Is there any Linux Distro with Multimedia Capabilities
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Is there any Linux Distro with Multimedia Capabilities
Friends,
Is there any Linux Distro which by default can play my Audio CDs, Video, MP3 and DVDs without my downloading anything from the net after installation because I don't have net connection on my computer and the dependency problems are lot.
Actually all the main distros have the software you want on their CDs, but Ubuntu is good at working "out of the box", without the need to download fixes. Other posters will disagree with this
Actually all the main distros have the software you want on their CDs, but Ubuntu is good at working "out of the box", without the need to download fixes. Other posters will disagree with this
I already installed ubuntu and it has some problem playing my encrypted DVDs (Drapper & Edgy)
So you'll have to download it yourself. It's not very big, so you can put it on a CD, or even a floppy. If you're sticking with Ubuntu, then get it from http://download.videolan.org/pub/lib...2.9-1_i386.deb
and install with dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.9-1_i386.deb
Linux MintComes with all that stuff already installed if you want to give it a try. I hear it is good. Based on Kubuntu but with all the "dirty" codecs.
I do believe that one of the only distros that will do all the multimedia stuff out of the box is Linspire. It'll cost you $50, but that's the price of all that (legal) multimedia goodness.
LinuxMint would be my suggestion, I've never used it, but my understanding of it, is exactly as timdsmith posted, I seem to recall needing to add libdvdcss to Linspire also (or it may have been Freespire, which would make sense)...
Linux is a major pain when you don't have Internet Access.
Just curious, what problem are you having configuring your Internet Access?
Linux is a major pain when you don't have Internet Access.
Just curious, what problem are you having configuring your Internet Access?
IGF
i cannot keep internet on my system which has winXP and Linux side by side becaz Im not allowed to do this, nothing other major problem related to software or hardware, the problem is related to other than software and hardware.
Linux MintComes with all that stuff already installed if you want to give it a try. I hear it is good. Based on Kubuntu but with all the "dirty" codecs.
Heh..."dirty codecs" generally refers to the fact that the installation of them is not legal in most jurisdictions.
Surprisingly few people realize that most (all?) of the common multimedia codecs (WMV, WAV, MP3, etc) are proprietary software. They have to be licensed and paid for which is why distros like Linspire that come bundled with all of those codecs charge money. Free Linux distros that come with the codecs are either footing the licensing costs themselves on behalf of their users (not bloody likely) or distributing them illegally.
I'm not a lawyer, nor am I American, so I can't speak to whether it's the distribution or the use of unlicensed codecs which is illegal, but many distros prefer to simply not take the chance and don't distribute the codecs with the distro itself. Some don't even make them available, some put them in repositories and make the end user install them themselves.
The Linux Mint maintainers recognize this. Here's a paragraph right off of the About page at Linux Mint:
Quote:
We believe in choice. Ubuntu and Kubuntu tend to follow the "free software" philosophies and for this reason do not include "dirty" software (patented or proprietary technologies for instance). This is great and this is the way it should be. However, other distributions provide the choice to the user (for instance Mandriva 2007 can be downloaded as a "free" or "non-free" version). If you're like us, you probably do read encrypted DVDs and listen to MP3 songs. It is important to understand why these formats are indeed "dirty" but since we'll end up adding them to our Ubuntu installation anyway, we decided to give an option to lazy users. In other words, if "freedom" is more important for you than "comfort" you should consider using a "clean" distribution such as Ubuntu (or Debian, or Fedora...), if it isn't then Linux Mint is made for you.
@Jonwatson Thank U sir for clarifying Dirty Codecs, if that is the case then we would not be able to play any of the format of music in free versions of Linux (Legally).
No all music and video requires proprietary formats. OGG Vorbis is a Free audio format that can be used in place of MP3 and OGG Theora is a Free video format which can be used in place of...well...the video formats.
The trouble is that these Free formats aren't really supported by mainstream manufacturers so not a lot of audio and video comes in these formats. Still, whenever I am given the option, I pick the Free formats to try to support them.
I agree that Linspire is about as close as it gets legally. It is a paid-for distribution that handles MP3s and so forth right out of the box. The only thing you need to add is a DVD player for encrypted movie/TV DVDs, which is legal and licensed, but is an additional cost through Linspire's CNR warehouse. (Let me add that it is based on xine, but in my opinion works better than the "hacked" ones based on xine and libdvdcss.)
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