Mods: my apologies in advance if this is not an appropriate place for this and you decide you have to squash me like a bug. It’s okay. I can take it. (whimper).
I will try to make this as short and as clear as I can. I don’t do very well at the tutorial type of thing, so I will try to be helpful and we should just call it trying to point you in the right starting direction. First off, let me say that I think you have picked a great distribution to start on. I really like Ubuntu, and as far as Debian in general? Well, I think it just rocks. ‘Nuff said… stick with it if you like it and it will come to you.
You can find almost all you could want to know on the subject (media and restricted or non-free necessities), at these two places. These are great jumping off points… Just my opinion.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/
http://www.getautomatix.com/
Be sure to follow the instructions for your particular release of Ubuntu.
Now for the short version. I must add that there are no guaranties, and any and all modifications are at your own risk… my own success rate has been fantastic on every Ubuntu installation I have done. This is what works for me.
1. Open Synaptic. (By the way, I am using 6.10, Edgy Eft), at the moment. Navigate to: Settings > Repositories. Enable the remaining repositories in the software sources dialog. Close the dialog and refresh (the reload button), Synaptic.
2. Open a terminal (copy and paste will work for this if I haven’t screwed up the syntax anywhere).
Enter your admin (root) password when the “sudo” command asks for it. Or if you are familiar with the console, sudo –i (your preference).
3. Issue the following commands:
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gxine libxine-main1 libxine-extracodecs ogle ogle-gui
sudo apt-get install libdvdread3
5. After installing libdvdread3, if it wasn’t already installed as a dependency, take the time to navigate to /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3 and read the “Debian.readme” file. This will shed some light on DVD decryption. Installing the libdvdcss decryption component is a personal choice left up to you. That said here is the command you need to issue in the terminal.
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh
The same decisions apply to w32codecs. Here are the commands for installing them.
wget -c http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_20061022-0.0_i386.deb
(that’s the download to your home folder… probably).
sudo dpkg -i w32codecs_20061022-0.0_i386.deb
(that’s the install). You can delete the package from your home folder if you want now.
One last thing. No matter what I have tried, and attempts have been many, the installed default movie player (Totem-gstreamer), has consistently failed to play DVD’s. (I must be overlooking something). By using Synaptic and installing the Totem-Xine package, this problem has been remedied for me every time. It will automatically remove Totem-gstreamer during the install. Cosmetically, there is no difference that I can see. It just works.
You should now have a better selection of media players in your menu, they all work for me and will play almost anything I throw at them. You may find the Automatix tool very helpful as well. One more thing: if you like to listen to internet radio, say shoutcast stations for example, I find Streamtuner very reliable. Again, it just works.
sudo apt-get install streamtuner.
I hope I have not made any critical errors in syntax or explanation. I have tried my best not to steer you wrong or miss anything. Good luck with Ubuntu and the learning process. It’s well worth the effort. You can find all of what I have tried to explain in the Ubuntu forums. They have a great community. By the way, I am a hardcore Stardock and Wincustomize fan as well as a subscriber, and although I find myself chained to Windows, it’s distributions like Ubuntu that continue to fuel my continuing education in computing.
(Pops another beer and belches… did I say short?) I hope I helped a little.
Later!
