[RESOLVED] Linux / Ubuntu Rant

[JunkMale]

WTF is wrong with Ubuntu / Linux developers? Apparently the reason my shop bought DVD's refuse to play is because I do not have libdvdcss or libdvdcss2 installed and Linux never ships with these libraries.

So I attempt to go and get the installers only to find that the only method is to make like hard and it has to be installed via the terminal...

Problem is, terminal connects but sits and does nothing...

Does anyone here with linux experience know how or where I can get a plain old installer for linux that is not a science degree to install?

[criterion9]

Did you enable the alternate repositories (the non-completely open source ones such as restricted)? You should be able to download the applicable packages from the synaptic package manager from Gnome or KDE. If you have to download things that are not already in any ubuntu repositories you can also use .deb installers (usually described as <package name> debian release or version).

[JunkMale]

Yep, I have tried that and the synaptic package manager... Nada.

The source I found only offers install by way of the terminal.

Quite why Linux devs are wetting their panties over a DRM issue is beyond me, if you buys a DVD from a shop, you expect to be able to use it. The DRM issues is stated on the Debian Admin pages and the reason being that they do not want to be finding themselves falling foul of the DRM...

Utter rubbish IMHO, they should either ship with and get users to agree to a legal document absolving linux of any legal issues arising from its use by the end user or make it available under the same terms via a package manager download.

It should not be up to the producer of the DVD to dictate to the end user what they can or can not use the media in. Currently my only entertainment is via my PC and I do find it annoying that the video industry are still today trying to thwart illegal copies when the actual answer is already in front of them and that one is to make these things affordable to EVERYONE and not charge £15.99 a DVD when the media is not more than 20p in the first place. They wonder why people file share... COST! A lower price does not mean lower profits, it means more sales... I just wish the industry would work with the people and not against them.

So any help in cracking this, I don't really care if I am going to break the law as I have purchased the right to watch the damn bloody DVD so I will take whatever steps is needed to watch it, even if I have to rip the thing on a friends Windows machine and burn a non DRM copy myself...

So if its touching cloth in the legal department, best off Personal Message me.

[criterion9]

You can try installing VLC media player. It usually comes with codecs packaged together and it provides and install for linux.

[JunkMale]

I already have it and its a no show with that. Totem player issues a notice about the DRM issue and thats been the only indication that I have as to why the DVD will not play.

VLC, while it plays everything else I can chuck at it, for DVD it refuses to acknowledge that theirs 2 DVD drives in the machine and crashes on run when I try to open the disc with that player, when I run the program it opens up but as soon as I point it to the DVD drive, the disc spins and VLC vanishes off the face of the planet. Other DVD's that I have burned myself on this Ubuntu and on my old Windows system (now dead) all work fine.

[criterion9]

I found a couple links that may help you.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD
http://readthisaloud.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/watching-copy-right-protected-dvds-on-ubuntu-gutsy/

[opifex]

I find it A LITTLE STRANGE that you can't install the necessary packages myself.
If you can't learn to use the terminal, try going to debian.org/distrib/packages (http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages) to see if what you need is there. (Ubuntu IS Debian based.)
I really cannot fathom the reason that you cannot read your "personal archive" copies of you favorite films if you have installed the required software.

...and the point about enabling the repositories is essential - you will find it in the ubuntu-restricted-extras package.

[JunkMale]

I can play just about anything you can chuck at me except for shop purchased DVD's that are CSS / DRM material.

The install process for the libraries is pretty much a case of "make life difficult won't you"

The terminal install process I mentioned actually does FA, sits and nothing happens, given that these libraries are small, I think that 20 minutes I allowed for the download to happen would have been more than enough.

Anyway, its a "THANK YOU" to all who stuffed my head with a bit more knowledge... I got it working... One sudo line later and not the convoluted installer process described in the Debian Admin pages... Nice one.

[opifex]

Take an afternoon or evening and review the manual/faqs for the distro you have installed. There are differences between hardy and jaunty... or maybe you installed karmic. It took you years to learn Windows, dt least give yourself a few hours to become acquainted with Linux in general and your desktop of choice.
Enjoy!
And if you don't like Ubuntu / Kubuntu, there are lots more to choose from!!!

[JunkMale]

I do when I have time. The problem with Linux is it has more Jargoneze than windows does.

I switched about 9 months ago when my XP died after SP3 was installed, even then after the update it was complaining about wanting to connect to the internet and their was a no win situation, XP stopped recognizing things like USB ports and the DVD RW apparently died and I bought a new one which worked, but then XP was wanting to register on-line but I had no way of doing it. It won't even power up under windows now...

I install Ubuntu and everything that I thought was broke (DVD & Flash drives) and items that refused to be recognized despite driver updates obtained via another machine on the internet, after installing it, all worked, even the DVD drive that was supposed to be broken...

This made me wonder if this economic down turn has turned Microsoft in to a con artist who is knobbling its own machinery to force people in to coughing up for new licenses. Given the number anti-trust cases brought against Microsoft, it wouldn't surprise me in the least that this impossible scenario is actually happening. I know of seven machines that have all mysteriously died for no reason and all were genuine installs like mine, the update disc was a genuine XP installer disc too.

I had got plans to convert to Linux at some point and I was planning on doing it the painless way, learn a bit at a time but instead, thanks to XP *ucking up, its a case of it been dropped on me and the learning curve in my case, I am on the opposite side and losing grey matter fast. Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks but at a cost of pushing something else out... Like I forgot my name the other day... :P

Alzheimerville here I come...

[Stephen Philbin]

I've always steered clear of Debian and Ubuntu. Debian is steered by a bunch of lunatics, and I've just never been particularly keen on Ubuntu in general. I use Open Suse which let me install a proper NVidia graphics driver and VLC (with libdvdcss) without much effort at all. So now I can stick a DVD in my PC and watch it on my telly no problem.

In recent years Linux has made massive steps towards being able to do everything that most people expect from their operating systems, but there's still a fair way to go yet and different distributions usually offer vastly differing mileage.

[opifex]

In general my first distro preference is openSUSE also, but novell has its own little things about it also. Some Linux distros serve better for certain person/machine combinations, like gnome vs kde... my preference is kde, the laptop I am using at this moment has Kubuntu installed and all works just fine... openSUSE didn't suite this machine out of the box and I was in a hurry...

Freedom has its cost... usually it's just a matter of expanding your knowledge-base a bit.