhavan gains a reputation of being a no nonsense ,bad ass but kicking police officer.Unfortunately the bad guys find out the truth about Madhavan that he is actually a sheep in wolves clothing.The rowdie elements waste no time and make short work of Madhavan.
  When Madhavan starts recovering from the serious injuries ,Arya reveals the real reason as to why he made Madhavan join the force. He wanted Madhavan to stop being a scaredy cat and stand up to the challenges he faces in the life . He further goes on to say that he cannot continue giving a long rope to Madhavan and asks him shed his fears and beome a responsible police officer.The rest of the movie is about how Madhavan KO's the bad guys.
End of story

Conclusion

Watch the film if you want to have a few laughs or you happen to be a Madhavan (or) Arya's fan. You can also watch the movie if you want to catch a glimpse of Amala Paul who offers plenty of fan service and seems to determined to change her demure image from Myna.

Cinnamon Bread oops Cinnamon Desktop is piping hot

Brief
  This post is an overview of cinnamon desktop of mint origin on openSUSE12.1 and GNOME 3.2.1.Cinnamon works more like a GNOME 2 emulator for GNOME 3 . What I meant is , Cinnamon still uses shell but the interface is closer to GNOME 2 . Those who have been baying for GNOME shell blood please switch to Cinnamon . No more GNOME 3 hate clubs . Those who use fallback mode intentionally due to dislike for shell interface can switch to cinnamon.

Install Cinnamon
You need to have openSUSE 12.1 / GNOME 3.2.1 installed on your system so that you can install Cinnamon on top of it.
Step 1:-
open terminal and add the repositories and refresh them.Type in the admin passcode when prompted
sudo zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/cyberorg:/cinnamon/openSUSE_12.1/home:cyberorg:cinnamon.repo
sudo zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/GNOME:/Cinnamon/12.1/GNOME:Cinnamon.repo
sudo zypper refresh
Step 2:- 
open YaST and install all the packages in both the repositories.
Step 3:-
Finally use the option "Switch installed packages to the versions in this repository" against the first repository listed above
Important Note:-I had to use this weird approach to install as Cinnamon is not fully openSUSE12.1 integrated as i write this post.You can ignore adding first repo once Cinnamon becomes stable on openSUSE12.1

How To Use Cinnamon

After installing cinnamon you can switch to cinnamon desktop using the desktop switcher.

Standard Cinnamon Desktop

What Can You expect in Cinnamon?

Weather Extension

==>You can get all the weather updates you need on GNOME 3 desktop now thanks to the weather applet.
==>You need to find the "Where On Earth Code" first for you city or town.
To get your woeid you need to search for the weather update at weather.com and then copy / extract the code from address address bar of your browser.The following image shows how to do it for a particular city

Alternatively you can also get woeid here
==>Set the woeid using dconf-editor.To do this type in Alt+F2 and in the quick launch window type in "dconf-editor" and then hit return,this will open dconf-editor .Navigate to org==>Cinnamon==>extensions==>weather and there set the woeid

Set woeid through dconf-editor

Screenshot of Weather Extension

The GNOME 3 style Window Switcher is retained 

Application Menu like GNOME 2.X

Application Menu supports application search too

cinnamon-settings

All settings can be controlled through either "gnome-tweak-tool" or "cinnamon-settings". Both can be launched through use of these commands in Alt+F2 quick launch application window.

gnome-tweak-tool
This tool is greatly useful to switch "on" the various extensions and apply themes in Cinnamon desktop.Chocolate theme applied through gnome-tweak-tool

Return Of the Classic shutdown menu

Citation :- GNOME_Cinnamon

IceWM on openSUSE 12.1

  According to the the project home page , IceWM is a window manager for the X Window System. The features of IceWM are speed, simplicity, and not getting in the user's way. For the ones who are itching to build it from the source, here is the link to the sourceforge project. Personal opinion of IceWM  is that a simple , non flashy , practical window manager that doesn't promise much , but simply delivers.

Pluses of IceWM on openSUSE 12.1

==>It is damn fast
==>It is small and has a very very small memory footprint
==>You can get the entire application menu(list of all apps installed on your system) on the right click of your mouse which is pretty cool feature.
==>It has many built in themes and can emulate the look of Windows '95(evokes nostalgia), OS/2 Warp 3, OS/2 Warp 4, and Motif etc:
==>Fully compatible with YaST on openSUSE12.1
==>It piggyback rides on GNOME desktop and hence no need to install it separately.
==>Easy on the eyes .The shades used on the desktop seemed to give off vibes similar to that of a pastel based artwork.
==>Almost all the apps that work in GNOME be it GTK or QT based work on
IceWM
==>It is a great fall-back window manager for GNOME 3.
==>It is a solid platform or those(developers,DrJava runs fine,screenshot attached below) who don't need an  frilly desktop

How and where  I found out about IceWM ?

 The story is quite similar to that of  goldilocks and the three bears.One fine day ,similar to the bears in the story I was fuming after one of the infamous crashes of GNOME 3 desktop and when the desktop automatically got logged out ,I found that there are multiple desktops that and then I thought somebody has been piggybacking on my GNOME installations.GNOME 3 was very unstable until a few patched came rolling in on openSUSE 11.4.Those were early days when GNOME 3 desktop was introduced as an alternative to the default GNOME 2.32 desktop on openSUSE 11.4.Whenever I used "gnome-tweak-tool" to set nautilus as the desktop handler, the desktop would crash . It would also crash whenever i refreshed the desktop using the key combination "Alt+F2"==> type in"r" and press return or enter key . Whenever I tried to login after the crash the desktop would crash again,it would take me to a login screen . Then i would login into the "IceWM" Session and  fix my GNOME 3 desktop. I felt that it was really very handy to keep multiple Window managers installed as a fall-back system . Hats off to the openSUSE guys for bundling IceWM and  its sort of poorer cousin TWM. 

Goldilocks Session switcher showing GNOME 3, IceWM and TWM

IceWM Screenshots
IceWM theme used in the screenshots is "icedesert" which happens to be the default theme on IceWM.The version installed on my system is  IceWM 1.3.7.

IceWM in full throttle running Nautilus,gnome-mplayer ,GKrellM and gnome-calculator

IceWM running DrJava(light weight Java IDE),bleachbit(linux equivalent of the windows based ccleaner) and also showing the entire application menu

If you looking for article on running jar files in Linux environment(like running DrJava packages) then  take a look at this post.If you are looking for installing java jre on openSUSE 12.1 take a look here.

IceWM with nautilus added as a quick launch button in the task bar.

To add a new button like a quick launch for nautilus to the task bar you need to create a new file with the name toolbar under the path /home/<Your HOME FOLDER>/.icewm and add a line prog "Nautilus"  "" nautilus to the file and save it , logout and log back in to get the button working / show up on the taskbar.
Desktop icons enabled on IceWM by using "gnome-tweak-tool"

The trick to doing this is to press the left windows key on keyboard and launch the application menu on the left hand side and invoke "xterm". Then type in "gnome-tweak-tool" and hit return / enter key.Then using the tweak tool / Advanced Settings you can enable desktop icons and set nautilus to manage the the desktop.You may need to logout and login back again to see the changes though.
Side Note:-Logo at the beginning of post created here:- FalmingText

What are PIPA and SOPA capable of doing to the internet

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

NOTE:-If video is too slow then use then click "HD",the HD mode will get switched off and the video will load faster

The above video explains as to how PIPA and SOPA can affect internet and affect the world as a whole.In short PIPA and SOPA can :-
==>Uploading a video with baby dancing to a tune over video sharing sites like youtube , metacafe etc can land one in serious trouble.
==>Not only that media companies can take down the site which allowed you to upload the aforementioned video
==>Encourage similar laws through out the world
==>Give an excuse the social networking sites  scour through your private content on pretext of searching for illegal or copyrighted content in your posts
==>Governments may  start preventing people from blogging, stemming from fear of the unknown

Should BCCI take a leaf out of RCA?

Rajasthan's Fairy Tale

 I am not an avid follower of the Indian Domestic cricket or The Ranjis. But I cannot  help notice that Rajasthan's Ranji team has performed exceeding well over the past two ranji seasons and  have even made to the finals of the 2011 Ranji finals and if everything goes well they should trounce and make short work of Tamil Nadu and retain the Ranji Trophy . The scores read Rajasthan 621,Tamil Nadu 66/3 (25.0 overs) at stumps as I write this article . Mr Ranji would be  happy to know that atleast one team is taking the game seriously.

I have seen some cricket pundits accuse Rajasthan of playing it safe in this years tournament finals by being too conservative and amass 621 at a snail's pace and crush the day lights out of the Tamil Nadu .
==>What's wrong with Rajasthan taking advantage of the first innings lead rule to their advantage and winning the match
==>It is not Rajasthan's fault that the ground at Chepauk aided neither spin nor pace.They won a contest with the ball fair and square against harayana in Rothak.Why let Tamil Nadu cricket association prepare a dead pitch?
==>Their game-plan is different based on different pitches and this shows their organisational capacity , their dedication to win each and every game.
==>They are hungry for victory in the final and they deserve to win the trophy this year too.

 Let us not forget that Rajasthan is not standing at the top as a matter of luck.They literally had to claw their way up to the top.They never reached a final before 2010/2011 Ranji series after their run in the 60',70's.One may even argue that Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) started showing their real might from the inaugural IPL in 2008 which they won with a motley bunch of youngsters under the able stewardship of the spin legend Shane warne.They have proved that it was not a fluke by translating themselves into a impeccable team in the first class cricket i.e.Ranji Trophy

 It as not been a cake walk for Rajasthan team.They had to start from the bottom in 2009/2010 when they were in the plate league and they won only  1 out of the 5 matches in the league stages and occupied the bottom of Group A . For the uninitiated Ranji Trophy now has a plate leagues and super league / elite  system where plate trophy is for the bottom rung teams and Elite is the for the much better playing team. Moving from the bottom of plate league in 2009/2010 to winning the 2010/2011 elite trophy and making it to the finals in 2011/2012 in the elite league is by no measure a small achievement . It is comparable to a human chiselling a tunnel through a mountain.

What did the Rajasthan team get it right?

==>They played first class cricket/non limited overs cricket as it is supposed to be played.They did not rush things.They never lost their cool.
==>They planned well and rebuilt their team after they finished at the bottom of the plate league in 2009/2010
==>They brought in good players from other teams.
==>They take their game seriously
==>They play according to a plan.
==>They developed the cricket game in non urban areas too , which would obviously lead to unearthing fresh and untested talent which will not be possible with a limited talent pool. More about it here

Why is the National Team  fairing poorly overseas?

If a state team like Rajasthan with limited resources  can plan well and execute the plan and play well why can't BCCI,the richest cricket body in the entire world whose coffers are loaded with unforetold wealth and treasures do a good job with the national team?
==>What is happening to the fresh talent that Ranji unearths each year ?
==>What is the national cricket  academy doing ?
==>Why are we losing 7 overseas test matches on a trot ?
==>Didn't the current ,much hyped Indian team win last year's ODI World Cup(2011).
==>Why are we losing each overseas test by an innings?
==>Why can't we just draw a few of the games ?
==>Why are we the laughing stock last year in England and this year in Australia?

BCCI is rotten / corrupt / ineffective :-

Well BCCI has done every thing wrong to begin with
==>The pitch used in this year's (2011-2012) final in Chepauk is horrible . It is really is the famed dust bowl.Why can't BCCI appoint some experts to oversee pitches before important games in domestic tournaments?
==>BCCI never managed the players injury properly . During the English tour of 2011 more than half of the Indian team was changed due to injuries . Dhoni also was quick to point out this fact.
==>BCCI never plans an overseas tournament well.We played only a single practise match before the infamous 4-0 drubbing against England in 2011
==>Indian team is also not playing according to a plan.
==>We are relying too much on old warhorses like Sachin , Dravid and Laxman rather than relying on young blood.Where are the centuries and double centuries from new comers in the last 7 or so tests?
==>We are still retaining Zonal based selection system instead of picking players for the team  purely based on talent.
==>As Dada has pointed out here (Dhoni not interested in Test cricket: Ganguly),Dhoni seems to have lost interest in test cricket.Then why the hell does he not quit immediately ? There is no place for half hearted players in the team.
==>The head of BCCI is still not a former test player but a politician though India has a long history of playing cricket even from times before Independence.
==>Why do the selectors go Scott free and the blame is shouldered on by the players when the team performs poorly.
==>Why doesn't BCCI reveal what it is doing (BCCI rejects Ajay Maken's revised Sports Development Bill) with its enormous funds.Is it really using it for the betterment of cricket in India

Why the hell can't BCCI take a leaf out of Rajasthan's successful run in first class cricket?

Nanban movie Review(Contains Spoilers)

 Saw Nanban movie in kamala theatre (known as kamala cinemas now) 11:00 Am show.Thank god the Theatre has good parking facility and had a decent parking cost of 15 bucks unlike the theatres in the malls where you are charged about 20 ~ 25 bucks per hour.Sometimes we may spend more on parking ticket rather than the movie ticket itself.The sound system in the theatre is not so good.I was sitting near the wall in the front set of rows. The speakers has caused me a headache . Also the movie theatres should stop frisking people and install metal detectors or something.The movie was not such a bad one considering vijay acted in it.

Pluses of the movie:-
==>Sathyaraj acted well,he had done his homework and was good as the college principal.Jeeva and Srikanth essayed the roles of Vijay's friends very well.
==>The story line was nearly water tight but not air tight.
==>It is not the typical shankar movies about corruption etc:
==>The movie I believe is a faithful reproduction of the original
"3 idiots".
==>Message of the movie "asking youngsters to apply themselves in areas of their interest" instead of going down the well trodden path is laudable.
==>Not a typical hodgepodge Vijay movie :-).

Minuses of the movie:-
==>There was absolutely no chemistry between the lead pair.The lead pair (Vijay , Ileane)couldn't show much of facial expressions.Ileane looked a little anorexic.
==>The songs did not gel well with the movie.The lyrics were not catchy.
Shankar did not pay much attention to the songs in this movie which I find is quite unusual.
==> People poking fun of srivatsan(sathyan) all the time was getting too tiresome to watch.The fart related jokes was a little retarded.
==>Old wine in new bottle.The age old  urban legend that, "NASA spending a large amount of money to develop a pen that would write in the conditions experienced during spaceflight",has been retold through this movie.There is no point of including that story in the movie.

Story:-
 Sathyan calls up Vijay's friends ( Jeeva and Srikanth) and asks them to meet him lying to them that he is with their dear friend Vijay and he is waiting to meet them.Instead he shows them a presentation of his achievements in life . After not being able to meet their dear friend who in this case happens to be Vijay start looking around for their long last friend.Vijay it seems doesn't keep in touch with them after their graduation from college . During their search for Vijay , the college days when the trio spent their times together is shown . It was shown as to how Vijay was really smart and was down to earth and witty .The flashback fails to explain as to why only these two were attracted to Vijay whereas the rest of the students did not interact a lot with vijay . Sathyaraj did a commendable role as the college principal . Back in the present,when they finally thought that they had nailed their dear friend's location that they find that their friend has impersonated another person (S.J.Surya) and did college on behalf of him.
  Jeeva and  Srikanth come to know about the marriage of Ileana and her finance.They gate crash Ileana's  wedding and tell her that she not betray her feelings for Vijay and marry a "Mr no good" / "cold hearted"' person like her would be husband.When they finally catch up with Vijay they realise his noble objective of starting a school where each student can realise his/her hidden potentials.

Conclusion
Though nothing new has been explored in this movie it can be watched once.It has a few good scenes. My rating of the movie would be (3.5 out of 5)

Big Bash Of Video Players On Gnome 3

 Big Bash Of Video Players On Gnome 3 is a lazy comparative study of Linux based video players , specifically those which are available on GNOME 3.2.1 , openSUSE 12.1.openSUSE 12.1 offers a large variety of video players based on various platforms like gstreamer , phonon , xine , mplayer etc : Most of the video player options can be installed through the addition of OSS , Non OSS , Update and Packman repositories in YaST.
    Before one gets on with installing video players on openSUSE one must install the codecs for restricted multimedia formats .This will enable the video players to play the wide range of video formats available nowadays like mpg , divx / avi , xvid / avi , rm , rmvb , wmv , mkv , asf , flv , webm etc:The list seems to be endless.
  The various video players compared include Banshee , Gmerlin player , gnome-mplayer , gmplayer , SMPlayer , UMPlayer , Totem , VLC , Whaaw! Media Player , Xine-ui , XBMC .Though many other video players are available for openSUSE we will restrict ourselves with comparing the above ones.

Install Video Players 

One can go through Step 1 in this post to install all the required multimedia libraries on openSUSE / GNOME.Then one needs to ensure that all the required community repositories have been configured / installed.
Zypper way:-
==>Press Alt+F2 and in the command launch window type in "gnome-termial" and hit enter or return key
==>Execute the command "sudo zypper in umplayer". Here "sudo" is used for switching to super user mode,"zypper" is the installation tool,"in" stands for install and "umplayer" is the name of the software / package you are going to install
==>If prompted type in the admin password / passcode
Sample zypper output :-

anonymous@linux-9p85:~> sudo zypper in umplayer
root's password:
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...
The following NEW package is going to be installed:
  umplayer
1 new package to install.
Overall download size: 1.4 MiB. After the operation, additional 3.6 MiB will be
used.
Continue? [y/n/?] (y): y
Retrieving package umplayer-0.97+r180-1.5.i586 (1/1), 1.4 MiB (3.6 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: umplayer-0.97+r180-1.5.i586.rpm [done (62.3 KiB/s)]
Installing: umplayer-0.97+r180-1.5 [done]

GUI way:- 
If you are not comfortable with command line interface ( CLI ) or command mode then you can install the software through YaST.
==>Press left windows/Super key on your keyboard,this will bring up the activities window in GNOME 3
==>Click on Applications tab,it will appear on left hand side top of the activities windows
==>You can find "Install/Remove Software" menu by typing in install from your keyboard ( don't worry about placing your mouse cursor in search box,GNOME 3 is smart enough to do it for you). Alternatively you can locate it under "system tools" node of the tree like menu which sits on the right hand side in in the applications tab
==>Enter admin password when prompted and then and then wait for the tool to "refresh" your available software list
==>You can type in the name of the package / software / rpm you want to install like "gnome-mplayer" or "umplayer" and then click / check the software you want to install.You can "check" multiple software by changing the query in the "find" box and checking/selecting the software you need.
==>After checking the software your need hit apply button at the bottom of the software install window.You will be asked to confirm the software you want to install and then it will take a few minutes for the download and install process to complete.
==>You can then check the installed software "Applications" menu.
Comparison of video players
  First I compare the video players based on their looks (like whether they integrate well with desktop theme) , their stability(how many times they crash) , easy of use (use of scroll in mouse to seek etc),whether they are easily configurable (setting default subtitle language etc).

Banshee
http://banshee.fm/
Looks	04 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	03 / 05
Configurability	03 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	No
Gmerlin Player
http://gmerlin.sourceforge.net/
Looks	02 / 05
Easy Of Use	02 / 05
Stability	03 / 05
Configurability	03 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	Yes
gnome-mplayer
http://code.google.com/p/gnome-mplayer/
Looks	03 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	05 / 05
Configurability	04 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	No
gmplayer
http://www.mplayerhq.hu
Looks	03 / 05
Easy Of Use	03 / 05
Stability	03 / 05
Configurability	04 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	Yes
SMPlayer
http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/
Looks	04 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	04 / 05
Configurability	05 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	Yes
UMPlayer
http://www.umplayer.com
Looks	04 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	04 / 05
Configurability	05 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	yes
Totem
http://projects.gnome.org/totem/
Looks	05 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	04 / 05
Configurability	03 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	No
VLC
http://www.videolan.org/
Looks	03 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	04 / 05
Configurability	03 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	Yes
Whaaw! Media Player
http://home.gna.org/whaawmp/
Looks	03 / 05
Easy Of Use	04 / 05
Stability	04 / 05
Configurability	02 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	No
Xine-ui
http://www.xine-project.org/home
Looks	03 / 05
Easy Of Use	03 / 05
Stability	03 / 05
Configurability	03 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	yes
XBMC
http://xbmc.org/
Looks	-N.A.-
Easy Of Use	03 / 05
Stability	04 / 05
Configurability	03 / 05
Skin/Theme Available?	Yes

Screenshots Of video Players 
Banshee

Gmerlin Player

gmplayer

gnome-mplayer

SMPlayer

Totem

UMPlayer

VLC

Whaaw

XBMC

xine-ui

How Many Formats Does Your Video Player Handle?
  Any good video player should support multiple video formats.The generic rule is the more formats a video player supports, the better. I have randomly selected videos in 12  different formats to rigorously test the players and here are the results:-

File Formats used in tests:-
DivX/avi <== DivX is a video compression Codec that can compress long video segments into smaller sizes while maintaining good visual quality.
flv<==Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet
webm<==Free and open video format designed to provide royalty-free high-quality video compression for use with HTML5 video.
asf<== Advanced Streaming Format,proprietary format from MS 
rm<==RM video format is a multimedia container format created by RealNetworks
mkv<==Matroska is a extensible, open source, open standard Multimedia container
mov<==Video format for apple quicktime videos
xvid/avi<==Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 . rmvb<==RealMedia Variable Bitrate is a variable bitrate extension of the RealMedia multimedia container format
mkv with embedded subs<==Matroska is a extensible, open source, open standard Multimedia container
wmv<==Windows Media Format
 

Banshee
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	No	Plays Audio No Video
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	No	Plays Audio No Video
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	No	Plays Audio No Video
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
Gmerlin player
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	No	Crashes
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	No	Plays Audio No Video
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	No	Audio,video present No subtitle
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
gnome-mplayer
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	Yes
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
gmplayer
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	Yes
sample.mkv	No	Crashes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
SMPlayer
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	Yes
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
UMPlayer
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	Yes
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
Totem
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	No	Plays Audio No Video
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
VLC
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	No	Video Present No Audio
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	No	Weird opens video in multiple windows
Whaaw! Media Player
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	No	Plays Audio No Video
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
Xine-ui
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	yes
niceday.rm	No	No Audio or Video,buzzing noise
sample.mkv	Yes
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	No	No Audio or Video,buzzing noise
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes
XBMC
File/Format	Runs It	Remarks
AVI_DivX.avi	Yes
BlackJackOP.flv	Yes
HTML_5_video_~.webm	Yes
niceday.asf	Yes
niceday.rm	No	No Audio or Video
sample.mkv	No	No Audio or Video
sample_iTunes.mov	Yes
Sample-pitbull~xvid~.avi	Yes
Samurai X.mpg	Yes
szybcy sie sample.rmvb	Yes
vsshort-vorbis-subs.mkv	Yes
WindowsMedia.wmv	Yes

The sample files used for testing the video players are available below:-

Conclusion

  One must take a lot of things into consideration before choosing the video player for ones desktop like the file format it supports , whether it has the skins one likes etc. I would suggest keeping couple of players installed on the system and so that most the video formats can be played.