SO... DVDs.

[Little Brown Fox]

In spite of all appearances saying otherwise, my computer just does not seem to want to play them, no matter the video player I use. I want to fling something against a freaking wall (and I almost just swore even though that's frowned upon around this particular community oops; that's how upset I am).

Is it a Linux thing? Do I need something that'll make it work? What do I need? I'm upset; this throws a wrench of considerable size into my plans for the rest of the night. I suppose I could just use my DVD player, but I was hoping I could wrangle some better video quality out of this instead (granted, the DVD I wanted to watch is an old fullscreen version from when that was a thing).

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I have no problems playing DVDs on Linux. I've used variants of mplayer, vnc, and gzine. You do need the decryption library installed but Ubuntu variants should have that by default. Maybe the DVD drive itself has gone bad, can you read data discs?

If the DVD drive has gone bad, they are very easy to replace on the R60 thinkpad. Also fairly cheap as well, and the types made for the T series thinkpads fit in the R series (but not the other way round).

[Earthshine]

I think Tetsuwan is right and that it's the driver itself. I had a similar problem and just had to replace the driver though I don't operate on Linux.

Also it might be a good idea to reboot your system if you have not already.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I meant the hw not the sw driver. DVD ROM sw driver is part of the Linux kernel.

[diehard67]

U need to install libdvdcss2 ubuntu doesn't install it by default where as mint does

http://howtoubuntu.org/things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-14-04-trusty-tahr

Scroll down till u see libdvdcss and fallow the instructions

Code: Select all

echo 'deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable/ /' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libdvdcss.list &&
echo 'deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable/ /' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libdvdcss.list &&
wget -O - http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/videolan-apt.asc|sudo apt-key add -

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

After that don't you still have to use apt-get to install it?

[diehard67]

Yes i didn't see tha rhat wasn't there

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

[Little Brown Fox]

I'm confused; there are no specific instructions for downloading that, at least not on it's own. And I don't think I need any of the rest of that stuff; I already have some of it, like GIMP and VLC. (I downloaded that last night in an attempt to get the stupid things to play.)

Or can I just use that last one? I have a hard time with anything long and/or complex (to my mind) that I don't even understand.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

You need to follow the instructions that diehard67 put in the three lines of the scrolling window in his post. Open a terminal window and type them in. Then add the last part which is

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

All of this will install a missing bit of software, the library that decodes the encrypted data on a DVD to play it. If diehard is right, Ubuntu and Kubuntu don't have that software installed by default and therefore won't play DVD's. Depending on which Linux distro I was using at the time I've had to install that manually as well.

Debian Linux required that. Linux Mint, since it's based outside of the US chose to ignore US copyright law and include the library. I guess Ubuntu and Kubuntu don't include the library by default as well, but it's easy to find and install yourself.


SO: ....
1: open terminal window. (xterm, or something like it.)
2: then ....

echo 'deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable/ /' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libdvdcss.list &&
echo 'deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/stable/ /' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/libdvdcss.list &&
wget -O - http://download.videolan.org/pub/debian/videolan-apt.asc|sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

[Little Brown Fox]

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

I don't know what this means. :T Did it do right? Was I successful, or...?