count the question marks in my last post.
i'm counting 5.
so 5 questions, of which you answered 1, maybe 2.

but yeah, if it hangs in other situations, too, maybe it's not vlc related at all.

Hi ondoho and Ztoracat,
Sorry for fragmented answers but this is all new to me. Most often I have to search on-line how to do something which you have recommended. Anyway, here goes.

1. I just finished installing libdvd-pkg and I hope libdvdcss2. Originally I installed just libdvdcss2 but the system did not recognise it when I ran VLC. I tried to install the package using Synaptic but I couldn't understand all the requests and I panicked -- didn't want to install other unrelated things or not secure upgrades. So I went to Software Manager and it was easy. I will check to see that libdvdcss2 is functioning.

2. I looked Accelerated Video Output and it is checked.

3. I don't know how to check the log files or VLC's log file. But earlier I did look in VLC tools - messages and it stated that "[error: DVD Read cannot open source: /dev/sr0". It failed twice but on the third try it started to play the DVD and I noticed that when I looked at the output it said that it was running a zombie picture.

4. I have tried other DVDs because this has been an ongoing problem. No I haven't tried a CD or a downloaded film because I don't use that feature. However, when I clicked on a You Tube feature that I had downloaded it worked fine.

Thanks again for all your advice. I hope the libdvdcss2 does the trick!

Look on synaptic package for dvd-pkg install it. This will pull an install libraries you are missing to play dvd's. Than make sure vlc has your dvd rom as this /dev/sr0 it may not. I use mint Linux 18 the packages to play dvd is the same.

Thank you dave67, I have already installed dvd-pdg using Software Manager. I did it this way because when I opened Synaptic it asked if i wanted to install other things [as did Software Manager] and I panicked because I was afraid that I might be loading updates that were still in the test state. They were probably all OK but for a newbie it's a bit scary. I'll be testing VLC this evening.

Thanks for your suggestion!

so how is it going now?


software manager is using the same backend; it's just hiding the very same warnings and messages from you.
so much for "user-friendliness".

Another option us installing smplayer from synaptic try that for playing dvds. I like smplayer for mp4 playback as well as dvd playback. Another option is try mint linux 18 cinnamon livedvd. It has different kernel etc and may better with a newer system. If you decide to try mint 18 cinnamon please post output of sudo lspci -v this will show what hardware is found and the driver used. Just save the output to to a text file. 17.3 had an issue with my i3 core chipset mint linux 18 does not have this issue.

Hi ondoho,
I'm afraid everything is worse. I installed the libdvd package and libdvdcss2. Here is what I got:
dpI did not select everything it asked because it looked like it wanted to update other packages so I just took the ones with a yellow dot. I'm paranoid that I might install something that is rate a 3, 4, or 5.
When I ran the dvd from the terminal here is what I got [partially]:

I tried another DVD -- new one and I got the same error message. The DVD played for about just over 8 minutes.
My question is, is Mint Cinnamon 18 Sarah flaky? I don't have the same problems with Xubuntu, but I have not upgraded it. I'm happy as is with it.

Hello Dave,
I am using Linux Cinnamon Sarah v, 16.04. Here is the output from:

Hi all,
How important is the following? When I re-installed Mint after removing Windows 10 I received the following message:

Could it be responsible for the hanging?

I said something in post # 10 about LM's computer requirements.

I could be wrong but I don't think that an Atom CPU can run LM 18:-
You need at least 1 G of RAM as well. Do you have that?

Lubuntu is more lightweight.
http://lubuntu.net/

Agreed-

For the intel below

device not working
intel microcode
version 3-z0151106-1
Processor microcode firmware for intel CPUs

Go to driver manager and install the driver from there. This is mainly for all intel processors not just linux, windows also been along time coming for this fix. The driver not a open source driver.

I can play DVDs in vlc, that is why I think it is odd you cannot.

From what I have read install of mint linux 18 installed, the install needs updating it once it is installed. When you saw this you panicked. If you follow this below you will be fine.

Click on Menu - Administration - Update Manager

Select an update policy Don't break my computer click reload Update Manager check for available updates and apply them all. I do not use synaptic to update my system only to install extra packages.

Once the about is done. Hints since you are new.

Remove mono sudo apt-get remove mono-runtime-common

When you remove mono [this is implementation of Microsoft's .NET in linux security risk in my option] it will also remove other applications do not worry you will be fine. I have done this and I feel better that windows is not near my linux box. If you have music mp3 clementine music manager is a nice option. For a text editor xpad is good option. For burning DVDs CDs Install xburn.

If you have either Netflix or Amazon video you can watch them now on chrome in linux. install go to the website type in your account info watch.

Download google chrome from the webpage look for 64 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu).

For a nice PDF reader is editor Master PDF editor I se this on all my computers

https://code-industry.net/get-masterpdfeditor/

If you decide on installing these, with all the deb applications just double click on each one and gdeb will help install it. gdeb may install required packages let it.

So it's a driver issue?

Hi Ztoracat,
I did a ss/proc/meminfo which I posted. If I am correct I have 7 gigs of memory:

Am I correct?