Got the GA media feed to work in Linux

Still not thrilled with using a proprietary media format, but first things first. I got it to work. With wifi no less. (And you get to see what my desktop looks like.)

Thursday morning worship at GA, as seen on my machine

Now, how did I do it? Not entirely sure.

I am using VLC — the Swiss Army knife of media players; available for all the operating systems people really use — with the vcl-mozilla-plugin in place of my otherwise fave MPlayer (wth mozilla-plugin for the Firefox browser). There’s a codec (media decoder) plugin I got somewhere, but where? I’ll note it below when I find it.

Back to Fort Lauderdale. Oh, and while I’ve never liked that chalice, I do like the vortex. More vortex!

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

3 comments

  1. Installing the “ubuntu-restricted-extras” package helps with some online proprietary multimedia formats:

    http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/ubuntu-restricted-extras

    This package can be installed using the Synaptic Package installer from the “multiverse” sources.

    Using the Medibuntu repositories will take care of whatever else I need for proprietary multimedia formats and commercial DVD playback:

    http://www.medibuntu.org/index.php

    The Medibuntu “how-to” page provides all the information that one needs installing (e.g. cutting commands and pasting the “apt-get” install commands into a Terminal window):

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

    VLC works very well for DVD playback as well. I installed it using Synaptic installer.

  2. @Steve. I’m sure that’s right. I have the Medibuntu repository active at home and work, but only have the Flash installed at work, so I was going to compare and see what worked, what could be added etc. Thanks for IDing ubuntu-restricted-extras. (Strike that; I do have ubuntu-restricted-extras installed at work ’cause that’s the easy way to install Flash.)

    From the name of that software package and the context of the liminality of the Medibuntu software repository, unfamiliar readers can correctly intuit that Medibuntu is kinda like a home liquor cabinet. Full of things you don’t need, probably aren’t good for you, don’t quite fit in with your ethics, but may still want and are gathered together in one place. Ubuntu Linux users have to opt-in to Medibuntu and some members of the community don’t approve.

    Or perhaps that metaphor’s too extended. Does wanting Ogg streaming media make me a teetotaler?

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