Multimedia

Because Ubuntu is a free operating system, they are not technically allowed to give people the codecs used decode certain media types with the system. A multimedia codec is a small piece of software which allows you to watch videos or listen to music of a specific format. There are many different multimedia formats and so you may need to install several codecs. Ubuntu includes many codecs by default, but not all of them (the proprietary codecs).

In order to play different media types (including mp3 and DVDs), follow the simple instructions below.

1. Open a terminal window from the accessories menu (under applications)

2. Install java and other add-ons by copying and pasting the following into the terminal window and executing (your password is the password that you set when you installed the system) sudo

apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

The sudo command lets you preform an action as a computer administrator. If you do not use the sudo command, the terminal will not let you preform installations. This is so that regular users to not harm their systems.

The apt-get command is a program that searches installed repositories for software. The format something like this.

apt-get install software package name

In this case, it installing the package ubuntu-restricted extras. Because Ubuntu uses Debian’s package management system, the program will fetch all the necessary components for you.

3. Add Medibuntu to your sources.list, as well as its GPG key to your keyring by copying and pasting the following into the terminal window and executing

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

This command adds the Medibuntu repository to your system. Once installed, your package manager will search through the added repository. This repository contains the codecs to play protected file formats.

4. Then, add the GPG Key:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

This adds adds the key to use the software repository.

5. Add the proprietary codecs to play DVDs and mp3’s

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 w32codecs

This command installs the libdvdcss2 and the w32codecs software from the medibuntu repository.

This should get DVDs and mp3 to work properly. You may need to restart your system for all changes to take place.

Other Cool Stuff

Google software repository

To add the Google software repository (Ubuntu uses the Debian software repository model to install/uninstall software. Once you have added a software repository, installing/uninstalling software is as easy as checking a box and clicking apply in the Synaptic package manager).

Download the Google Repository key at:

http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/aboutkey.html

Save it as the file on your desktop

Goto System -> Administration -> Software sources

Goto the authentication tab

Click the “Import Key File…” button and select the “linux_signing_key.pub” file you downloaded previously(on your desktop), then click “OK”.

You should now see the “Google, Inc. Linux Package Signing Key” in the list.

In the “Software Sources” application, click the “Third-Party Software” tab, then click the “Add…” button.

Enter deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free for the APT line:, then click “Add Source”.

It may now want to reload. Let it.

Now you can go to System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager

Search for Google You can also find Picasa, Google Earth, Google Desktop (for indexing your computer)

getdeb

Software for you computer in .deb file formats. Download the *.deb file to your computer
It works almost exactly like an .exe file.

http://www.getdeb.net/

Documentation for your System

The following websites offer some great documentation on the operating system.

Official Documentation
https://help.ubuntu.com

Community Support via Web Forum
http://ubuntuforums.org

Cool things you can do with your operating system
http://www.ubuntugeek.com

Categories: computers, howto, linux, ubuntu
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The Moral and Ethical Implication of Theft

My car was broken into this past weekend; a long weekend at that. I was furious. How could some one knowingly do this to someone else’s property? I had a Garmin c550 in a hidden console. Other than that, the only valuables in the car was some pocket change in the middle council. This was also hidden. This lead me to believe that it was a random break in. Perhaps it was some kids looking for something valuable?

My car is a Red Nissan Altima, 2007. It’s a nice car, not a Porsche, but a relatively nice automobile. Perhaps they saw the car and was hoping that I had some cash or other valuables. In the end it was probably some kids looking for some money and a rush.

They broke the passenger side window. I think it was amateur because they first tried to bust the handle, and then the damaged my side paneling when using it as leverage to bust in the window. In total, there is probably about $3000 dollars worth of damage done to the car.

But this got me to thinking. I was upset and angry because I felt violated. Someone damaged my car as well as stole some of my property. Obviously it’s a crime because I paid for the items and they took them from me without asking. But what is the difference between this and stealing software, songs or copyrighted material on the internet?

I know that I have and probably will continue to download songs over the internet. I made a conscious choice to switch to Linux in order to avoid using illegal versions of proprietary software. But songs, I will likely continue to download from torrent sites. And yet, I do not feel remorse for stealing these things.

Is it because:

1. Songs are and abstract medium with no physical substance (unlike my Garmin)?

2. Stealing from large nameless corporations isn’t wrong. We should being doing this because the artist in the end makes a fraction of what the record label makes from the artist’s en devour?

3. We choose which actions are right and wrong based on convenience. There are no morals or ethics, only decisions and choices?

Guilt is like a bag of bricks. You just have to let it go. Obviously, this only works when you are the one stealing (not the one being stolen from), and the dilemma remains unsolved.

Let me know what you think.

Categories: economy, linux, rants, stupidity
1 Comment »

Another reason why I love Linux. Having created a screen capture in the OGG file format, I needed to give it to a friend who prefers to work with AVI formats. After a few minutes of searching, voila… a simple and elegant answer was found thanks to liquidat.

The short sweet answer:

Make sure you have the MPlayer’s Movie Encoder installed (sudo apt-get mencoder). It is available from the Medibuntu repository.

Then go to the command line and enter:

mencoder video.ogg -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -o video.avi

where video.ogg is the original OGG file and video.avi is your desired ouput file

That should be it. Let me know if you have an questions.

Categories: howto, linux
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