2007-10-16: Installing Ubuntu and migrating from Windows - WhyNotWiki

This article is written in story/log form, mostly for my own benefit.. It probably has stuff that is specific to my hardware or preferences. All the information contained here that is generally useful should be copied into the articles for the general topics they apply to:

GNU/Linux / Installing edit (Category edit)

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

Choosing a partition scheme: Attempt 1

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

See GNU/Linux / Partition scheme

sdb already had:

In the 250 GB remaining on sdb, I created:

sdb2: 20 GB, ext3, /
sdb3: 2 GB, swap
sdb4: 200 GB, ext3, /home

I tried to create a larger partition than 200 GB (and use all remaining space on the drive), but it didn’t work.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22can%27t+have+the+end+before+the+start%22+partition -> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=419297

I googled the error and found this bug on launchpad which describes my problem exactly: Can’t create partitions more than 200gb. Is this just happening to me or this a widespread thing. Anything I can do?

Some reports suggested trying to resize it with gparted. So I tried that…

sudo gparted

Unmounted /dev/sdb4 . Tried to resize it. It said the maximum size was 190,733 MiB, which is already what it was at.

There appeared to be 63.33 GiB of unallocated space between sdb3 and sdb4. So it seems like I ought to be able to resize into that region. But it didn’t seem to want to let me.

Choosing a partitioning scheme

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

I have a new 500 GB drive now that I’m dedicating to Linux. It is currently at /dev/sdc.

Here’s how I partitioned it:

sdc1: 300 MB, ext3, /boot
sdc2: 200.811 GB, ext3, /
~260 GB, ext3, (reserved for future use)
sdc3: 3 GB (at end), swap

I wanted to make sdc2 300 GB instead of 200 GB, but I ran into the same problem I had before of not being able to create a partition larger than 200 GB. I guess I will use 200 GB for now and try to resize it later.

I wasn’t sure if when resizing it is only able to use adjacent disk space. But I attempted to err on the safe side by leaving a bunch of free space directly after sdc2.

At step 7 of 7, it said:

The following partitions are going to be formatted:
- partition #1 of SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sdc) as ext3
- …
I clicked on Advanced… and it gave the option “Device for boot loader installation:”
- That was currently set to (hd0)
- I don’t know if that’s the right drive or not. I’d like it to install the boot loader to sdc. But hd0 might be referring to a different drive, like sda or hda. I guess we’ll try this and find out.

Question: Does it matter whether my target drive is sdc or sda?

I can easily change that, I think, by just plugging the target drive into a different SATA slot.

I’m guessing it doesn’t matter, as long as I have BIOS set up to use this as my boot drive.

Is it possible to move this drive to the sda position later? Or will that mess it up?

(I never answered this question… Instead, I just moved it to the sda position now…)

Question: Which disk should I install the boot loader to?

Unfortunately, GRUB’s drive naming conventions are different than the rest of GNU/Linux.

So I don’t know which drive (hd0) actually refers to…

I think you need to install the boot loader onto the same disk as the root partition (/) is on. When I failed to do that, I got into trouble…

Attempting to boot

Well, that attempt was a failure. After the power-on self-test, it showed me a black screen with a flashing white _-shaped cursor at about row 3, column 0, and it just hung there. No boot menu, no Linux splash screen, nothing.

I wonder if that is due to the fact that the boot loader was installed to (hd0) but (hd0) is not set as Drive 1 in BIOS.

I had “HDD:6M-SAMSUNG HD5” as Drive 1 before.

(So apparently (hd0) (where the boot loader is) is not sdc (where the rest of Linux is, including the root partition)… I should have known better. It just seems silly that the default location where it installs the boot loader is the wrong one. I wonder if it would have worked if I’d changed it to (hd0,2) (I think that’s the GRUB equivalent of hdc)…

Trying now with:

Drive 1: “HDD:3M-ST3250823AS” (sda)
Drive 2: “HDD:6M-SAMSUNG HD5” (sdc)
3 other drives

That didn’t work. It started booting up into Windows. Probably because the Windows boot loader is on sda.

(So apparently (hd0) is not sda…?)

Trying now with:

Drive 1: “HDD:PM-WDC WD800JB” (hda?)
Drive 2: “HDD:6M-SAMSUNG HD5” (sdc)
3 other drives

Progress!

It said:

GRUB Loading stage 1.5.



GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 17
_

Probably because GRUB was expecting to find the boot partition for Linux available on the same drive. Foolish GRUB.

I turned my computer off, and attempted to reduce the number of variables by unplugging all but two of my drives. I also plugged my SATA drives into different plugs to try to get my new Samsung 500 GB to be SATA drive #1 (sda).

Now when I go into BIOS, I have only these 2 drives listed, and this is the boot order:

Drive 1: “HDD:6M-SAMSUNG HD5” (sda)
Drive 2: “HDD:3M-ST3250823AS” (sdb)

Not surprisingly, it just gave me a blank screen and hung there again, because Drive 1 has no boot loader on it. I guess I’ll have to reinstall GRUB, which (since I don’t know any other way) means I’ll have to reinstall Ubuntu.

Reinstalling

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

It required me to reformat the partitions I’d created in the previous install, so I allowed it to.

When I restarted the computer, sure enough, this time it came up with the GRUB boot menu. Ubuntu was listed, as well as Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Enabling writable NTFS partitions

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

Can I write to my NTFS partitions? No, not right out of the box. They are mounted as read-only.

Following the instructions at http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_Mount_NTFS_Partitions, this is what I did:

Changed this line from:

UUID=0658E87958E8688F /mediaa/sdb5     ntfs     defeaults,nls=htf8,mask=007,gid=46 0    1

To:

UUID=0658E87958E8688F /mediaa/sdb5     ntfs     defeaults,nls=htf8,mask=022,gid=46 0    1

I then unmounted that partition with:

sudo umount /media/sdb5

(When I did mount, it was no longer listed.)

And then remounted it with:

sudo mount -a

When I do a mount, it now shows up with umask=022.

However, when I try to write to it, it gives an error:

$ touch /media/sdb5/a
touch: cannot touch `/media/sdb5/a': Read-only file system

Question: How do I unmount my root partition (/) so that I can resize it??

…

How do I get sound?

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

Unfortunately, the default sound card was not the one I wanted to use. It defaulted to the mainboard internal sound device, but I wanted to use my PCI SoundBlaster Live device.

I could get sound when I plugged into the onboard sound jacks. But I couldn’t seem to convince it to switch to the other device.

$ gksudo asoundconf list
Names of available sound cards:
SB
Live

I tried both of these:

$ gksudo asoundconf set-default-card SB
$ gksudo asoundconf set-default-card Live

But it seemed to use the same device no matter what.

That’s annoying but livable, I guess.

How do I get DVD playback?

[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

I inserted a DVD. Totem Movie Player started up automatically. However, it said it was missing a codec that it needed. It asked if I wanted it to search for the missing codec, but I declined. I found instructions and then installed some packages manually.

tyler@tyler-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install libdvdread3
...
Suggested packages:
  libdvdcss2 debhelper fakeroot
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libdvdread3
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 61.5kB of archives.

tyler@tyler-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
...
Suggested packages:
  equivs sidplay-base xsidplay sun-java6-plugin ia32-sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-sazanami-mincho libmyodbc odbc-postgresql
  libct1
Recommended packages:
  gsfonts-x11
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cabextract gcc-3.3-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse java-common liba52-0.7.4 libid3tag0 liblame0 libltdl3 libmad0
  libmpeg2-4 libsidplay1 libstdc++5 msttcorefonts odbcinst1debian1 sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre ubuntu-restricted-extras unixodbc
0 upgraded, 19 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 31.6MB of archives.

After doing that, I inserted a DVD. Totem Movie Player started up automatically.

However, the movie did not start playing.

So I went to the Movie menu and selected “Play Disc __”. It came up with a completely empty dialog box (not even an OK button. I pressed the X button in the corner. It gave a new dialog box:

Title: “” is not responding You may choose to wait a short while for it to continue or force the application to quit entirely. Buttons: [Wait] [Force Quit]

I clicked Wait. It did the same thing this time, so I chose Force Quit.

I started Totem Movie Player from the Applications menu and chose “Play Disc __” from the menu again.

This time I got a different response: A dialog box saying: “Totem cannot play this type of media (DVD) because you do not have the appropriate plugins to handle it. Please install the necessary plugins and restart Totem to be able to play this media.”

Okay… It would have been nice if it told me which plugins I needed to install…

$ sudo apt-get install libxine-extracodecs
...
Suggested packages:
  pulseaudio libxine1-plugins xine-ui gxine
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libmodplug0c2 libpulse0 libxine-extracodecs libxine1 libxine1-ffmpeg libxvmc1
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 4156kB of archives.
...


$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad
...
Recommended packages:
  jackd
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad libcdaudio1 libfreebob0 libgsm1 libjack0.100.0-0 libmms0 libmpcdec3 libsoundtouch1c2 libswfdec0.3 libwavpack1
0 upgraded, 10 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 1313kB of archives.
...

$ sudo apt-get install xine-ui gxine
...
Suggested packages:
  realplayer libdvdcss2 libdvdcss gxineplugin
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gxine libcurl3-gnutls xine-ui
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 2061kB of archives.

$ sudo apt-get install totem-xine
...
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  totem-gstreamer
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  totem-xine
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 1372kB of archives.

$ sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... 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

http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2005/12/04/libdvdcss2-and-w32codecs-for-ubuntu/

Added these sources:

deb http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ feisty free non-free
deb-src http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ feisty free non-free

$ sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libdvdcss2
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 36.6kB of archives.
After unpacking 106kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com feisty/free libdvdcss2 1.2.9-2medibuntu2+build1 [36.6kB]
Fetched 36.6kB in 1s (27.0kB/s)    
Selecting previously deselected package libdvdcss2.
(Reading database ... 90163 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libdvdcss2 (from .../libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu2+build1_amd64.deb) ...
Setting up libdvdcss2 (1.2.9-2medibuntu2+build1) ...

That did the trick. When I started up Totem and pressed play, the movie started up without a hitch.

However, after playing the introductory “splash screen” and then showing the FBI warning, it wouldn’t go any further and became paused. I pressed play but it just repeated what I just seen.

I went to the Go menu and chose “Title menu”. It said “An error occurred / The source seems encrypted, and can’t be read. Are you trying to play an encrypted DVD without libdvdcss?”

It didn’t work using gxine or “Xine Movie Player” either.

$ sudo apt-get install vlc
...
Suggested packages:
  xfonts-base-transcoded mozilla-plugin-vlc
Recommended packages:
  videolan-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libavcodec0d libavformat0d libdc1394-13 libdvbpsi4 libdvdnav4 libfaac0 libiso9660-4 libmp4v2-0 libpostproc0d libsdl-image1.2 libtar libvcdinfo0 libvlc0
  libwxbase2.6-0 libwxgtk2.6-0 libxosd2 libxvidcore4 vlc vlc-nox
0 upgraded, 19 newly installed, 0 to remove and 118 not upgraded.
Need to get 13.6MB of archives.

Well, that didn’t do the trick either unfortunately. When I try to play the DVD with VLC, it immediately exits.

Question: Should I move my Windows documents over to my Linux drive?

How many of those documents can I even open/edit under Linux?
- text files
- .doc/.odt files
- …

If I move them to the Linux drive, then I can’t access them from Windows any more.

But if I don’t move them over:

I will have to leave those documents on an inferior file system (NTFS)
I will have to maintain two partitions/directory-trees for my documents (one for each operating system).

Conclusion: Sounds like I should leave them on the Windows drive and edit them there. Once I figure out how to get NTFS write support.

But I should be sure to make a backup of all documents, until I’m highly confident in the NTFS driver reliability.

2007-10-22: Starting over again with [Ubuntu 7.10 (category)]

Well, Ubuntu 7.10 was just officially released… So I downloaded the ISO, burned it to a CD-R and booted into the live CD.

It gave me a login screen — which I don’t remember the previous version ever giving me — and said “User ubuntu will login in 10 seconds…”. There was only output on one of my displays: the VGA CRT output.

I didn’t type anything, and sure enough, it logged in automatically.

It displayed the desktop, and the menus, and an image background, and I could move the mouse around. However, after about 6 seconds, the menus and the icons on the desktop disappeared, leaving only the image background and a cursor. I could move the mouse around for a few seconds, and then it froze. The screen went blank about 1 second later, for about 4 seconds, and then I was back at the login screen. What is going on??

Links

http://www.google.com/search?q=ubuntu+++%22User+ubuntu+will+login%22

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/127494

I did a hard reboot. This time, I selected “… with safe display settings” from the boot menu.

This time, it booted into the live CD just fine. I had output on both screens. (I don’t remember if it gave the login prompt.) It did not get stuck in that weird loop. So maybe the problem before was that it had trouble detecting my display setup or something.

Here’s how I partitioned my drive this time:

sda1: 0.300 GB, ext3, /boot
sda2: 80. GB, ext3, /
sda6: 200. GB, ext3, /data
~200. GB (reserved for future use)
sda5: 3. GB (at end), swap

It finished installing and restarted my computer. It had the nice Ubuntu splash screen and everything, but then all of a sudden it dumped me out onto the message screen (Ctrl-Alt-F8). The last line was “* Starting Bluetooth services”.

It didn’t freeze up — I could go to Ctrl-Alt-F1 and log in on the command line — but the GUI failed to come up automatically.

So I logged in and typed startx. That started up X all right, but there were 2 errors:

One about GNOME something
One about the user switcher had unexpectedly closed

Worse, I had no mouse support. So I couldn’t do a whole lot.

I restarted and tried again.

Success!

This time, the GUI came up automatically without any trouble. I had mouse support from the get-go, and no errors upon logging in. Yay!

My NTFS partitions are writable out of the box!

That is pretty sweet. No configuration necessary.

Getting DVD playback working on Ubuntu 7.10

Getting DVD playback working on Ubuntu 7.10 edit

Initial attempt

I inserted a DVD. Totem Movie Player started up automatically. However, it said it was missing a codec that it needed. It asked if I wanted it to search for the missing codec. I let it search. It offered to install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly, so I let it.

I went to the Movie menu and selected “Play Disc __”. It came up with a completely empty dialog box (not even an OK button. I pressed the X button in the corner. It gave a new dialog box:

Title: “” is not responding You may choose to wait a short while for it to continue or force the application to quit entirely. Buttons: [Wait] [Force Quit]

I clicked Wait. It did the same thing this time, so I chose Force Quit.

I started Totem Movie Player from the Applications menu and chose “Play Disc __” from the menu again.

Okay… It would have been nice if it told me which plugins I needed to install…

sudo apt-get install totem-xine

I went to the Movie menu and selected “Play Disc __”. It came up with a dialog box: “Totem could not play ‘dvd:/'” “There is no plugin to handle this movie.”

sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg

cabextract (version 1.2-2) will be installed
gcc-3.3-base (version 1:3.3.6-15ubuntu2) will be installed
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg (version 0.10.2-2ubuntu1) will be installed
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad (version 0.10.5-4ubuntu1) will be installed
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse (version 0.10.5-1) will be installed
gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse (version 0.10.6-0ubuntu1) will be installed
gxine (version 0.5.11-3ubuntu3) will be installed
libartsc0 (version 1.5.8-0ubuntu1) will be installed
libaudio2 (version 1.9-2) will be installed
libavformat1d (version 3:0.cvs20070307-5ubuntu4) will be installed
libcdaudio1 (version 0.99.12p2-3) will be installed
libdc1394-13 (version 1.1.0-3ubuntu3) will be installed
libdvbpsi4 (version 0.1.5-3) will be installed
libdvdnav4 (version 0.1.10-0.2) will be installed
libebml0 (version 0.7.7-3) will be installed
libfaac0 (version 1.24clean-0ubuntu4) will be installed
libfaad2-0 (version 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu5) will be installed
libfreebob0 (version 1.0.3+svn443-2) will be installed
libggi2 (version 1:2.2.1-5ubuntu1) will be installed
libgii1 (version 1:1.0.1-3) will be installed
libgii1-target-x (version 1:1.0.1-3) will be installed
libiso9660-4 (version 0.76-1ubuntu2) will be installed
libjack0 (version 0.103.0-6ubuntu1) will be installed
liblame0 (version 3.97-0.0) will be installed
liblzo1 (version 1.08-3) will be installed
libmatroska0 (version 0.8.1-1) will be installed
libmjpegtools0c2a (version 1:1.8.0-0.2ubuntu5) will be installed
libmms0 (version 0.3-5ubuntu2) will be installed
libmozjs0d (version 1.8.1.4-2ubuntu5) will be installed
libmp4v2-0 (version 2.0.0+cvs20040908+mp4v2+bmp-0ubuntu5) will be installed
libquicktime1 (version 2:1.0.0+debian-4ubuntu1) will be installed
libsdl-image1.2 (version 1.2.5-3) will be installed
libsoundtouch1c2 (version 1.3.0-2.1) will be installed
libstdc++5 (version 1:3.3.6-15ubuntu2) will be installed
libtar (version 1.2.11-4) will be installed
libungif4g (version 4.1.4-5) will be installed
libvcdinfo0 (version 0.7.23-3) will be installed
libvlc0 (version 0.8.6.release.c-0ubuntu5) will be installed
libwxbase2.6-0 (version 2.6.3.2.1.5ubuntu12) will be installed
libwxgtk2.6-0 (version 2.6.3.2.1.5ubuntu12) will be installed
libx264-54 (version 1:0.svn20070309-4ubuntu1) will be installed
libxosd2 (version 2.2.14-1.3) will be installed
libxvidcore4 (version 2:1.1.2-0.1ubuntu2) will be installed
mplayer (version 2:1.0~rc1-0ubuntu13) will be installed
mplayer-skins (version 2-7) will be installed
msttcorefonts (version 2.2) will be installed
odbcinst1debian1 (version 2.2.11-16) will be installed
ogle (version 0.9.2-5) will be installed
sun-java6-bin (version 6-03-0ubuntu2) will be installed
sun-java6-jre (version 6-03-0ubuntu2) will be installed
ttf-dejavu (version 2.19-1ubuntu3) will be installed
ttf-dejavu-extra (version 2.19-1ubuntu3) will be installed
ubuntu-restricted-extras (version 10) will be installed
unixodbc (version 2.2.11-16) will be installed
unrar (version 1:3.7.3-1.1) will be installed
vlc (version 0.8.6.release.c-0ubuntu5) will be installed
vlc-nox (version 0.8.6.release.c-0ubuntu5) will be installed
xine-ui (version 0.99.5-2build1) will be installed

$ sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
$ wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

I started Totem Movie Player from the Applications menu and chose “Play Disc __” from the menu again.

This time it worked! It got past the FBI warning and arrived at the main menu!

Playing Amazing Discoveries DVD isn’t working

That’s strange that a commercial DVD would work but this more-amateur-like DVD will not play.

Tried VLC media player: DVD (menus)

main debug: adding playlist item `dvd:///dev/hdc' ( dvd:///dev/hdc )
main debug: control type=0
main debug: control: stopping input
main debug: closing input
main debug: thread 1140881744 joined (dvdnav.c:352)
main debug: removing module "libmpeg2"
main debug: thread 1132489040 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `mpgv', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "spudec"
main debug: thread 1157667152 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `spu ', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: Program doesn't contain anymore ES
main debug: removing module "dvdnav"
main debug: thread 1149274448 joined (input/input.c:412)
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 1149274448 (input) created at priority 0 (input/input.c:265)
main debug: `dvd:///dev/hdc' gives access `dvd' demux `' path `/dev/hdc'
main debug: creating demux: access='dvd' demux='' path='/dev/hdc'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 2 candidates
dvdnav debug: trying to go to dvd menu
main debug: thread 1157667152 (dvdnav event thread handler) created at priority 0 (dvdnav.c:336)
main debug: using access_demux module "dvdnav"
main debug: meta information:
main debug:   - 'Title' = 'DVD_VIDEO_RECORDER'
main debug: `dvd:///dev/hdc' successfully opened
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HOP_CHANNEL
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_VTS_CHANGE
dvdnav debug:      - vtsN=1
dvdnav debug:      - domain=4
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE
dvdnav debug:      - cellN=1
dvdnav debug:      - pgN=1
dvdnav debug:      - cell_length=45000
dvdnav debug:      - pg_length=45000
dvdnav debug:      - pgc_length=45000
dvdnav debug:      - cell_start=0
dvdnav debug:      - pg_start=0
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_STREAM_CHANGE
dvdnav debug:      - physical_wide=0
dvdnav debug:      - physical_letterbox=0
dvdnav debug:      - physical_pan_scan=0
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 1
main debug: selecting program id=0
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "spudec"
main debug: thread 1132489040 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE
dvdnav debug:      - physical=0
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 1
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "libmpeg2"
main debug: thread 1140881744 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 1
libmpeg2 debug: 720x480 (display 720,480), aspect 576000, sar 8:9, 29.971 fps
main debug: crop: 138,112,439,29, palette forced: 1
main warning: dts != current_pts (-365961)
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_NOP
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_WAIT
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_STILL_FRAME
dvdnav debug:      - length=0xff
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 9

The window resized to the correct resolution (I believe), but appeared blank.

The time indicator said “0:00:00 / 0:00:00”.

The slider at the bottom did not move, but stayed at about 90%.

When I tried to move the slider to the left, these messages were logged:

main debug: control type=5 main error: INPUT_CONTROL_SET_POSITION(_OFFSET) 84.4% failed spudec debug: invalid starting packet (size < 4 or pts 48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates main debug: using audio filter module “float32tos16” main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion main debug: looking for audio mixer module: 3 candidates main debug: using audio mixer module “float32_mixer” main debug: input ‘a52 ‘ 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1536 samples/1024 bytes main debug: filter(s) ‘a52 ‘->’fl32’ 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates main debug: using audio filter module “a52tofloat32” main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion main debug: filter(s) ‘fl32′->’fl32’ 52800 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates main debug: using audio filter module “bandlimited_resampler” main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion main debug: removing module “blend” main debug: removing module “xvideo” main debug: thread 1124096336 joined (video_output/video_output.c:461) main debug: no usable vout present, spawning one main debug: window size: 704×540 main debug: looking for video output module: 6 candidates xvideo debug: adaptor 0, port 73, format 0x32315659 (YV12) planar main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 2 main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 3 main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 4 main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 5 xvideo debug: Window manager supports NetWM xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_BELOW main debug: using video output module “xvideo” main debug: waiting for thread completion main debug: got 8 direct buffer(s) main debug: picture in 704×480 (0,0,704×480), chroma I420, ar 176:135, sar 8:9 main debug: picture user 704×480 (0,0,704×480), chroma I420, ar 176:135, sar 8:9 main debug: picture out 704×480 (0,0,704×480), chroma I420, ar 176:135, sar 8:9 main debug: direct render, mapping render pictures 0-6 to system pictures 1-7 main debug: thread 1124096336 (video output) created at priority 0 (video_output/video_output.c:421) main warning: dts != current_pts (331717) main warning: vout synchro warning: pts != current_date (-33367) main debug: decoded 103/105 pictures alsa debug: recovered from buffer underrun main warning: computed PTS is out of range (2666773), clearing out main warning: PTS is out of range (2666807), dropping buffer main warning: output PTS is out of range (2677481), clearing out main warning: PTS is out of range (2634824), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2603240), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2571248), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2539534), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2507541), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2475623), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2443628), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2411748), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2379753), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2347860), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2315865), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2283937), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2251942), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2219963), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2187967), dropping buffer main warning: late picture skipped (2252118) main warning: late picture skipped (2218854) main warning: late picture skipped (2118757) main warning: PTS is out of range (2220502), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2188536), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2156750), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2124757), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2092888), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2060893), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (2029044), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1997049), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1965115), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1933120), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1901256), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1869261), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1837379), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1805386), dropping buffer main warning: late picture skipped (1690086) main warning: PTS is out of range (1829154), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1797191), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1766770), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1734782), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1703037), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1671046), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1639195), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1607200), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1575323), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1543329), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1511389), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1479396), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1447539), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1415544), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1383561), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1351565), dropping buffer main warning: late picture skipped (1239986) main warning: PTS is out of range (1374616), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1342657), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1311019), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1279028), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1247181), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1215189), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1183281), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1151286), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1119452), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1087458), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1055536), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (1023541), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (991677), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (959682), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (927829), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (895834), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (863911), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (831919), dropping buffer main warning: late picture skipped (813125) main warning: PTS is out of range (859677), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (827708), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (795958), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (763965), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (732019), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (700025), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (668222), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (636229), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (604390), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (572396), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (540505), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (508510), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (476702), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (444707), dropping buffer main warning: late picture skipped (360608) main debug: decoded 35/105 pictures main warning: PTS is out of range (468331), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (436347), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (404648), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (372655), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (340832), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (308840), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (276914), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (244919), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (213081), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (181086), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (149258), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (117265), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (85424), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (53433), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (21652), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (-10343), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (9890), dropping buffer main warning: PTS is out of range (-22078), dropping buffer main debug: audio output is starving (38589), playing silence main debug: decoded 103/105 pictures main warning: late picture skipped (66574) main warning: late picture skipped (33285) main warning: late picture skipped (87316) main warning: late picture skipped (53993) main warning: late picture skipped (20629) main warning: late picture skipped (126542) main warning: late picture skipped (93279) main warning: late picture skipped (59916) main warning: late picture skipped (26560) main warning: late picture skipped (18878) dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_NOP dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE dvdnav debug: – cellN=2 dvdnav debug: – pgN=1 dvdnav debug: – cell_length=2790000 dvdnav debug: – pg_length=29340000 dvdnav debug: – pgc_length=650565000 dvdnav debug: – cell_start=3105000 dvdnav debug: – pg_start=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: – physical=0 alsa debug: recovered from buffer underrun main warning: backward_pts != dts (593299) main warning: computed PTS is out of range (296937), clearing out main warning: PTS is out of range (296948), dropping buffer main warning: output PTS is out of range (296957), clearing out main debug: audio output is starving (318635), playing silence main warning: late picture skipped (54832) main warning: vout synchro warning: pts != current_date (-593300) main warning: late picture skipped (69446) main debug: decoded 104/105 pictures main warning: late picture skipped (13345) main warning: late picture skipped (176922) main warning: late picture skipped (143622) main warning: late picture skipped (110268) main warning: late picture skipped (76913) main warning: late picture skipped (75443) main warning: late picture skipped (32686) dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_NOP dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE dvdnav debug: – cellN=3 dvdnav debug: – pgN=1 dvdnav debug: – cell_length=2925000 dvdnav debug: – pg_length=29340000 dvdnav debug: – pgc_length=650565000 dvdnav debug: – cell_start=5895000 dvdnav debug: – pg_start=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: – physical=0 alsa debug: recovered from buffer underrun main warning: backward_pts != dts (748256) main warning: late picture skipped (12195) main warning: computed PTS is out of range (414944), clearing out main warning: PTS is out of range (414972), dropping buffer main warning: output PTS is out of range (425644), clearing out main debug: audio output is starving (361366), playing silence main warning: vout synchro warning: pts != current_date (-748256) main warning: late picture skipped (26781) main debug: decoded 102/105 pictures main warning: late picture skipped (139047) main warning: late picture skipped (105758) main warning: late picture skipped (72395) main warning: late picture skipped (39034) main warning: late picture skipped (38476) main warning: late picture skipped (11727) main debug: decoded 103/105 pictures

Tried VLC media player: DVD

It was silent at first, but then the audio started playing (no video). These messages were logged:
main debug: adding playlist item `dvdsimple:///dev/hdc' ( dvdsimple:///dev/hdc )
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 1140881744 (input) created at priority 0 (input/input.c:265)
main debug: `dvdsimple:///dev/hdc' gives access `dvdsimple' demux `' path `/dev/hdc'
main debug: creating demux: access='dvdsimple' demux='' path='/dev/hdc'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
dvdread debug: VMG opened
dvdread debug: number of titles: 1
dvdread debug: title 0 has 23 chapters
dvdread debug: open VTS 1, for title 1
dvdread debug: title 1 vts_title 1 pgc 1 pgn 1 start 0 end 2068578 blocks: 2068579
main debug: selecting program id=0
dvdread debug: audio position  0
main debug: using access_demux module "dvdread"
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "libmpeg2"
main debug: thread 1124096336 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "a52"
main debug: thread 1132489040 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: `dvdsimple:///dev/hdc' successfully opened
libmpeg2 debug: 704x480 (display 720,480), aspect 563200, sar 8:9, 29.971 fps
main debug: no usable vout present, spawning one
main debug: window size: 704x540
main debug: looking for video output module: 6 candidates
xvideo debug: adaptor 0, port 73, format 0x32315659 (YV12) planar
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 2
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 3
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 4
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 5
a52: A/52 channels:2 samplerate:48000 bitrate:256000
main debug: looking for audio output module: 3 candidates
xvideo debug: Window manager supports NetWM
xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN
xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE
xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_BELOW
main debug: using video output module "xvideo"
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: got 8 direct buffer(s)
main debug: picture in 704x480 (0,0,704x480), chroma I420, ar 176:135, sar 8:9
main debug: picture user 704x480 (0,0,704x480), chroma I420, ar 176:135, sar 8:9
main debug: picture out 704x480 (0,0,704x480), chroma I420, ar 176:135, sar 8:9
main debug: direct render, mapping render pictures 0-6 to system pictures 1-7
main debug: thread 1166059856 (video output) created at priority 0 (video_output/video_output.c:421)
main warning: dts != current_pts (88388)
main warning: vout synchro warning: pts != current_date (-33367)
alsa debug: opening ALSA device `default'
main debug: thread 1149274448 (aout) created at priority 0 (alsa.c:662)
main debug: using audio output module "alsa"
main debug: output 's16l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/4 bytes
main debug: mixer 'fl32' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 'fl32'->'s16l' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "float32tos16"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: looking for audio mixer module: 3 candidates
main debug: using audio mixer module "float32_mixer"
main debug: input 'a52 ' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1536 samples/1024 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 'a52 '->'fl32' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "a52tofloat32"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: filter(s) 'fl32'->'fl32' 52800 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "bandlimited_resampler"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: decoded 103/105 pictures
main warning: late picture skipped (23422)
alsa debug: recovered from buffer underrun
main warning: computed PTS is out of range (562113), clearing out
main warning: PTS is out of range (562161), dropping buffer
main warning: output PTS is out of range (572842), clearing out
main warning: PTS is out of range (530188), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (498480), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (466487), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (434552), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (402560), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (370705), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (338711), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (306858), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (274867), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (242951), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (210958), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (179059), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (147065), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (115476), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (83489), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (51905), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (19913), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (-11859), dropping buffer
main warning: late picture skipped (135013)
main warning: late picture skipped (68343)
main debug: audio output is starving (21749), playing silence
main debug: decoded 101/105 pictures
main warning: late picture skipped (169465)
main warning: late picture skipped (136159)
main warning: late picture skipped (102800)
main warning: late picture skipped (69436)
main warning: late picture skipped (63250)
main debug: decoded 102/105 pictures
alsa debug: recovered from buffer underrun
main warning: backward_pts != dts (593299)
main warning: computed PTS is out of range (253687), clearing out
main warning: PTS is out of range (253700), dropping buffer
main warning: output PTS is out of range (264376), clearing out
main debug: audio output is starving (360221), playing silence
main warning: late picture skipped (17640)
main warning: vout synchro warning: pts != current_date (-593300)
main warning: late picture skipped (64202)
Getting Gattica DVD to play

I had successfully played other commercial/encrypted DVDs before, so I was puzzled when this one didn’t work right…

Specifically, I could get audio to play, but not video. I tried (and got the same results with) Totem, VLC, and MPlayer.
$ mplayer dvd://1
...
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 480 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES)
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Try adding the scale filter, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
VDecoder init failed :(
Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b
Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm: libmpeg2 (MPEG-1 or 2 (libmpeg2))
==========================================================================
I wondered if I was still missing some codecs. I discovered I hadn’t done this yet…
$ sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs
...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  non-free-codecs w64codecs
It still didn’t work (no video).

However, after doing some googling [1], I found a couple helpful hints…

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/red-hat-31/centos5-mplayer-installed-but-no-video.-583276/. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

Read the man pages for mplayer. ‘man mplayer ‘ Goto the section Video Output Drivers. You may need to add the option -vo xv. That ususally does it but you may to use a different one like -vo x11. others listed but ususally these two work. Sometimes gl if gl is supported in the video drive rand video card.

http://books.google.com/books?id=HZ37FT3unW8C&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&source=web&ots=A0kUA_b037&sig=g8FwRtvgMtzq6BW_uL8PRJ4Ub5c#PPA118,M1. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

Troubleshooting. There are a number of reasons MPlayer may not output your video correctly. If MPlayer has trouble identifying your video, all the video codecs mplayer requires may not be installed on your system. “Install Multimedia Plug-Ins” [Hack #28] explains how to find and install the various video and audio codecs you need under Linux. If MPlayer plays the video, but the video output looks strange, you can’t see it at all, or playback is very jerky, it’s possible that MPlayer is configured to use the wrong video output option for your system. Try passing -vo x11 as an argument to mplayer on the command line, and see if that lets you at least view the video.

The following -vo options worked for me:

scaled to use the full screen when in full screen mode?

gl style=”background: #DDFFDD” yes

x11 style=”background: #FFBBBB” no

gl2

ggi

aa, caca

Why doesn’t it work with Totem?

When I try to play it in Totem (xine), it plays the audio for the Columbia Pictures introduction theme, which lasts 0:28. After that, it “plays” an empty clip of length 0:01, with the slider positioned at about 95% and refusing to be moved. The previous and next chapter buttons are grayed out. There it sits and I can’t do anything to change its mind.

I wonder if this has as its root the same problem that I was having with MPlayer: it’s trying to play on a “video_out” that doesn’t work for my system (at least for this particular DVD). I think I’ve sort of confirmed that this is the problem…

While leaving Totem open, I tried starting MPlayer:
$ mplayer dvd://1
...
Xv: could not grab port 73
Could not find free Xvideo port - maybe another process is already using it.
Close all video applications, and try again. If that does not help,
see 'mplayer -vo help' for other (non-xv) video out drivers.
Error opening/initializing the selected video_out (-vo) device.
This seems to indicate that Totem is trying to use the Xvideo port, which is obviously the default port/video_out that MPlayer uses as well (since I can use MPlayer while Totem is open, if I use a different video_out, say, -vo gl). And since that “video out driver” didn’t work for MPlayer, it stands to reason that it wouldn’t work for Totem either.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of any way to tell Totem to use a different port (like gl), like I could do with MPlayer.

(Interestingly, even though the User Interface of Totem wouldn’t let me navigate to later chapters (to listen to them, even if I couldn’t watch them), I could do that with Xine Movie Player… Xine Movie Player (which uses the same xine engine for playing movies, as I understand it), although less “pretty” than Totem, lets me at least skip to any chapter using the next/previous chapter buttons, and listen to the audio…)

Why doesn’t it work with VLC?

When I try to play it with VLC using the DVD (menus) option, it plays a 1-second empty clip, with a very-dark-blue background and then stops at the end. When I pressed Next, it repeated this empty clip and then stopped. When I pressed Next again, it did nothing. When I pressed Previous, it actually started the main title (length: 1:46:19). No video.

When I tried to play it using the DVD (simple) option, it started right into the title. No video.

Here are some of the logged messages:
main debug: adding playlist item `dvdsimple:///dev/hdc' ( dvdsimple:///dev/hdc )
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 1157667152 (input) created at priority 0 (input/input.c:265)
main debug: `dvdsimple:///dev/hdc' gives access `dvdsimple' demux `' path `/dev/hdc'
main debug: creating demux: access='dvdsimple' demux='' path='/dev/hdc'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
dvdread debug: VMG opened
dvdread debug: number of titles: 1
dvdread debug: title 0 has 28 chapters
dvdread debug: open VTS 1, for title 1
dvdread debug: title 1 vts_title 1 pgc 1 pgn 1 start 0 end 1726991 blocks: 1726992
main debug: selecting program id=0
dvdread debug: audio position  0
dvdread debug: audio position  1
dvdread debug: audio position  2
dvdread debug: audio position  3
dvdread debug: spu 1 0x80000000
dvdread debug: spu 2 0x80010100
dvdread debug: spu 3 0x80020200
main debug: using access_demux module "dvdread"
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "libmpeg2"
main debug: thread 1124096336 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "a52"
main debug: thread 1149274448 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: `dvdsimple:///dev/hdc' successfully opened
libmpeg2 debug: 720x480 (display 720,480), aspect 768000, sar 32:27, 29.971 fps
main debug: no usable vout present, spawning one
main debug: window size: 853x480
main debug: looking for video output module: 6 candidates
xvideo debug: adaptor 0, port 73, format 0x32315659 (YV12) planar
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 2
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 3
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 4
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 5
a52: A/52 channels:2 samplerate:48000 bitrate:192000
main debug: looking for audio output module: 3 candidates
alsa debug: opening ALSA device `default'
main debug: thread 1166059856 (aout) created at priority 0 (alsa.c:662)
main debug: using audio output module "alsa"
main debug: output 's16l' 48000 Hz Dolby frame=1 samples/4 bytes
main debug: mixer 'fl32' 48000 Hz Dolby frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 'fl32'->'s16l' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Dolby->Dolby
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "float32tos16"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: looking for audio mixer module: 3 candidates
main debug: using audio mixer module "trivial_mixer"
main debug: input 'a52 ' 48000 Hz Dolby frame=1536 samples/768 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 'a52 '->'fl32' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz Dolby->Dolby
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "a52tofloat32"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: filter(s) 'fl32'->'fl32' 52800 Hz->48000 Hz Dolby->Dolby
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "bandlimited_resampler"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
xvideo debug: Window manager supports NetWM
xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN
xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE
xvideo debug: Window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_BELOW
main debug: using video output module "xvideo"
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: got 8 direct buffer(s)
main debug: picture in 720x480 (0,0,720x480), chroma I420, ar 16:9, sar 32:27
main debug: picture user 720x480 (0,0,720x480), chroma I420, ar 16:9, sar 32:27
main debug: picture out 720x480 (0,0,720x480), chroma I420, ar 16:9, sar 32:27
main debug: direct render, mapping render pictures 0-6 to system pictures 1-7
main debug: thread 1132489040 (video output) created at priority 0 (video_output/video_output.c:421)
main warning: dts != current_pts (562672)
main warning: backward_pts != current_pts (-33367)
main warning: late picture skipped (250112)
main warning: late picture skipped (52372)
main warning: late picture skipped (19053)
main warning: late picture skipped (191517)
main warning: late picture skipped (158193)
main warning: late picture skipped (108151)
main warning: late picture skipped (74787)
main warning: late picture skipped (55827)
main warning: late picture skipped (22533)
main debug: decoded 93/108 pictures
main warning: late picture skipped (155826)
main warning: late picture skipped (105853)
main warning: late picture skipped (73223)
main warning: late picture skipped (23176)
main warning: late picture skipped (20716)
main debug: decoded 107/108 pictures
main debug: control type=0
main debug: control: stopping input
main debug: closing input
main debug: removing module "libmpeg2"
main debug: thread 1124096336 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `mpgv', 20 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "a52"
main debug: thread 1149274448 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `a52 ', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "a52tofloat32"
main debug: removing module "bandlimited_resampler"
main debug: thread 1166059856 joined (alsa.c:714)
main debug: removing module "alsa"
main debug: removing module "float32tos16"
main debug: removing module "trivial_mixer"
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "a52"
main debug: thread 1166059856 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: removing module "a52"
main debug: thread 1166059856 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `a52 ', 1 PES in FIFO
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "a52"
main debug: thread 1166059856 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: removing module "a52"
main debug: thread 1166059856 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `a52 ', 1 PES in FIFO
main debug: looking for decoder module: 25 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "a52"
main debug: thread 1166059856 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: removing module "a52"
main debug: thread 1166059856 joined (input/decoder.c:191)
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `a52 ', 1 PES in FIFO
main debug: Program doesn't contain anymore ES
main debug: removing module "dvdread"
main debug: thread 1157667152 joined (input/input.c:412)
main debug: garbage collector destroys 1 vout
main debug: removing module "xvideo"
main debug: thread 1132489040 joined (video_output/video_output.c:461)
Note, in particular, this line:
main debug: using video output module "xvideo"
So is there some way to change which video output module is used?

Yes, in fact, there is!

Go to menu “Settings: Preferences…”. In the preferences menu, navigate to “Video: Output modules”. The “Video output module” option was set to “Default”. When I changed it to “X11 video output” and tried again, everything worked perfectly with VLC.

Tried Amazing Discoveries DVD again

This time, it worked perfectly:

VLC player (both with menus and without)

MPlayer (not with default settings, but with -vo x11 or -vo gl)

When I selected “Play disc” from Totem, it opened a dialog box titled “Select Movies or Playlists”. The selected path was /media/cdrom0, and the disk was labeled DVD_VIDEO_RECORDER (this wasn’t a very professionally made DVD). That might have been fine, if it had listed some files or something, but there was nothing listed, so the “Add” button was useless and I ended up clicking “Cancel”.

Normally when you choose Play disc in Totem, it just starts playing. But I guess this disc lacks something that Totem expects. This is further confirmed: When I selected from the menu Movie: cdrom0, it gave this error:

Totem could not play ‘file:///media/cdrom0/VIDEO_TS’.

When I went to /media/cdrom0/ in Nautilus, it actually did list VIDEO_TS. However, when I tried to enter into this folder, it said:

Couldn’t display “/media/cdrom0/VIDEO_TS”. The attempt to log in failed

Okay, whatever.

Similar story on the command line:
$ cd /media/cdrom0
bash: cd: /media/cdrom0: Permission denied

$ ls /media/cdrom0 -al
total 0
?--------- ? ? ? ?                ? /media/cdrom0/.
?--------- ? ? ? ?                ? /media/cdrom0/..
?--------- ? ? ? ?                ? /media/cdrom0/VIDEO_TS
So something about the way this DVD is formatted must just be non-standard or messed up. So I can’t really blame Totem or Linux this time, I guess…

Article metadata

Problems that I encountered earlier but are resolved now should be displayed in a very summarized way (if at all) by default; only current/open/unresolved problems should be given in great verbosity (because I want people to help me to solve my problem, and they need as many details as possible).

Some of the threads overlap chronologically. For instance, I started the Amazing Discoveries DVD thread, then the Gattica DVD thread, which fixed the problem I was having with Amazing Discoveries DVD. If I then report in the AD DVD thread that it has started working, then I need to also report the steps done during the Gattica DVD thread that effected this solution. How to do that without duplicating the content?

Make the “installing package” action be generic enough that it can be included in both sections

Give everything a timestamp

Allow AD DVD thread to include these events:

Had problem

Installed package

Problem resolved

Gattica DVD thread would have the same type of events, but 1 and 3 would be worded differently and only 2 shared verbatim.

[Ubuntu 7.10 (category)]

Getting display driver / dual-monitor working right on Ubuntu 7.10

Getting display driver / dual-monitor working right on Ubuntu 7.10 edit

After a restart, display is messed up

I restarted my computer. When it come back up, the screen was in a very low-resolution (800×600) mode.

I went into the screen settings and discovered that it was using generic VESA driver.

I tried changing it to radeon, but when I tested it, it looked kind of funny. The dialog box was kind of fuzzy and had somewhat random red smudges around it.

I tried changing it to ati, but when I tested it, it looked kind of funny. Oh well, I decided to try it anyway.

That seemed to work, but the screen stayed at the same resolution. So I changed the Display from Plug and Play to Monitor 1280×1024 and then tried to up the resolution. That didn’t quite do the trick.

Then I changed it to something else and it said that all users had to log out for the changes to take effect.

So I logged out… Beautiful! It displayed the login screen at a high resolution.

However, when I logged in, it had problems. It showed all the menus and the desktop, but only briefly, and then it exited back to the login screen. Same problem I had before, when I tried the installer (before I tried the ~”safe graphics mode” of the installer). So apparently it doesn’t like this display mode, whichever it is.

Restarting in recovery mode

So I restarted and selected recovery mode from the boot menu.

This landed me at a terminal screen, logged in as root.

It looked like it had tried to start X but had had some errors — but I couldn’t determine exactly which errors.

I tried doing startx and it said “This session is running as a priveleged user. Running a session as a privileged user should be avoided for security reasons. If possible, you should log in as a normal user.” I pressed Quit.

So I tried doing su tyler and then startx. Then it said I didn’t have sufficient access.

So I did sudo startx. Then it said I was running as a privileged user again. I pressed Continue this time. It started to load the normal GNOME desktop manager — I could see the top menu and bottom menu — but it was only taking up the upper-left corner of the screen. The rest of the screen was that ugly black and gray diagonal crosshatch pattern. Then the GNOME stuff went away and the whole screen was just the black and gray. There was still a white cursor on the screen but I couldn’t move it with the mouse.

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace did nothing. So did Ctrl-Alt-Fn. So did Ctrl-Alt-Delete. All right, Mr. Linux, a hard reboot it is then.

Restarting in normal mode

This time, when the login screen it was only in the upper-left corner of the screen, and the rest of the screen was the tan/light-brown color.

When I logged in, it went to the whole screen being the tan color — nothing else. I could move the cursor around, and then suddenly, I no longer could. The screen flickered off and I was back at the login screen in the upper-left corner.

I pressed Ctrl-Alt-F1 and then tried another Ctrl-Alt-Fn, but it froze up. I could no longer move the mouse pointer.

Restarting in recovery mode

Following some tips from http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-403801.html, I changed my xorg.conf: I changed from Driver “ati” to Driver “vesa”.

Restarting in normal mode

Well, that did the trick. I may not have hardware acceleration right, now but at least I can start X again, and my screen is running at a beautiful 1600x1200x71Hz on my CRT.

I can’t seem to get output on my LCD though now. Hmm.

Another try with the ati driver

I changed it to use the ati driver again and changed the monitor/display to 1280×1024. Again it told me that all users needed to log off. So I logged off. Again when I tried logging in, it wouldn’t stay logged in and ended up kicking me back to the login screen.

This time I went to Change Session and selected “Failsafe GNOME login”. That got me in just fine… (but I don’t want to have to always use that option!) It’s still using ati driver and displaying at 1280×1024. On CRT only.

Let’s play around with xrandr…
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 1280 x 1024
VGA-0 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right) 360mm x 270mm
   1280x1024@60   60.0* 
   1280x960@60    60.0  
   1024x768@60    60.0  
   800x600@60     60.3  
   800x600@56     56.2  
   640x480@60     60.0  
   640x480        60.0  
LVDS connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x1024      59.9* 
   1280x960       59.9  
   1280x800       60.0  
   1280x768       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0     59.9  
   800x600        60.3     59.9  
   640x480        59.9     59.4  
None disconnected (normal left inverted right)
S-video disconnected (normal left inverted right)
At least it shows that 2 monitors are connected…

Can I get dual-screen working now?
$ xrandr --output LVDS --left-of VGA-0
xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 1280x1024 (desired size 2560x1024)
Nope.

Things to try still

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_Ubuntu_6.06.1_on_a_ThinkPad_R60e
$  xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1024x768 --pos 0x400
moves laptop screen to top of window, so both share same top line
$  xrandr  --output VGA --mode 1600x1200 --pos 0x768
  xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 1600x1600 (desired size 1600x1968)
edit xorg.conf and ensure we have Virtual 2048 2048. Try again and it works: we have a laptop screen in a virtual position at the top of a 2048×2048 frame with the VGA monitor below.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Xorg_RandR_1.2

(Similar problem, but no helpful hints — http://www.nabble.com/In-Fresh-install-of-7.10,-can’t-get-working:-1)-dual-monitor-setup-and-2)-high-resolution-t4663802.html)

http://burtonini.com/blog/computers/randr-2007-02-06-17-50. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "Dell TFT"
        # This is a standard modeline for 1680x1050 at 60Hz
        Modeline "1680x1050" 149.00  1680 1760 1944 2280  1050 1050 1052 1089
EndSection
        
Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Screen"
        Device          "Intel"
        Monitor         "Monitor"
        # This says that when using a monitor on the output called VGA, use the
        # settings in the monitor "Dell TFT"
        Option "monitor-VGA" "Dell TFT"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth 24
                # This tells the screen to allocate a frame buffer up to
                # 1680x1050.
                Virtual 1680 1050
        EndSubSection
EndSection
With this, everything just works. If I xrandr with various displays plugged in I can see what they support and can switch modes. To make everything nice and easy I wrote a small script that I bound to an unused function key:
if xrandr -q | grep -q  "VGA connected"; then
  xrandr --output LVDS --off --output VGA --mode 1680x1050
else
  xrandr --output VGA --off --output LVDS --mode 1024x768
fi
(thanks to Eric for pointing out that I don’t need to use the hex values). Simple! As you can see the new xrandr is very powerful. If you want to do
Getting my printers working

[GNU/Linux / Hardware support / Printers (category)]

Installing on Linux / HP LaserJet 1018

Installing on Linux / HP LaserJet 1018 edit

It worked perfectly right out of the box… at first

Make and model: HP LaserJet 1018 Foomatic/foo2zjs (recommended)

Would do nothing when I told it to print

It worked fine for a while. But then sometime later, I tried to print something and nothing happened. It looked like the system thought it had printed (judging from the fact that it didn’t show up in the queue unless I looked at “completed jobs”), but I can assure you it hadn’t printed anything.

After rebooting my computer sometime later, I think it worked again for a while, but then it stopped working again.

Here is the story of how I resolved this problem…

http://www.google.com/search?q=linux+print+hp+laserjet+nothing+happens

HP LaserJet 1018 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=500549). Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

The easiest way to clear the buffer in a printer is to unplug it and reconnect it. You might have to do the same thing with the USB wire. Try one and/or the other.

Problem with HP 1020 printer (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=413002&page=2). Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.
$ ./getweb 1020
HP LaserJet 1020 – Getting it to work in Ubuntu (http://kirksblog.steffensenfamily.com/archives/13). Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.
getweb 1020
sudo arm2hpdl sihp1020.img > sihp1020.dl
sudo cp sihp1020.dl /usr/share/foo2zjs/firmware/
Bug #96454 in foo2zjs (Ubuntu) (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/foo2zjs/+bug/96454). Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.
$ getweb 1020
$ arm2hpdl sihp1020.img > sihp1020.dl
$ sudo cp sihp1020.dl /usr/share/foo2zjs/firmware/
I basically installed sihp1018.dl, unplugged and restart printer a few times, removed and re-added the printer in the printer configuration app (New Printer, it says “Searching for printers”, and at the top of list was “HP LaserJet 1018 USB KP161MV HPLIP” with a description of “HPLIP software driving a printer, or the printer function of a multi-function device”; I selected that and proceeded, following the prompts), and it worked.

The Device URI and Make/Model shown in my printer settings now: hp:/usb/HP_LaserJet_1018?serial=KP161MV and HP LaserJet 1018 Foomatic/foo2zjs (recommended)

Installing on Linux / Brother MFC-420CN

Installing on Linux / Brother MFC-420CN edit

Printing support

It correctly detected the printer… at least partially:

Description: Brother MFC-420CN

Device URI: usb://Brother/MFC-420CN

Make and model: Generic text-only printer

However, when I pressed Print Test Page, it gave this error message:

CUPS server error There was an error during the CUPS operation: ‘client-error-document-format-not-supported’.

Looking for a driver

http://www.openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Brother-MFC-420CN

They list the following drivers, the Brother driver being the recommended one:

Brother

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/en_us/

Brother CUPS driver

From this page, I found cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.2-3.i386.deb, but when I tried to install this package, it informed me:

Error: Wrong architecture ‘i386’

Other helpful documents:

Installing a Brother driver into a CUPS based Linux system

How I installed it
$ sudo apt-get install csh

~$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture /home/tyler/Downloads/mfc420cnlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb 
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
 package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
Selecting previously deselected package mfc420cnlpr.
(Reading database ... 91978 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mfc420cnlpr (from .../mfc420cnlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb) ...
Setting up mfc420cnlpr (1.0.2-1) ...
mkdir: cannot create directory `/var/spool/lpd/MFC420CN': No such file or directory
chown: cannot access `/var/spool/lpd/MFC420CN': No such file or directory
chgrp: cannot access `/var/spool/lpd/MFC420CN': No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access `/var/spool/lpd/MFC420CN': No such file or directory

$ sudo mkdir /var/spool/lpd

$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture /home/tyler/Downloads/mfc420cnlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb 
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
 package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
(Reading database ... 91994 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mfc420cnlpr 1.0.2-1 (using .../mfc420cnlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement mfc420cnlpr ...
Setting up mfc420cnlpr (1.0.2-1) ...
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libbrcompij2.so.1.0' to `/usr/lib/libbrcompij2.so.1.0.2': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libbrcompij2.so.1' to `/usr/lib/libbrcompij2.so.1.0.2': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libbrcompij2.so' to `/usr/lib/libbrcompij2.so.1.0.2': File exists

$ sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture /home/tyler/Downloads/cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.2-3.i386.deb 
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
 package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
(Reading database ... 91994 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace cupswrappermfc420cn 1.0.2-3 (using .../cupswrapperMFC420CN-1.0.2-3.i386.deb) ...
 * Restarting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd                                                                                                                                              [ OK ] 
Unpacking replacement cupswrappermfc420cn ...
Setting up cupswrappermfc420cn (1.0.2-3) ...
rm -f /usr/lib/cups/filter/brlpdwrapperMFC420CN
 * Restarting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd      
When I go to Printer configuration now, it shows:

Make and Model: Brother MFC-420CN CUPS v1.1 [rather than “Generic text-only printer”]

So at least by appearances there it should be working…

At first, it didn’t seem to be working though. I would hit Print Test Page and it would say ~”job submitted as job #…” but nothing would happen. It didn’t print, and it didn’t show up in the printer queue (“Document print status”).

But then when I tried it the next day, it worked! (And I hadn’t even restarted.)

The Printer Test Page printed by CUPS is way cooler than the one that Windows prints. It has a color wheel, a gray ramp, and 1-degree radial lines. Around the border, it hasa ruler (in both inches in centimeters), which also probably shows you the outer extents of the printable area. Cool!

Brother LPR driver

From this page, I found mfc420cnlpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb, but it also appears to be 32-bit only.

Changing the Print settings of the Brother LPR Driver

No 64-bit drivers

I guess they haven’t bothered to create a 64-bit version yet. (Can I compile it from source?)

Other people who are looking for 64-bit drivers:

Brother Linux Support FAQ for Printer (http://solutions.brother.com/linux/sol/printer/linux/linux_faq-2.html). Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

I’m using an AMD64 bit version of Linux. Can I use the Brother Linux printer drivers? Yes, but please note the following conditions: For RPM package users: If you cannot print, install lib32stdc++6 or ia32-libs. For DPKG package users:

Install the driver using the command option “–force-architecture”. If you cannot print, install lib32stdc++6 or ia32-libs. Also, try copying the file which name starts with “brlpdwrapper” in the ” /usr/lib/cups/filter” to the “/usr/lib64/cups/filter”.

bj8pa06n.upp GhostScript Uniprint driver

http://www.openprinting.org/show_driver.cgi?driver=bj8pa06n.upp&fromprinter=Brother-MFC-420CN. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

This is a set of UPP files for the Canon BJC-8200

Huh? Why do they list this driver on the MFC-420CN page?

Scanning support

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/en_us/

Getting RealPlayer working

I went to a page that had an embedded RealPlayer object in it.
...
It said I needed to install missing plugins.

It gave me the option of a Xine plugin or an MPlayer plugin. (I could only pick one.) I chose Xine. It said I needed to restart Firefox.

Before I restarted Firefox, I noticed that in the place where the plugin should have appeared on the page, it showed a green placeholder icon for the plugin, which I have seen Firefox do before for missing plugins.

I restarted Firefox and went back to that page. Unfortunately, it did nothing. Instead of the placeholder icon or the plugin itself, there was just empty space where the plugin should have appeared.

Also curious is that I don’t see Xine-plugin in the list of extensions in the Addons window.

Getting a bit more advanced

http://www.ubuntux.org/how-to-install-the-realplayer-multimedia-player — marginally helpful

http://www.real.com/linux/ — This is where you download RealPlayer10GOLD.bin from.

32-bit only

Unfortunately, it seems that this installer only works for 32-bit Linux.

But I only found out that that was the problem after doing some digging. The initial symptoms did not point to that problem (unless you are familiar with them already…duh); they were actually pretty confusing, even to someone with a moderate amount of experience with the command line.
# chmod a+x ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin

$ ls -l ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 tyler tyler 5790356 2007-10-24 00:20 ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin

$ ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
bash: ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin: No such file or directory
Weird! And I’m not the only one to think so… I found probably 5 or so places where people had posted questions about this mysterious behavior…

http://www.ubuntux.org/how-to-install-the-realplayer-multimedia-player. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

http://www.ubuntux.org/how-to-install-the-realplayer-multimedia-player#comment-1172,Henk Jansen,Sun, 2007-10-21 04:22

I am an absolute beginner. I followed you directions but every time I get “file not foud”, whilst my own eyes see it on the desktop.Please help.

Yep, it’s pretty weird all right.

Evidence that it is only available for 32-bit:

And you can verify this for yourself with the file you just downloaded…
$ file ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.2.5, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped
Are they working on a 64-bit version?

Can we emulate 32-bit?

http://forums.slamd64.com/viewtopic.php?t=583&sid=9e2781a76102c290e5e719e4dc34cdf3. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

You need to activate IA32 compatibility into linux (but realplayer 10 dont work either after that because of a missing library for me Sad )
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
$ sudo mkdir /usr/local/RealPlayer

$ sudo ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
Extracting files for RealPlayer installation........................

Welcome to the RealPlayer (10.0.9.809) Setup for UNIX
Setup will help you get RealPlayer running on your computer.
Press [Enter] to continue...

Enter the complete path to the directory where you want
RealPlayer to be installed.  You must specify the full
pathname of the directory and have write privileges to
the chosen directory.
Directory:  [/home/tyler/Downloads/RealPlayer]: /usr/local/RealPlayer

You have selected the following RealPlayer configuration:

Destination:            /usr/local/RealPlayer

Enter [F]inish to begin copying files, or [P]revious to go
back to the previous prompts: [F]: 

Copying RealPlayer files...configure system-wide symbolic links? [Y/n]: .
enter the prefix for symbolic links [/usr]: ....
Setting up realplay symlinks in /usr...
configuring icons...
configuring document icons...
configuring pixmaps...
configuring locale...
configuring desktop...
configuring applications...
configuring GNOME mime types...
Configuring realplay script...

RealPlayer installation is complete.
Cleaning up installation files...
Done.
Well that wasn’t so bad!

It even added RealPlayer 10 to my Applications -> Sound & Video menu!

When I clicked on that, it started up the RealPlayer Setup Assistant. That was pretty painless too, and soon the actual RealPlayer window itself appeared…

I went back to Firefox (hadn’t restarted it yet), and tried the page again, but it still didn’t come up with the plugin.

So I checked the source of the page and found the URI of the RealAudio resource (http://….ram), copied it, went to RealPlayer, selected Open Location, and pasted…. And I was streaming audio!

Now to get the plugin to work…

Getting Flash to work in Firefox on 64-bit Ubuntu 7.10

Getting Flash to work in Firefox on 64-bit Ubuntu 7.10 edit

Gnash plugin

When I went to a page with Flash content on it, it said I needed to install missing plugins. It gave me the choice of installing “Adobe Flash Player (installer)” or “Gnash SWX player”. I chose Gnash. It said I needed to restart Firefox for the changes to take effect. But I tried simply reloading the page and clicking play and it worked!

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/

Unfortunately, as of 2007-12-06, Gnash doesn’t work for me to play videos (from YouTube, etc.).

http://robitaille.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/flash-gnash-youtube-and-richard-stallman/. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

… That’s nice for gnash users. Last time I tried it, months ago, it was really not functional for most web sites. To be close to a version usable for a site like YouTube is a clear sign that the software is improving. But I have to disagree with Stallman. With the rapid rise of Flash content online in the last couple of years, combined with the arrival of Flash 9 for Linux (first in beta 5+ months ago), the end result has been the opposite of a big problem for the community of Linux users. Nowadays, with Firefox and the Adobe Flash 9 plugin, Linux users are probably as close as they ever been to be at an equal footing to their Windows and Mac counterparts for the ability to enjoy online content as it was intended to be served. I can’t remember the last time I tried to access some Flash content under Linux and I ran into problems. It just works. The web sites that still creates problems to Linux users are generally the ones not using a Flash base approach, trying to serve media files in the Quicktime or WMV formats for examples that may or may not work with the plugins and media players you can currently find in your typical Linux distribution. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t or don’t work perfectly. You never know until you try to see the content. While it is nice that gnash will be able to be used on YouTube, and according to their web page will support most of SWF v7 features, they will always be playing catching up to the Adobe Flash plugins and this means your typical users can only be disappointed when some web sites don’t work as well with gnash than with the proprietary Flash plugin. In a perfect world all content providers would make sure all their content work perfectly with the free/open-source gnash plugin. But we live in an imperfect world where for many users Flash content working correctly is quite important to their Linux experience, and as such they have to use the Adobe Flash plugin.

The official Flash plugin

Unfortunately, it’s only available as 32-bit at the moment.

http://www.petitiononline.com/lin64swf/petition.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.

To: Macromedia, Inc With the introduction of the AMD 64 architecture, and the recent growth in popularity of Linux, there are a growing number of people out there who use 64 bit Linux. Even with the ever growing number of 64 bit Linux users, Macromedia refuses to recompile the Flash and Shockwave players for 64 bit Linux. Due to this, there is an ever expanding population of people, who instead of seeing Macromedia customer’s content, are seeing nothing but broken plugin boxes. It would take relatively little effort to either recompile flash and shockwave players, or to release the specifications of the swf file format to the open source community. This small gesture would allow the thousands of 64 bit Linux users to access Macromedia customer’s content. For not releasing 64 bit Linux flash/shockwave players, Macromedia is not only causing annoyance to the 64 bit Linux users, but also causing lost profits to companies that use Flash and Shockwave due to the increasing number of people who cannot view their content. Macromedia, please spend the time it takes to release 64 bit Linux Flash and Shockwave players! Sincerely, The Undersigned

How it should have worked:

http://blog.nixternal.com/2007.08.16/flash-and-64-bit-systems/. Retrieved on 2007-05-11 11:18.
[Edited]
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

nspluginwrapper -i /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libflashplayer.so
How I actually got it to work:

Following http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=476924, I tried:
$ sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  flashplugin-nonfree nspluginwrapper
...
Setting up flashplugin-nonfree (9.0.48.0.2+really0ubuntu12) ...
Downloading...
--16:50:15--  http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz
           => `./install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz'
Resolving fpdownload.macromedia.com... 72.246.110.70
Connecting to fpdownload.macromedia.com|72.246.110.70|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3,036,127 (2.9M) [application/x-gzip]

...
 2950K .......... ....                                       100%  157.83 KB/s

16:50:36 (150.10 KB/s) - `./install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz' saved [3036127/3036127]

Download done.
md5sum mismatch install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz
The Flash plugin is NOT installed.
… but got that error /\.

That should be fixed in the package any day now, but I was able to fix it myself by downloading the .deb package, unpacking it with
dpkg -e flashplugin-nonfree_9.0.48.0.2+really0ubuntu12_amd64.deb
, modifying DEBIAN/postinst to not check the md5 sums, and then re-building and installing with
dpkg -b ./ flashplugin-nonfree_mine.deb; sudo dpkg -i flashplugin-nonfree_mine.deb
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/
When I restarted Firefox, however, the plugin was not found. (Go to about:plugins to see the list of installed plugins.)

I’m guessing that’s because the plugin is 32-bit and 64-bit Firefox only looks for 64-bit plugins.
$ file /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libflashplayer.so 
/usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libflashplayer.so: symbolic link to `/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so'

$ file /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so
/usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), stripped
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=341727 gave me the last hint I needed:
nspluginwrapper -i /usr/lib/flash/plugins/libflashplayer.so
I restarted Firefox and Flash worked!
$ file /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so
/usr/lib/firefox/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so: symbolic link to `/usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so'

$ file /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so
/usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), stripped
SSH server

I couldn’t ssh into my computer until I installed the openssh-server package.

Article metadata

I need to figure out how or even if I want to use headings. I could use them for topical organization or I could simply make it a chronological narrative. I wish I could do both. I should do both.

Need an elegant way to resolve duplication between content that I want here and content I want elsewhere… Multiple categories/tags to the rescue…

It would be nice if each section could be displayed as just a summary by default, so people don’t see all my long struggles and attempts and become discouraged. Maybe for each section, just have a summary like “Conclusion: got it working. Difficulty: ***” and then people can expand it (Ajax) if they want the details. But by default, maybe assume people only care if I was successful at installing each of these pieces, and only tell them how I did it if they request that; and only show them how not to do it (my failed attempts) if they request that…

	scaled to use the full screen when in full screen mode?
gl	style=”background: #DDFFDD” yes
x11	style=”background: #FFBBBB” no
gl2
ggi
aa, caca

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[Ubuntu 7.04 (category)]

Choosing a partition scheme: Attempt 1

Choosing a partitioning scheme

Question: Does it matter whether my target drive is sdc or sda?

Question: Which disk should I install the boot loader to?

Attempting to boot

Reinstalling

Enabling writable NTFS partitions

Question: How do I unmount my root partition (/) so that I can resize it??

How do I get sound?

How do I get DVD playback?

Question: Should I move my Windows documents over to my Linux drive?

2007-10-22: Starting over again with [Ubuntu 7.10 (category)]

Links

Success!

My NTFS partitions are writable out of the box!

Getting DVD playback working on Ubuntu 7.10

Initial attempt

Playing Amazing Discoveries DVD isn’t working

Tried VLC media player: DVD (menus)

Tried VLC media player: DVD

Getting Gattica DVD to play

Why doesn’t it work with Totem?

Why doesn’t it work with VLC?

Tried Amazing Discoveries DVD again

Article metadata

Getting display driver / dual-monitor working right on Ubuntu 7.10

After a restart, display is messed up

Restarting in recovery mode

Restarting in normal mode

Restarting in recovery mode

Restarting in normal mode

Another try with the ati driver

Things to try still

Getting my printers working

Installing on Linux / HP LaserJet 1018

It worked perfectly right out of the box… at first

Would do nothing when I told it to print

Installing on Linux / Brother MFC-420CN

Printing support

Looking for a driver

Brother

Brother CUPS driver

How I installed it

Brother LPR driver

No 64-bit drivers

bj8pa06n.upp GhostScript Uniprint driver

Scanning support

Getting RealPlayer working

Getting a bit more advanced

32-bit only

Are they working on a 64-bit version?

Can we emulate 32-bit?

Getting Flash to work in Firefox on 64-bit Ubuntu 7.10

Gnash plugin

The official Flash plugin

SSH server

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