Update - newbie problems getting VLC working

Ok, so now it's been about a month since I installed Ubuntu, and I still
can't play videos or DVD's.

Part of this problem is my lack of connectivity - I only have a ~40k
dialup connection on my failing PC downstairs. I say failing because over
the past few weeks it has forgotten that it has USB ports, and I can no
longer transfer files to or from it. Therefore, I have no way to download
and save new files at home, but my wife can do so for me at work.

I can't even always get on here and read your responses directly. For
example, I posted my last question on the 10th, but there are 3 days worth
of posts missing from this group, including the day I posted. I think this
has something to do with the fact that I'm relying on aioe.org to be my news
server, and at times it seems to act up. I had to go to nnseek.com just so
I could see the responses to my last post. (can anyone suggest a better free
news server for outlook express?)

Anyway, here's what's happened so far:

my wife downloaded the file vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb

I copied it to the desktop on my Ubuntu machine upstairs, from a USB flash
drive

I right clicked it, and tried to open (install?) with the Gdebi package
manager from the file browser

at that point, I got the message

"could not open ... the package might be corrupted, or you are not
allowed..." etc.

Someone suggested that I go to a terminal (took me a while to figure out
how to GET to a terminal, but I finally did) and type "ls -1
vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb"

I did so, and the output was "no such file or directory"

This is despite the fact that I can see it on the desktop, and look at the
properties: location is
/home/everybody/desktop, and it says it opens with Gdebi package installer

I'm rather confused at this point

Someone else suggested that I go here:

[url]ftp://ftp.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/v/vlc[/url]

And download a new copy, in case mine was corrupted or something.
Unfortunately, there seem to be several hundred download links on that page,
and I really have no idea which one I should download!

As I said, I'm a complete newbie here. I can figure out that I probably
don't want anything that says sparc or powerpc, and I know that the Ubuntu
I'm using has Gnome 2.20.0

However, the several links at the beginning of the list that mention Gnome
appear to only be about 2 KB in size, which would seem to be much, much too
small to be the correct package.

Can someone please give me a single link to what is a known un-corrupted
VLC *.deb file that I can have my wife download and then try again to open &
install with the Gdebi package manager?

Thanks so much!

"OhioGuy" <none@none.net> said:[color=blue]
> Someone suggested that I go to a terminal (took me a while to figure
> out how to GET to a terminal, but I finally did) and type "ls -1
> vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb"
>
> I did so, and the output was "no such file or directory"
>
> This is despite the fact that I can see it on the desktop, and look
> at the properties: location is
> /home/everybody/desktop, and it says it opens with Gdebi package
> installer[/color]

Point to the complete path:
<ls -l /home/everybody/desktop>
That should list that directory.
Also, the chances are that you aren't allowed to install as a normal
user. Try:
<sudo gdebi-gtk /home/everybody/desktop/vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb>
for the GUI version or:
<sudo gdebi /home/everybody/desktop/vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb>
if command line is more your forte. Install away.
You will be required to type the password of the first user.
Er, it's probable that the desktop directory is capitalized, too.

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Nice computers don't go down.
Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
"The Barsoom Project"

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:01:48 -0500, OhioGuy wrote:
[color=blue]
> Ok, so now it's been about a month since I installed Ubuntu, and I still
> can't play videos or DVD's.
>
> Part of this problem is my lack of connectivity - I only have a ~40k
> dialup connection on my failing PC downstairs. I say failing because
> over the past few weeks it has forgotten that it has USB ports, and I
> can no longer transfer files to or from it. Therefore, I have no way to
> download and save new files at home, but my wife can do so for me at
> work.
>
> I can't even always get on here and read your responses directly. For
> example, I posted my last question on the 10th, but there are 3 days
> worth of posts missing from this group, including the day I posted. I
> think this has something to do with the fact that I'm relying on
> aioe.org to be my news server, and at times it seems to act up. I had
> to go to nnseek.com just so I could see the responses to my last post.
> (can anyone suggest a better free news server for outlook express?)
>
> Anyway, here's what's happened so far:
>
> my wife downloaded the file vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb
>
> I copied it to the desktop on my Ubuntu machine upstairs, from a USB
> flash drive
>
> I right clicked it, and tried to open (install?) with the Gdebi package
> manager from the file browser
>
> at that point, I got the message
>
> "could not open ... the package might be corrupted, or you are not
> allowed..." etc.
>
> Someone suggested that I go to a terminal (took me a while to figure
> out
> how to GET to a terminal, but I finally did) and type "ls -1
> vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb"
>
> I did so, and the output was "no such file or directory"
>
> This is despite the fact that I can see it on the desktop, and look at
> the
> properties: location is
> /home/everybody/desktop, and it says it opens with Gdebi package
> installer
>
> I'm rather confused at this point
>
> Someone else suggested that I go here:
>
> [url]ftp://ftp.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/v/vlc[/url]
>
> And download a new copy, in case mine was corrupted or something.
> Unfortunately, there seem to be several hundred download links on that
> page, and I really have no idea which one I should download!
>
> As I said, I'm a complete newbie here. I can figure out that I
> probably
> don't want anything that says sparc or powerpc, and I know that the
> Ubuntu I'm using has Gnome 2.20.0
>
> However, the several links at the beginning of the list that mention
> Gnome
> appear to only be about 2 KB in size, which would seem to be much, much
> too small to be the correct package.
>
> Can someone please give me a single link to what is a known
> un-corrupted
> VLC *.deb file that I can have my wife download and then try again to
> open & install with the Gdebi package manager?
>
> Thanks so much![/color]

Check this out:
[url]http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=661833[/url]
follow it through carefully!

Frankly, if you do not have an internet connection of some speed be
prepared for some long downloads via a dialup.

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:01:48 -0500, OhioGuy wrote:
[color=blue]
> Ok, so now it's been about a month since I installed Ubuntu, and I still
> can't play videos or DVD's.
>
> Part of this problem is my lack of connectivity - I only have a ~40k
> dialup connection on my failing PC downstairs. I say failing because
> over the past few weeks it has forgotten that it has USB ports, and I
> can no longer transfer files to or from it. Therefore, I have no way to
> download and save new files at home, but my wife can do so for me at
> work.[/color]

I think you are bound to be frustrated until you can get your ubuntu
machine on the Internet. You can pick up an external modem on ebay for
$10-$15 inc. shipping, and this would be a good solution if your ubuntu
machine has a serial port.

You might be able to get an internal card modem free if you know where to
find junked out PCs.

Once you are on the Internet, you can use Synaptic Package Mgr. to
install the components you want, and it will know which other files are
necessary to satisfy all the dependencies... which is where I have run
into problems when I have tried to download/install .deb files without
using Synaptic or Apt.

Optimizing your system via modem will be slow, but it will be so much
easier than what you are trying to do now.

Good luck.

Charlie

>I think you are bound to be frustrated until you can get >your ubuntu[color=blue]
>machine on the Internet. You can pick up >an external modem on ebay for[/color]

It's not going to happen - my wife made me promise that she wouldn't have
to compete with the Internet for my attention in the bedroom. :-)

> [url]http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=661833[/url][color=blue]
> follow it through carefully![/color]

Unfortunately, most of what I'm seeing there appears to be way above where
I am now. I was hoping that installing VLC Media Player in Ubuntu would be
as simple as installing it in Windows XP - in other words, downloading the 9
Megabyte file, then double clicking on it. So far, my experience with doing
what I thought was a very simple task in Ubuntu has turned out to be more of
a nightmare.

[color=blue]
> Frankly, if you do not have an internet connection of >some speed be
> prepared for some long downloads via[/color]

I only have dialup at home on my XP only machine. However, my wife has T1
speed access at work, and can download 1 or 2 specific files from links I
send her to a USB flash drive.

Hence, I can't just have the Ubuntu machine get online and look for
whatever it might want/need. I wouldn't want it to be able to anyway, since
I want that machine to be completely offline. However, I can easily
download 1 or 2 large files to install from the USB flash drive.

Can anyone please tell me why installing the same exact program in Linux
seems to be so much more difficult than it is in XP? The only guess I might
make would be that there are so many versions of Linux out there, and no
standard way of installing?

OhioGuy wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
>> I think you are bound to be frustrated until you can get >your ubuntu
>> machine on the Internet. You can pick up >an external modem on ebay for[/color]
>
> It's not going to happen - my wife made me promise that she wouldn't have
> to compete with the Internet for my attention in the bedroom. :-)
>
>[/color]

You can't have your cake and eat it too. The best way to install
programs in Ubuntu is through Add/Remove or Synaptic and you have to be
on line to do it.

Alias

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:01:48 -0500, OhioGuy wrote:
[color=blue]
> Ok, so now it's been about a month since I installed Ubuntu, and I still
> can't play videos or DVD's.
>
> Part of this problem is my lack of connectivity - I only have a ~40k
> dialup connection on my failing PC downstairs. I say failing because over
> the past few weeks it has forgotten that it has USB ports, and I can no
> longer transfer files to or from it.[/color]

Put a PCI USB card in it.

OhioGuy schreef:[color=blue][color=green]
>> [url]http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=661833[/url]
>> follow it through carefully![/color]
>
> Unfortunately, most of what I'm seeing there appears to be way above where
> I am now. I was hoping that installing VLC Media Player in Ubuntu would be
> as simple as installing it in Windows XP - in other words, downloading the 9
> Megabyte file, then double clicking on it. So far, my experience with doing
> what I thought was a very simple task in Ubuntu has turned out to be more of
> a nightmare.[/color]

In Ubuntu it is generally very easy to add programs thanks to the
package manager (synaptic etc.) and the excellent on line repositories.[color=blue]
>
>[color=green]
>> Frankly, if you do not have an internet connection of >some speed be
>> prepared for some long downloads via[/color]
>
> I only have dialup at home on my XP only machine. However, my wife has T1
> speed access at work, and can download 1 or 2 specific files from links I
> send her to a USB flash drive.[/color]

Get her to download the DVD and add it to the repositories on your machine.
It will allow you to install most applications with additional downloads.[color=blue]
>
> Hence, I can't just have the Ubuntu machine get online and look for
> whatever it might want/need. I wouldn't want it to be able to anyway, since
> I want that machine to be completely offline. However, I can easily
> download 1 or 2 large files to install from the USB flash drive.[/color]

I'd take the XP machine offline, it is so much more unsafe than a Linux
machine.[color=blue]
>
> Can anyone please tell me why installing the same exact program in Linux
> seems to be so much more difficult than it is in XP? The only guess I might
> make would be that there are so many versions of Linux out there, and no
> standard way of installing?[/color]

Linux applications often have 'dependencies', meaning the program needs
certain libraries and they are not always present so need additional
downloads.
The package manager automatically decides what else needs to be
downloaded and installed.

These dependencies can be fulfilled by either a network connection or a
full distribution on DVD.[color=blue]
>
>
>[/color]

On 2008-02-15, OhioGuy <none@none.net> wrote:[color=blue]
> Ok, so now it's been about a month since I installed Ubuntu, and I still
> can't play videos or DVD's.[/color]

....
[color=blue]
> my wife downloaded the file vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb
>
> I copied it to the desktop on my Ubuntu machine upstairs, from a USB flash
> drive
>
> I right clicked it, and tried to open (install?) with the Gdebi package
> manager from the file browser[/color]

just for the record, this package looks like it was built for ARM
processors

jane@elfin:~/Desktop$ dpkg -I vlc_0.8.6-1_armel.deb
new debian package, version 2.0.
size 13672718 bytes: control archive= 12358 bytes.
1103 bytes, 14 lines control
31122 bytes, 415 lines md5sums
Package: vlc
Version: 0.8.6-1
Section: Extras
Priority: extra
Architecture: armel

....
[color=blue]
> I'm rather confused at this point
>
> Someone else suggested that I go here:
>
> [url]ftp://ftp.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/v/vlc[/url]
>
> And download a new copy, in case mine was corrupted or something.
> Unfortunately, there seem to be several hundred download links on that page,
> and I really have no idea which one I should download!
>
> As I said, I'm a complete newbie here. I can figure out that I probably
> don't want anything that says sparc or powerpc, and I know that the Ubuntu
> I'm using has Gnome 2.20.0[/color]

guessing but an i386 package should be ok.
[color=blue]
> Can someone please give me a single link to what is a known un-corrupted
> VLC *.deb file that I can have my wife download and then try again to open &
> install with the Gdebi package manager?[/color]

Not quite what you asked for, but I would agree with the suggestion
you got elsewhere about getting a full CD/DVD set as your best
approach for a machine that is kept isolated from the internet.

An unrecommended approach (and potentially a *very* complicated
process that ends in dependancy hell), is to go to
[url]http://packages.ubuntu.com[/url]
search for ->vlc ->your version of ubuntu
You get a link to download the vlc _package_.deb (again it's
probably the i386 link in your case) which your partner can
download. You also get a list of dependencies that the vlc
_package_.deb requires, and if you continue with the download you'll
get warnings that you should use another way of installing software.
If after downloading and trying to install the vlc _package_.deb it
fails then you need to look at the dependencies (they're all
linked on the packages .ubuntu website) and install them as necessary.
It is probably easiest to use the synaptic search function
to check which versions of the dependencies you have installed (even
though you are not going to use synaptic to install anything.)
eg. start synaptic, search, enter eg libx11-6 -> check the version you
have against the version required by the vlc _package_.deb, exit
synaptic.
[color=blue]
> Thanks so much![/color]
good luck

--
l'air du temps