MEDIUBUNTU in UBUNTU

Introduction

Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons (copyright, license, patent, etc).

Some of these packages include the libdvdcss package from VideoLAN and the external binary codecs package (commonly known as w32codecs) used by MPlayer and xine.

Disclaimer

Patent and copyright laws operate differently depending on which country you are in. Please obtain legal advice if you are unsure whether a particular patent or restriction applies to a media format you wish to use in your country.

See Ubuntu's Free Software Philosophy and the FreeFormats page for a more comprehensive discussion of these issues.

Free and Non-free Components

Medibuntu has two components for its repository. They are labelled free and non-free. The free component has the packages for software whose sources are made freely and/or are distributed with an open source license such as the GNU General Public License. The non-free component contains software whose sources are not made freely available and/or are distributed with a license that restricts certain ways the software can be distributed.

Software in the free component are not distributed in the Ubuntu repositories because of legal issues with that software in certain countries. Some software such as Amarok and Kaffeine are distributed through the main Ubuntu repositories but with certain functionalities taken away, again because of legal issues. Medibuntu distributes these kind of packages with those functionalities in place.

Software in the non-free component are not distributed in the main Ubuntu repositories because of the licenses that these software are distributed with restricts how they can be distributed. The software in the non-free component are usually not needed for general use as there are alternatives or implementations in other open source licensed software. Some software, such as Google Earth and Adobe Acrobat Reader, are available directly from the company's website that owns the rights to them.

Since the packages in the non-free component are usually not needed, the instructions in the next section will include a step to exclude acquiring package information from the non-free component of the Medibuntu repository.

Adding the Repositories

Below are the instructions to add the Medibuntu repository to your system's list of APT repositories. These are commands that should be run in the Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal).

If you are new to Ubuntu, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu for an overview of repositories.

Add Medibuntu to your sources.list, as well as its GPG key to your keyring. Make sure to use the correct sources.list that corresponds to your current distribution.

  • Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope": 

    sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/jaunty.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

  • Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex": 

    sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

  • Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron": 

    sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

  • Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon": 

    sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

  • Ubuntu 6.06 "Dapper Drake": 

    sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/dapper.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Then, add the GPG Key: 

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

You may be asked to accept this package even though it cannot be authenticated. This is normal; typing "Yes" means you trust Medibuntu.

Optional step : remove the non-free component

Some people don't want to install non-free software on their computer as explained in the "Free and Non-Free components" section. We will explain how to exclude getting packages from the non-free component of the Medibuntu repository.

You should understand that if you remove the non-free component, you will NOT have access to these packages:

  • acroread (Acrobat Reader -- not really needed because you can use free software, such as Evince, to read pdfs)
  • alsa-firmware -- needed for some audio cards
  • AMR and FAAC support in MPlayer and FFmpeg
  • googleearth
  • restricted video codecs (ppc-codecs, w32codecs, w64codecs)
  • Skype

the complete list of packages is here.

To exclude getting packages from the non-free component of the Medibuntu repository, type the following command: 

sudo sed -e 's/ non-free//' -i /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Installing Individual Packages

Most Ubuntu users will only require a few packages from the Medibuntu repository; nonetheless, it's easier simply to add the repository to your setup as detailed above. The most common packages are libdvdcss2 for playing DVDs and the non-native codecs packages (w32codecs, w64codecs, ppc-codecs) for playing non-native media formats. If you wish to install individual packages, then follow the steps below.

  • With your favourite web browser, go to http://packages.medibuntu.org/.

  • Choose the Ubuntu version you're currently using.
  • Find the package for your architecture in the listing, and save it to your personal directory on your hard drive. You may need to also download any dependencies that are also in medibuntu.
  • Right click on the package you just downloaded.
  • Select Ubuntu Package Menu.
  • Choose Install Package.

Playing Encrypted DVDs

To play encrypted DVDs, the libdvdcss2 package is essential. libdvdcss is a simple library designed for accessing DVDs like a block device without having to bother about the decryption. Some more information about this package can be found at http://www.videolan.org/developers/libdvdcss.html.

Below are the instructions for installing the packages using the command line. For other methods, please refer to Installing Software.

With the entire Medibuntu repository

If you have added the entire Medibuntu repository, you just need to install the package using APT: 

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

With individual packages

If your wish to install just libdvdcss2, you can first download the individual package and then install the package.

  • i386: 

    wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/free/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu4_i386.deb
    sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu4_i386.deb

  • amd64: 

    wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/free/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu4_amd64.deb
    sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu4_amd64.deb

  • powerpc: 

    wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/free/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu2_powerpc.deb
    sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.9-2medibuntu2_powerpc.deb

Playing Non-Native Media Formats

There are a few formats such as certain Windows formats, Real, and Apple Quicktime which do not have native codecs under Linux. To work around this issue, external binary codecs are used instead to play these formats. MPlayer and xine use such external codecs and these codecs are stored in the MPlayer website in their codecs directory located at http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/.

Medibuntu distributes a package which contains these codecs. The codecs are under the non-free component of the repository. If you followed the directions above to exclude the non-free component, follow the steps again to add the Medibuntu repository to your system's list of APT repositories and skip the step to exclude the non-free component.

Below are the instructions for installing the packages using the command line. For other methods, please refer to Installing Software.

With the entire Medibuntu repository

If you have added the entire Medibuntu repository, install the package using APT.

  • For i386, the package is called w32codecs: 

    sudo apt-get install w32codecs

  • For amd64, the package is called w64codecs: 

    sudo apt-get install w64codecs

  • For ppc, the package is called ppc-codecs: 

    sudo apt-get install ppc-codecs

  • NOTE: This ppc-codecs package is currently only available for edgy and feisty. These codecs are also available from MPlayer and can be downloaded directly from http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/all-ppc-20061022.tar.bz2.

  • NOTE 2: the w64codecs is only made for feisty and later, so not for dapper or edgy

  • NOTE 3: the w32codecs can be used on amd64 ubuntu (hardy, intrepid) with the i386 mplayer, but it requires manual installation and forcing the install. The i386 mplayer executable can be extracted (and moved or renamed to mplayer32 to keep it separate from the 64 bit version), and will use the ia32 /usr/lib32 entries and w32 codecs - but updated libraries (e.g. libx264.so.59 v.s .57) may also be required.

With individual packages

If you wish to install just the individual external codecs package, you can first download the individual package and then install the package.

  • For i386, the package is called w32codecs: 

    wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/non-free/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_20071007-0medibuntu2_i386.deb
    sudo dpkg -i w32codecs_20071007-0medibuntu2_i386.deb

  • For amd64, the package is called w64codecs: 

    wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/non-free/w/w64codecs/w64codecs_20071007-0medibuntu1_amd64.deb
    sudo dpkg -i w64codecs_20071007-0medibuntu1_amd64.deb

  • For ppc, the package is called ppc-codecs: 

    wget -c http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/non-free/p/ppc-codecs/ppc-codecs_20071007-0medibuntu1_powerpc.deb
    sudo dpkg -i ppc-codecs_20071007-0medibuntu1_powerpc.deb

Reporting Bugs

Medibuntu has its own Launchpad page to report bugs and request features and other enhancements. To report a bug found in any package distributed with Medibuntu, file a bug report at https://launchpad.net/medibuntu/+filebug.

Donate

You can help Medibuntu with some donation. To donate, click on the Paypal donate button on Medibuntu homepage.

Links

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