So, I'm looking at a brand new Fedora Core 9 installation, just to try things out. Lots of problems, but one thing at a time I suppose. My first task, I decided, would be to try Amarok which comes installed with FC9.
I open Amarok, get some MP3s off my external HD, and load them up. I click play.
The xine-engine claims it cannot play MP3 files.
You may want to choose a different engine from the Configure Dialog, or examine the installation of the multimedia-framework that the current engine uses.
You may find useful information in the FAQ section of the Amarok HandBook.
There's a Helix engine available which I choose, but I get the same error (xine replaced by Helix). I open up the Amarok HandBook and I find out that these are required for Amarok to run:
Chapter*8.*Requirements
Amarok requires the installation of some software packages. The required packages are listed below along with several other packages to enhance your Amarok experience.
Required:
KDELIBS 3.3
TagLib 1.4
How can I find out if I have them installed or not? Where else can I look for errors/troubleshooting? What about sound drivers, I've got an onboard sound card, how can I check if it's functioning properly or not?
I don't use FC so this might not be accurate info, but Ubuntu doesn't come with MP3 codecs installed by default. You have to install them after installing the main OS as they can't be legally included on the install CD. Maybe FC is in the same position? There is probably some package in the FC package repository somewhere to enable MP3 support. mpg321 is a commandline-based mp3 player.
If you want to test the soundcard, you could try playing a WAV or OGG file as they should be supported out of the box. FC might even have some program to test the computer hardware like Ubuntu does, or some button to click in sound preferences to play a test sound? If you can't get any sound playing, try turning up all volume controls in the volume manager preferences, even the ones that don't look like they should be up.
EDIT: KDELIBS would be the base libraries for K Desktop Environment (KDE). TagLib would probably be just used for adding/modifying audio file tags (ID3, etc).
A better way to test the soundcard is to run the command "system-config-soundcard" from a terminal.
It will bring up a window and a button to start a sound test, then it asks you if you heard the sound or not. This program usually gets run during the OS installation process, so it will probably be a good indicator of validity.
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