Saturday, June 27, 2009

Watching a DVD in Xubuntu 9.04

After the previous reinstall two months ago, DVDs stopped working.

Here's how I got it to work:

  1. Add the medibuntu repository, if you haven't already
    sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list~   # Backup the sources.list file
    sudo mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list &                  # Open the sources.list file in an editing window
    
      ## In sources.list, append the following two lines at the bottom, then save (don't close it)
      ## Medibuntu
      deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ jaunty free non-free
      ## If you use debtorrent, use: deb debtorrent://localhost:9988/packages.medibuntu.org/ jaunty free non-free
    
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring
    sudo apt-get update
    
  2. Use these two terminal commands to add the correct software (source):
    sudo apt-get install totem-xine libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdread4
    sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
    # Note - this installs the libdvdcss2 package, which is *not* in the repositories.
    # If you use this list of packages to rebuild your system, for example by using a 
    # Jablicator metapackage, it will fail due to this missing dependency.
    
  3. I installed ubuntu-restricted-extras for unrelated reasons. So I don't *think* it's necessary.
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
    
  4. Finally, I got an error message when I put in a dvd:
    "Could not open location; you might not have permission to open the file." This is indeed a permission issue. Fix it with:
    sudo chmod 755 /media/cdrom0
    And then try opening the DVD from within your player application (Totem).

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