Lots of questions for Gutsy Gibbon?

[trstrean]

I've tried Kubuntu in the past but always had problems trying to figure out how to use the basic things that i would normally do with Windows. Some of them I figured out over time but some of my hardware (mainly my Canon MP830 Printer) was never supported, by the way if anybody has a way to get that fixed that would be great as well. Usually I find what I'm looking for in the forum's and this case isn't much different but it is harder this time because Gutsy seems to be still new and a lot of the posts I've seen reference Feisty. Here are the things I'm trying to do and hopefully somebody has a solution:

1. Play Copy Protected DVD's. I've read of a multiverse repository but every reference talked about things I couldn't find, and I have a feeling are in Ubuntu not Kubuntu. I've also tried some of the posts on here but some of the libxine1 file's aren't found or I get a Break Link error in Adept.

2. I am in a different country and as a result can't watch the current TV shows that are in the states, and I'm also prevented from downloading the TV shows that are available on the TV network websites so I'm forced to watch the bittorent versions which range from Xvid, Divx, AVI, MKF??, and whatever files format's are currently available. Very few of these file format's work in a new install of Kubuntu. I tried the W32 install as well as the stuff listed above but no luck getting it to work in Kaffeine. I've seen posts referencing VLC, but I think those are for the Gnome Ubuntu version and not Kubuntu. Regardless, how ever my system is setup they don't work.

3. This goes along with the stuff in item 2, but support for quicktime files, as well as flash and all of the normal plug-ins that you must install within a few minutes of browsing most website's.

4. I tried playing a game and it said something about needing 3d support from my graphics card. I have an nvidia card and I'm not sure what it is telling me to do.

Finally, just a suggestion. As you have probably guessed I'm pretty lost with Linux and I think you might save a lot of time in responding to the same posts over and over again if you made a Newbie Cheat Sheet that you could put on the load page for the forum which explains all these common questions and explains repositories and lists some of the really good one's. As well as How To's for these common problems. Something like this exists but is for Feisty and I kept getting it from Google but it wasn't very helpful when it said to install Kubuntu-Restricted-Extras from the multverse and it didn't say where the multiverse was or how to install from it. Thanks for any help you can offer and if you reply please make it dummy proof. I know how to copy and paste into the terminal and how to open Adept, but that is about it. ;o)

[randcoop]

Re: Lots of questions?

There are some basics that you need to understand that may help you to get to the answers to your questions:

Usually I find what I'm looking for in the forum's and this case isn't much different but it is harder this time because Gutsy seems to be still new and a lot of the posts I've seen reference Feisty.

Gutsy is an update of Feisty. Much that is found in one is found in the other. Many solutions that work in Feisty will also work in Gutsy. Often, when solutions change between the two, people will point out that you need a different solution for Gutsy. But often you don't. So if you come across a How-To that talks about how to do something in Feisty and it doesn't mention Gutsy, it may very well work in Gutsy.

1. Play Copy Protected DVD's. I've read of a multiverse repository but every reference talked about things I couldn't find, and I have a feeling are in Ubuntu not Kubuntu. I've also tried some of the posts on here but some of the libxine1 file's aren't found or I get a Break Link error in Adept.

You're probably seeing a number of references to Medibuntu. Medibuntu is a repository of programs that provide things that aren't available in the basic [K]Ubuntu because of legal problems. For playing multimedia files, Medibuntu is a great place to start. If you go to www.medibuntu.org, you'll be able to see what it's all about. The site has great explanations and it also walks you through the process of adding a repository or individual files to your system. It is the place you should now start to get the multimedia capability you're looking for.

2. I am in a different country and as a result can't watch the current TV shows that are in the states, and I'm also prevented from downloading the TV shows that are available on the TV network websites so I'm forced to watch the bittorent versions which range from Xvid, Divx, AVI, MKF??, and whatever files format's are currently available. Very few of these file format's work in a new install of Kubuntu. I tried the W32 install as well as the stuff listed above but no luck getting it to work in Kaffeine. I've seen posts referencing VLC, but I think those are for the Gnome Ubuntu version and not Kubuntu. Regardless, how ever my system is setup they don't work.

First, again, go to Medibuntu. Second, Kaffeine can play all of those files, so it's likely a codecs or engine problem (the codecs (w32codecs) can be gotten from Medibuntu (or even from the standard [K]Ubuntu repositories). And VLC will also play them (as will Mplayer and the various GUI programs that use Mplayer, such as Kmplayer and Smplayer). You can install Mplayer from Medibuntu and you can install VLC using Adept.

One thing you misunderstand, I think, is that Ubuntu (Gnome) and Kubuntu (KDE) can use programs that were designed for each other (with some...very few...exceptions). There are people who install Ubuntu and then add Kubuntu simply by installing the kubuntu-desktop and kde-base files. VLC is a program that runs in virtually any setting: all Linux distros, MAC, Windows, etc.

3. This goes along with the stuff in item 2, but support for quicktime files, as well as flash and all of the normal plug-ins that you must install within a few minutes of browsing most website's.

Flash can be installed directly from Adobe's site. It is probably also at Medibuntu. Quicktime files depend on codecs that are a part of the w32codecs package. They can be watched in Kaffeine and in all the mplayer based programs.

4. I tried playing a game and it said something about needing 3d support from my graphics card. I have an nvidia card and I'm not sure what it is telling me to do.

This may be difficult. In any event, I don't know how to get it to work.

Finally, just a suggestion. As you have probably guessed I'm pretty lost with Linux and I think you might save a lot of time in responding to the same posts over and over again if you made a Newbie Cheat Sheet that you could put on the load page for the forum which explains all these common questions and explains repositories and lists some of the really good one's. As well as How To's for these common problems. Something like this exists but is for Feisty and I kept getting it from Google but it wasn't very helpful when it said to install Kubuntu-Restricted-Extras from the multverse and it didn't say where the multiverse was or how to install from it. Thanks for any help you can offer and if you reply please make it dummy proof. I know how to copy and paste into the terminal and how to open Adept, but that is about it. ;o)

But this already exists on the Ubuntu forum site (www.ubuntuforums.org. Again, since nearly all things in Ubuntu will work in Kubuntu, you should go to that forum and check out the How To section. It is filled with extremely helpful information. In most cases, when there are differences between Kubuntu and Ubuntu, they'll be discussed as part of the How To.

[trstrean]

Re: Lots of questions for Gutsy Gibbon?

Thanks for the clarification about the Medibuntu and I have added that repository and followed the directions for the W32 codecs as well as the libdvdcss2 file which are necessary but I still can't play DVD's and everytime I try play a video file, I get the error that I don't have the necessary xvid codec for decoding mpeg4 files. I've tried removing the files listed above followed by a reinstall as well as restarting and nothing seems to fix the problems. Any suggestions?

I think I had seen that help information and it kept talking about programs that weren't installed (synaptic). Now I just did the install for gnome and synaptic did come with that so maybe I'll go back and try those steps again.

I think I might have messed up my fresh install of Kubuntu right from the get-go because I just got done downloading Gutsy gibbon and making the disc, installed it. And then on my first attempt to update it told me that I needed to update to gutsy gibbon. I ran into a lot of errors and had to restart but then it didn't tell me to do it again so I figured it must be working. Since none of the tutorials seems to work the way it is suppose to I probably just messed it up from the beginning. I'm going to try a re-install and see if it works better the second time around. If you have suggestions please post them and I'll look at them before I break it again. It wont even let me install VLC player.

[randcoop]

Re: Lots of questions for Gutsy Gibbon?

It does sound as if your installation was faulty from the start. After you re-install Kubuntu, add the Medibuntu repository and try to install the programs you need. Then come back here if something doesn't work.