I've been trying to sort out the networking and play back of DVDs.
I have found this an impossible mission so god knows what I'm going to do when i download ableton live.
Anyway, at every step I find it impossible to run programs. Bzip2-1.0.5, for example, doesn't have any file in it that I double click to make it install.
When I do find a file like that, in the following example, SM Player, and I click it, I get a message that reads thus;
An error occured while loading the archive.

Comand Line Output:

Archive: /home/owner/Desktop/SMPlayer/smplayer.exe
Zip file size: 3222528 bytes, number of entries: 35264
warning [/home/owner/Desktop/SMPlayer/smplayer.exe] end-of-central-directory record claims this
is disk 29160 but that central directory starts on disk 65510; this is a
contradiction. Attempting to process anyway.
error [/home/owner/Desktop/SMPlayer/smplayer.exe]: missing 2875685792 bytes in zip file
(attempting process anyway)
error [/home/owner/Desktop/SMPlayer/smplayer.exe]attempt to seek before beggining of zipfile
(please check that you have transferref or created the zipfile in the
appropriate BINARY mode and that you have compiled UnZip properly)

I keep ending up going around in circles. How am I suppose to compile the Unzip properly when there isn't a file to set up bzip? And if there was I'd surely get a message like above.
I purchased this computer primarily for home music production, I've heard that Linux/ubuntu may not be best for home creative purposes.
Should I just give up and boot up XP. It'd be a shame because I hate windows and would like to support the Linux philosophy but I'm not sure if this is worth the time I'm having to spend.

It appears as if you're attempting to unzip an executable windows file in linux.

That isn't going to work, linux and window's aren't binary compatible.

I'm really not clear what question you have at all to be honest. Linux has many tools for audio work and they're good tools, many are also available for windows and macos... but it's not going to be exactly the same as windows.

You had to take time to learn Windows and you'll have to do the same to learn Linux or MacOS or any other operating system.

Linux, Windows, MacOS, etc... all take time to learn as do the tools you use on each of them. There is no way around that.

Is that this SMPlayer? http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/
If so, you want the Ubuntu download, not the windows (.exe) one: https://launchpad.net/~rvm/+archive/smplayer

You will just add it to your sources and then install it.

If you're trying to get a different exe file to run, you could always try using wine.
First, see if it is installed:
if that doesn't come back with anything, then you'll want to install it - check in the package manager for "Wine".

One you have it installed, just try this:
And see what it does.

There should already be utilities to play back DVDs in Ubuntu - MPlayer, Xine, VLC, a few others. They will be in the programs list under Media/Music/etc depending on version.

Final note - Ableton live doesn't work very well (at the moment) with Linux. You might try Ardour.

1) Go to this page: http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

2) Click the link on Packages for Ubuntu: https://launchpad.net/~rvm/+archive/smplayer

3)If you're getting .exe or .zip YOU'RE IN THE WRONG PLACE!

4)Click on the green bit that says "Technical details about this PPA"

5) Choose your version from the bit that says "Display sources.list entries for:" Mine's Jaunty!

6) Add the Repository. Copy the top line that says (for Jaunty!)
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/rvm/smplayer/ubuntu jaunty main
Open Synaptic - go Settings>Repositories>Third Party Software>Add Paste Close Synaptic for now, you cannot update yet!

7)Add the Signing Key. Click on the "What is this?" bit. It tells you to "Open your terminal and enter:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 12345678" BUT substitute the bit after the slash for 12345678 - For Jaunty! that's E4A4F4F4 . Run the bit in the Terminal. NOW you can update Synaptic.

8)SMPlayer should appear in available packages. You can do a Synaptic search for it. If you want you can install from Synaptic - it will automatically download and install.

8) Look in your Menu for SMPlayer

To play back commercial, encrypted DVDs you need to install the Medibuntu Repository.

1) Instructions here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
-so you need the whole bit in the first gray box that starts "sudo wget \"

2)(Slightly different from the PPA) That should automatically install the GPG key.Close the Terminal.

3) Refresh Synaptic and install the (magic) package: libdvdcss2


TIP you do not need to type into the terminal. If you have a wheel mouse or 3 button mouse - highlight the command on the instructions. Place the cursor anywhere inside the Terminal. Press the wheel or the middle button. The bit that's highlighted will be automatically pasted into the Terminal. No typing, no spelling mistakes, no typos...

SMPlayer - Community Ubuntu Documentation - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SMPlayer

RestrictedFormats - Community Ubuntu Documentation - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

Software Management - Community Ubuntu Documentation - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoftwareManagement

Why isn't smplayer in the normal Ubuntu repos? It is in the Debian repos.
$ apt-cache policy smplayer
smplayer:
Installed: 0.6.8-2
Candidate: 0.6.8-2
Version table:
*** 0.6.8-2 0
990 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main Packages

It's possible to do what you're asking but as you've learned it's not entirely easy. It may not be the worst thing in the world to resign yourself to using m$ for you media server and keepng your attention on Linux for more hands on applications. Alternatively apple makes a great media server as well. Food for thought.

DON"T GIVE UP! You will not regret sticking with ubuntu, in the long term you will have much less trouble.
No offense to Jmarting, but frankly what you need to do is easier than people here are making it sound.

Right now you're thinking like windows. There is no .exe or .msi or some file that you double click to install a program. Linux makes it easier. In ubuntu, you go to programs, then click the software centre. In the search bar, you type in Bzip, then click on the package bzip2. Click install. It installs it for you. Easy peasy. Problem solved.


Instructions for DVD playback can be found here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...(i386,%20amd64)

If you find that one confusing, let me know and I can try to explain it.

Any other problems?

Exactually the sort of answer I was looking for.
Because I know so little about Linux and programing in general it's hard for me to make it clear what I want to know.
I'll get better as I go along.


Do you need to be online for that to work? I have the Bzip2-1.0.5 and SMPlayer files installed but when I follow your instructions I don't see any packages.

And err, yeah, I may need some help with getting connected to the internet as well but I'll give it a shot myself in the hope of not saturating Linux Questions with my incapabilities.

You're definitely better off keeping the system up to date, both for the capability you want plus the security updates.. so getting online should be a priority.