day's before i had installed SUSE 10.1 on my computer , the thing is it can't play audio or video files... asks for PLUGINS,DECODER...which it says to be not installed... EVEN ON INSTALLATION OF THIS HEFTY 3.2 Gb OS I CAN'T PLAY EVEN A SOUND!!!! THAT'S RIDICULOUS!!!isn't it... could anybody help me with this thing...

prior to this i had installed UBUNTU 6.10 from a live cd... & oopps there also the same thing of plugins & decoder...
CAN ANYBODY EXPLAIN ME THAT THING... I DON'T HAVE internet connection to my PC to download them directly...

my pc config.. is P 4 3.06
gigabyte motherboard,
160 Gb,512 Mb RAM....

This is not an "oops" but quite deliberate. It is also explained in the web pages of the various distributions.

When you say you cannot play sound, you mean you cannot play proprietary formats like mp3. (I'm guessing that system sounds work fine ...) When you say you cannot play video, you mean you cannot play proprietary formats like mpeg ... see the pattern? You will also have trouble with DRM encumbered formats.

The information is easily available, for eg:openSUSE and Ubuntu...

In fact, all these linuxes will play music and video files quite happily, provided they are in a free (as in libre) format. So you can play ogg/vorbis, wav and (I think) flac music files and ogg/theora video. You can also play unencrypted DVDs.

The means to play many proprietary formats and decrypt dvds exists, but is illegal in many countries without paying a royalty to the license holders. You got your distro for free right? Did you think this meant you could get other people's property for free?

The risk of a lawsuit coupled with the desire to provide a free (as in $$$) OS is sufficient to prevent major distros from including proprietary packages out of the box.

It is usually quite simple to obtain the missing codecs using the distros package manager (YaST or aptitude). It is rumoured that some companies have been suing individuals who use this software without first paying a royalty... but you may not come to their attention. (Of course, you can pay the royalty...)

Alternatively, you can install a simple program called ffmpeg2theora which will convert your existing multimedia to a free format. The software you have will happily rip CDs into supported formats. And you can create multimedia in supported formats for free.

For further information, go check out the distro websites and faqs.

Now to your problem - no internet connection. The answers come in a variety of versions as below:

Tough Love version: you are bunta'd, well and truly. Sorry, but linux is distributed on the internet. No internet connection = no linux.

Rescue Version: use someone elses internet connection.

When I started out, I used a net cafe to do my downloads and upgrades. Ask around to find a net cafe which will let you plug your box in to their network: some do some don't.

If you don't find any, you can still use windows to download the actual files you needs, copy to a pendrive/CDROM/whatever, and then transfer to your linux computer. This may take a bit of research to discover exactly the location of the files you want... but the shortest trip is to use ffmpeg2theora as I suggested (sell your iPod and buy an iRiver).

Minor Wallet depletion version: try a distribution with, at least some, of the support you crave. SimplyMepis for eg. Or actually pay for a distro... many commercial distros have support for proprietary multimedia because they have purchased a license. I think these include: Linspire, Xandros, Mepis, Mandriva, and, soon, SUSE.

Less minor wallet depletion: pay for an internet connection.

Arrgh no no no not that! version: Yep - buy a mac or <shudder> windows.

To me, this looks like a classic "I installed Linux but it doesn't work like Windows" rant.
Assuming that OP is still with us, I have only one word of advice: Patience

To no-one in particular: I have a hard time imagining doing anything on a computer with no internet connection. In that context, it is illuminating to look at the stats on broadband penetration in various countries. In a "man in the street" interview, I bet that 98% would get this wrong.

Excerpt:
S. Korea--#1
USA--#20

hello,
well i have a pen drive ,but don't know what 2 download... are the plugins same as that of drivers in windows, or some thing else
... could u suggest me something else... i go for internet @ my college...
thnks dude...

Hi

There is a solution to all of this, if you still have Ubuntu on your machine ( I like it :-) ) go to a web site called "easyubuntu", http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/

Here you can download an application which will run and fetch all the necessary plug ins etc to allow you to play proprietary software, videos, music etc.

You will need an internet connection to get the packages.

Cheers

Also don't label your forum questions "help me", it makes it difficult for the guys wanting to help, as we cant immediately see what the problem is

Please use thread titles that reflect the contents of you thread. Titles like "help me" do not give others a clue about the contents of your thread which can limit the number of people who respond to it.

As for the multimedia issues in openSUSE, you can resolve them using the guides I wrote, which are located in the SUSE/Novell forum.

Nope - plugins are not the same as the drivers in windows - - -

Note: easyubuntu will not work without an internet connection.

Ubuntu runs off repositories.
You'll need to access the repos from another connection and manually download the packages, which will be *.deb files, copy them to the pendrive, copy to your computer, then use dpkg to install.

From a network though, all you need to do is open synaptic and click the programs you want so the cyber-cafe option is a serious advantage. They supply the monitor, kbd, and mouse, you supply the box.

You may be better with an rpm based distro or source based. However, whatever you try - be sure you get all the package dependencies as well.

If you have network access at your college - you ask them if there is a unix box you can log into, or if you can bring your own. This where your computer being a laptop would be very useful.