Ubuntu Multimedia HOWTO

NOTE: if you read the tutorial and are still experiencing difficulties and would like help, you are asked to start a new topic on the forums. Please do NOT reply to this thread to ask a technical question. Replies to THIS thread should be corrections and enhancements on the tutorial/howto only. Thanks in advance for your co-operation. LinuxForums.org ------------------------------------------ Ubuntu Multimedia HOWTO Introduction ------------ "Will Warty Warthog / Ubuntu include complete multimedia support?" Ubuntu Linux [1] is a Debian-based, desktop Linux distribution whose name means "humanity to others." The philosophy behind this GNU/Linux distribution and the great selection of packages make you feel good that you're using it. The lack of multimedia support, however, leaves your digital media desires unsated. "We're still working out some of the difficult legal / policy issues involved with multimedia support. Warty Warthog will include some multimedia support, we just need to find out what we can safely and freely do." This HOWTO details the installation and configuration of applications essential to your media enjoyment on Ubuntu. Update It --------- If you've installed Ubuntu, and you should have a fresh install for this HOWTO, then you're already familiar with its default use of sudo. You'll be using sudo a lot. The first step towards an Ubuntu multimedia powerhouse is to make sure your box is up-to-date [2]. $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get upgrade $ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade MPlayer ------- It's time to grab all of the packages needed to install MPlayer. MPlayer is the most versatile media player available for GNU/Linux - video, audio, X, no X - it very well may be the only player you'll need. Let's start with gcc/g++ and other dependencies, and then grab the MPlayer source. $ sudo apt-get install manpages-dev $ sudo apt-get install autoconf $ sudo apt-get install automake $ sudo apt-get install libtool $ sudo apt-get install flex $ sudo apt-get install bison $ sudo apt-get install gcc-doc $ sudo apt-get install g++ $ sudo apt-get install x-window-system-dev $ sudo apt-get install libgtk1.2-dev $ sudo apt-get install libpng-dev Have your Warty Warthog CD handy and accept any extra packages, e.g. the libtool install will also install gcc. We'll use a US mirror for the MPlayer packages and assume you're working in your home directory. Download MPlayer, codecs, English fonts and the default blue skin. Internationalization and slick graphics are up to you. $ wget http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/rel....0pre5.tar.bz2 $ wget http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/rel...040922.tar.bz2 $ wget http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/rel...8859-1.tar.bz2 $ wget http://ftp3.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/Skin/Blue-1.4.tar.bz2 Using the README from mplayerhq.hu [3] as a baseline, install the codecs with the following commands. $ tar -xjf essential-20040922.tar.bz2 $ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/codecs $ sudo cp essential-20040922/* /usr/local/lib/codecs/ Time to compile MPlayer. Issue these commands. $ tar -xjf MPlayer-1.0pre5.tar.bz2 $ cd MPlayer-1.0pre5 $ ./configure --enable-gui $ make $ sudo make install Now install the fonts and skin. $ cd $ tar -xjf font-arial-iso-8859-1.tar.bz2 $ sudo cp font-arial-iso-8859-1/font-arial-14-iso-8859-1/* /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/ $ tar -xjf Blue-1.4.tar.bz2 $ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default $ sudo cp -r Blue/* /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/ Finally, copy over the included conf files. $ sudo cp MPlayer-1.0pre5/etc/* /usr/local/etc/mplayer/ Test your install by launching the graphical version of MPlayer. $ gmplayer QuickTime, WindowsMedia, MPEG, avi - you should be able to play just about anything. Give yourself quick access to MPlayer by adding a launcher to the top GNOME panel. Right click on the panel and click Add to Panel... Select Custom Application Launcher and click Add. Use the following information and click OK. Name: MPlayer Command: /usr/local/bin/gmplayer Icon: /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/icons/32x32.png Playing DVDs ------------ The Ubuntu Wiki discusses restricted formats [4], which includes CSS and DVD playback. To add DVD playback capability to Ubuntu, use the Synaptics Howto [5] to add ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat to your sources list (unstable, main). Then sync your package index. $ sudo apt-get update Grab the infamous DeCSS. $ sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 Add a dvd link and enjoy DVDs with MPlayer and Ubuntu. $ sudo ln -s /media/cdrom0 /dev/dvd XMMS ---- With your video needs taken care of, we can move on the audio portion of our show by installing XMMS. $ sudo apt-get install libmikmod2 $ sudo apt-get install xmms Logging out and logging back in will find XMMS already in the Applications/ Multimedia menu. And there it is - instant Ogg/mp3/jukebox/streaming audio goodness. A Little Perl ------------- For streaming internet radio, you can of course use XMMS. Set your preference in Firefox and you're good to go. I listen to a few stations regularly, and I always have a gnome-term open. With those things in mind, I've found it much more convenient to write a Perl script that uses MPlayer to stream my favorite music. #!/usr/bin/perl -w # mplay.pl - # command line streaming of your fav stations # usage: mplay <channel> use strict; help() unless defined(my $chan = shift); if ($chan =~ /bass/) { system("mplayer http://us-dc1.streams.bassdrive.com:8012"); } elsif ($chan =~ /cryo/) { system("mplayer http://207.200.96.225:8022"); } elsif ($chan =~ /di/) { system("mplayer http://205.188.234.68:8006"); } elsif ($chan =~ /ind/) { system("mplayer http://130.240.207.88:9090"); } elsif ($chan =~ /talk/) { system("mplayer http://broadcast.rantradio.com:9010"); } else { help(); } sub help { print <<EOF; Usage: mplay <channel> Channels: bass - BassDrive cryo - Cryosleep di - Digitally Imported ind - RantRadio Industrial talk - RantRadio Talk EOF exit; } "mplay rant" plays RantRadio's 128-bit industrial stream quickly and without a browser. If you need your terminal, "q" stops the stream, do your deed, and up arrow gets the stream right back (or of course Ctrl+ Shift+T for a new tab in gnome-terminal). Conclusion ---------- Ubuntu Linux is an impressive distribution. Even more impressive is the conviction of the developers. "The most important thing about Ubuntu is not that it is available free of charge, but that it confers rights of software freedom on the people who install and use it." They put their money where their apt is. So as a GNU/Linux user, the tasks detailed above are trivial compared to the decisions made not to include such support. Please support free software developers. Continue to use Ubuntu. Contribute to the Ubuntu Linux community. And watch Batman: Dead End while you're doing it [6]. References ---------- [1] http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ [2] I could not intuitively get Rhythmbox to play one simple Ogg file. So my first step in setting up multimedia on Ubuntu is to sudo apt-get remove rhythmbox. [3] http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/README [4] http://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats [5] http://wiki.ubuntu.com/SynapticHowto [6] http://www.theforce.net/theater/shor...atman_deadend/