VLC remote

Starting VLC without a GUI, for use via a remote control:

• vlc -I http

Then access http://localhost:8080

This will get you the simplest access to VLC, however you will not be able to load music or videos from here unless you have previously loaded them into VLC from the X interface. At least, I haven't found a way, yet. However, once the media library has been loaded with your files, and you start VLC using this method, you should see your library listed in the web page.

The good thing is that the interface that you see here is not encoded into the program itself. VLC's designers simply embedded a small web server into the code and then wrote web pages to accomplish the various remote control tasks. This means that individuals that have html skill and wish to customize the interface to their liking are free to do so. In Ubuntu Linux, the path to these files is:

• /usr/share/vlc/http/

It is recommended that you back up the files here, just in case you need to refer to them.

The other good news is that for people that have Adobe flash skills, VLC also supports a flash interface. Trouble is that the one that is included in VLC downloads the flash interface from a sourceforge.net project that appears to have broken the link between VLC and the player. Again, this can be changed by a skilled user, and the site, http://flowplayer.sourceforge.net, has a complete demo of a usable embedded Flash player. All that needs to be done is for someone with skill to tie the Flash player to VLC. There is an example of such work at http://blog.textoo.net/vlci-vlc-interface/ .

The VLC developers have given us a powerful tool, but expect us to fill in the blanks.