gstreamer upload probs

[garibeet]

I am new to Ubuntu and not that software savvy so be gentle with me
I have just installed 9.04 on my netbook and all is well aside from the fact that I cannot play mp3 files in Rythmbox. Now, I ran it as a livesession from the cd for several days to make sure I was happy etc and had no problems, when I first tried to play it asked if I wanted to upload a couple of gstreamer patches, which I did and they installed etc no problem. played fine as did the mpeg files etc using the same routine(can't remember the actuall patches).

After I installed the same thing happened but when I said yes to the search it had a pop up window saying no files found, is it not possible to download/install once Ubuntu has been installed onto the hardrive?

As an aside, I am running a live session on my laptop with a view to replacing the vista OS as I don't like it at all, and it did the same thing, found the patches, installed etc and all plays well on the machine. Will I have the same problem if I install on this machine too?

thanks in advance.

Gari

[reed9]

Are you sure it asked you to upload stuff? Not download? That would be odd.

Anyway, I've never used Ubuntu's automatic codec downloading tool, but Ubuntu has a meta-package containing all the software necessary to play most proprietary media formats, such as mp3. Open a terminal and type

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

This will install flash, microsoft fonts, java-plugin, and some other stuff as well. If you just want media codecs, do

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-pitfdll

You can also open synaptic package manager and search for these packages there.

You may need to update your repositories before doing this.

sudo apt-get update

[garibeet]

reed9, thanks for the reply. I tried that but got a message saying that the plugins couldn't be found, is the gstreamer stuff on the cd? I assumed it would be in the install.

Thanks again

Gari

[reed9]

Oh, you're using the CD as a repository? No, this stuff isn't on the CD. Because the software to play a lot of media formats is proprietary, Ubuntu is not allowed to distribute it. In most cases it's legal for you to download and install it yourself, though depending on the software and local law, even that isn't always the case. I believe, for example, that libdvdcss, which allows you to play commercial DVDs in linux, is not legal in the US, so technically, you are not legally allowed to play a DVD you legally purchased on own on a computer not running Windows or OS X. Ridiculous garbage of a law, but there you go.

EDIT: To download these from the online repository, you need to make sure you have multiverse enabled. See here for more info on how to do that.

[garibeet]

Hi reed9, thanks for that, did the trick to a point. it searches etc but when I go to install it fails saying there is a size mismatch, after several tries it has now gone back to it's former ways.

any ideas?

Thanks

Gari

[reed9]

Can you try and install from the command line as I described above and post the exact error messages?

[garibeet]

Hi reed9, problem solved. I went to a site and it had a pop up saying I had to upload a package to view the site etc, when I uploaded the package included the gstreamer packages I was struggling with. MP3s and movies etc are playing fine.

Thanks for the input, I am determined to learn a little more on how to use the OS at a more fundemental level, as I am not really a computer guy it's gonna be fun/stressful I think.

Thanks again

Gari