the instructions to install this dvd player were to download a tar.gz file, extract it as appropriate, and then to run:

./configure
make install

and then I'd be done.

well, after doing ./configure, make install didn't work.
"make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop."

so I tried sudo ./configure

and that didn't work either.

is there a free dvd player I can get out of apt-get?
does anyone have a clue how to get make to work when I get strange errors like this?

Ubuntu is so nice and smooth and it's running, and I have sounds, and it isn't giving me hideous crashes or anything...

I really don't feel like changing yet again to another distro because I can't install any programs.


edit:
I found the add/remove progras thing in my "start menu" (don't slap me) and it didn't seem to have anything to play DVD's, so that won't work...

unless the advanced mode shows some after a few things finish downloading.

Try using VLC.

what is vlc, and how do I get it?

this http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ looks nice and all, but it doesn't say that I can install it in ubuntu, and

make

is not working!

so the source code will do me little good at the moment.

If you need help setting up the multimedia abilities. Here is a excellent guide about installing dvd , divx etc. in ubuntu. Very easy and straight forward. Works like a charm.

I am thinking about moving from Mandriva to Ubuntu, but i also am having problems with my DVD playback.

I habitually use Totem in Mandriva to watch DVDs in Mandriva, but all the players i ever installed worked just fine, however, in Ubuntu:

Is there a reason that MPlayer will only play back in miniature (even in full screen mode) and Totem will freeze every time i try to play a DVD? Where can i look for the cause of this?

you want to install totem-xine instead of totem-gstreamer

# sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Package libdvdcss2 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package libdvdcss2 has no installation candidate



everything I try to install using apt-get gives me this same error.

everything I try to install using make gives me a different error.

what could possibly be going wrong?

your /etc/apt/sources.list does not contain all the ubuntu repos. Here is mine;

Liquidtenmillion:

Totem-xine was one of the first things i did. I also tried regionset as the ubuntu wiki suggested, but i that did not work either and i have DVDs from many regions anyway so i would rather not do that. Lastly, i tried to raise the speed of my DVD player, but again, no love.

Any other ideas?

Kingrames:

By the way, if you follow the "how to add repositories" question in the link Numer0bis sent, you will find a world of things open up, including all kinds of (perhaps and probably illegal in your juristiction but still really nice to have) multimedia things (like the microsoft's codecs, DivX). If you just start at the top of the page and work your way down, you will have a desktop system that puts almost any windows box to shame.... except that the damn DVD player still won't work right. And i still haven't tried Wine.

I can play DVDs with totem and mplayer perfectly fine.
this is how i did it. I added the repositories multiverse and universe to my /etc/apt/sources.list
then i

sudo apt-get install xine-ui totem-xine w32codecs libdvdcss2 libdvdnav4 libdvdplay0 libdvdread3

then do a sudo ln -s /dev/hdc /dev/dvd if /dev/dvd does not exist.

then do sudo hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc to enable dma.

I'm getting this;

W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com hoary/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com hoary/restricted Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary_restricted_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com hoary/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary_universe_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com hoary/multiverse Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com hoary-updates/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary-updates_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com hoary-updates/restricted Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ca.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary-updates_restricted_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://security.ubuntu.com hoary-security/universe Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary-security_universe_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://security.ubuntu.com hoary-security/multiverse Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hoary-security_multiverse_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)

when I click on "advanced" in thte add/remove programs thing

try running 'sudo apt-get update' and post the output of that.

EDIT: or you can just click the Reload button you see in the "Advanced" section of the add/remove programs.

reload worked, thanks.

is there any way to upgrade firefox?
like i mentioned earlier, mae does not seem to be functioning properly.

I've got the firefox installer running now, but I don't have the ability to write to /etc/mozilla-firefox.

how do I change that? somehow find a way to use sudo?