Playing music and movies on Ubuntu Linux

This article is part of a series of guest posts by Garikai Dzoma on helping new users migrate successfully to the Ubuntu operating system. Garikai started using Ubuntu Linux in 2007 andis an active member of the Zimbabwe Ubuntu LoCo team.

The first thing anyone ever notices after installing Ubuntu is that they cannot play mp3s, .avi/.vob/.mpeg/ or any of their videos unless you are one of those freaks that happened to have .ogg media files in your music collection. With this discovery comes shock, anger and finally frustration.

From here it can go two ways: the cowards plug in their pirated Windows 7 disk ( we are assuming no dual booting here) and reinstall Windows and the somewhat brave rush to Google their best friend of things anon. The latter will mostly stumble upon http://ubuntuforums.org or some dark irc alley such as irc.ubuntu.com where they will mostly likely be told to RTFM.  At this point our poor user will curse the Pengiuns and swear to never use Linux ever again because it is “unfriendly”.

While this is true for other distributions like Gentoo (in Gentoo you literary have to make the operating system yourself), Ubuntu has worked hard to make the distribution as intuitive as possible.

It is now trite, but let I feel the need to repeat it: Ubuntu is deliberately shipped without any of the “restrictive” codecs needed to play CDs and DVDs. This is for legal reasons since in some countries like France (Sarkozy does not like software sharing much! He has another law coming to tighten the hold on all those indulging in such.)

Installing this software is easy if you have an internet connection. In fact Ubuntu is not much fun if you’re not connected. Please see below for those with Wi-Fi enabled laptops.  Although there are point-and-click methods that can be used such as through the Ubuntu Software Center feature, the command method is recommended and outlined below. Indeed it is the simplest method.

Installing the codecs.

1. Go to the applications list and click on terminal.
2. Type the following command in your terminal: sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
3. If you are running kubuntu instead type:sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricte-extras
4. Press the return key a.ka. press enter.
5. You will be asked to enter your password. Nothing will appear on the screen as you do so. This is a normal security measure.
6. After you have finished typing your password type enter.
7. The apt tool will generate dependency checks and determine the packages to be installed. You will be prompted to confirm the instalation type Y and then press enter.

N.B. The above command will not only install all the required codecs to play DVDs, mp3s and Cds but it will also install Microsoft fonts, the Java Runtime Environment and Adobe Flash plugin among other things.

1. You may also want to run the command: apt-get install  vlc

This installs the popular VLC player.

Laptop with no internet connection

If you have a laptop which is enabled please go to the nearest ZOLspot. The first 15 minutes is free so you need not worry about paying anything.

1. Make sure your Wi-Fi hardware is switched on and then click on NetworkManager tab in the top panel.
2. Choose the ZOL Wi-Fi essid and click connect.
3. Open your browser and and try to visit any internet url e.g http://www.google.co.zw
4. Your session will be hijacked and you will be presented with the ZOlspot Login page
5. Select the free trial option
6. Click on the terminal icon and type the following command: sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list  /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
7. Type your password when prompted and press enter.
8. Type the following command in the terminal: sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list&
9. Delete everything in that file i.e Ctrl+A and the press Delete
10. Visit http://www.ubuntu.org.zw/node/6
11. Choose your distribution  for example if you are using the latest release 11.04 a.k.a natty copy the lines:
12. deb http://archive.ubuntu.org.zw/ubuntu natty main restricted universe multiverse
13. deb http://archive.ubuntu.org.zw/ubuntu natty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
14. deb http://archive.ubuntu.org.zw/ubuntu natty-security main restricted universe multiverse
15. deb http://archive.ubuntu.org.zw/ubuntu natty-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
16. Paste these into the open file and click save
17. Close the gedit program
18. Type the following command in the terminal: sudo apt-get update
19. Follow steps 1-8 above.