[SOLVED] VLC works in Ubuntu 14.04 but only for one DVD no replay allowed!!! :(
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As to logging into a different desktop, on the log-in screen in the top right-hand corner there is an icon for the current selected desktop. (the default is the Ubuntu logo that represent's Unity.)
Clicking on that presents you with a drop-down list of currently installed desktops to choose from.
As to logging into a different desktop, on the log-in screen in the top right-hand corner there is an icon for the current selected desktop. (the default is the Ubuntu logo that represent's Unity.)
Clicking on that presents you with a drop-down list of currently installed desktops to choose from.
glue,
I do have that library installed. There are no desktop choices in the toobar that contains the time, date network connection etc. As soon as I get the cursor near the log in box it takes me directly to kde or unity, but in either case I am a guest that has no privileges (
RE: the desktop debacle is that I cannot type my log in info in the box that is now presented to me.
I have auto log in disabled to allow me to choose Unity or kde, the second I type a p/w or user name, I am immediately taken to the OS as a guest. IE: I cannot enter my user name or p/w. To see the choices between the kde DE and Unity, I must click the 'guest' icon and as soon as I type one character I am taken to the kde DE as a guest!
Only way to even get close to being able to log in is by using ctrl+alt+F2,when I see the background screen ( where the log in info goes) then I can enter my user name and p/w but at the prompt I don't know how to invoke the kde DE.
I've searched but can't find the right code to enter to get to kde as user and not a guest. If I could get back to Unity I'd take kde out or at least try too, but I don't have the rights to do that as a guest.
Thanks!
Last edited by Ifeyegnuhow; 06-04-2014 at 02:13 AM.
Can this possibly be a joke or is it for real? It took so long for kde to install that I makes me think it's a legit command line. Came from a bing search and the ubuntuforms:
I would make at least one change to that and use purge instead of remove in the first part of that command.
I can't say if this is correct, but it would appear to be what I would expect for removing a desktop.
I have to say though that it's starting to sound like there's been a bit too much experimentation with your system. If you can't log in correctly, getting the system back to what it should be my not be easy at all. I would re-install the entire distro at this point. (or another distro as the case may be.)
You say you can login on the command line? What happens if you type 'startx' after logging in?
You say you can login on the command line? What happens if you type 'startx' after logging in?
Glue,
Oddly enough I found that command after I posted my trouble logging on to kde. For whatever reason I can now log on with no trouble, the behavior is exactly like what I was told it would be. Now I can log on and off and change DE's w/o any trouble. Don't ask me how it got solved but it did. In fact I am using the kde DE right now. Only got it working late yesterday.
Fine on changing the line to purge. It's too soon to say if I will stay with kde but I can't for the life of me find the settings that you illusrated to change the settings in ubuntu to ignore notifying when an DVD was put in. Since I did make that change logged in as a guest and tried a DVD it didn't work. But will keep drilling and see if I can find the settings in kde. Everything is placed differently and maybe there isn't a way to change the settings as we did in Unity. Curretnly vlc won't even play a DVD when it's first rebooted like it did previously, nor will it play anything manually. Maybe it's a hardware issue...I know the path statements to vlc are correct.
As far as removing the whole OS I have no trouble with that there's nothing of importance on this os currently. I made it for test purposes and am learning a lot, maybe it doesn't sound like it to you!
I installed kubuntu-desktop and had no problems choosing desktop environments. I kept a record of everything that installed and came up with an even longer list of packages to purge.
I tested the idea out and successfully removed the Kubuntu desktop, however I would not recommended this. It would have been just as quick to simply re-install Ubuntu from scratch.
One of the hiccups with experimenting is that your configuration files can get messed up. This is not easy to fix and usually it's best to re-install once this happens.
However, trying to fix things is always a good way to learn. And Ubuntu usually provides plenty of learning opportunities due to it's short release cycle. (every release comes with some bugs.)
I installed kubuntu-desktop and had no problems choosing desktop environments. I kept a record of everything that installed and came up with an even longer list of packages to purge.
I tested the idea out and successfully removed the Kubuntu desktop, however I would not recommended this. It would have been just as quick to simply re-install Ubuntu from scratch.
One of the hiccups with experimenting is that your configuration files can get messed up. This is not easy to fix and usually it's best to re-install once this happens.
However, trying to fix things is always a good way to learn. And Ubuntu usually provides plenty of learning opportunities due to it's short release cycle. (every release comes with some bugs.)
glue,
I am ready to re-install ubuntu and will stay with the Unity DE it seems to be easier, for me anyway, than the kde one. Like windows I am assuming it's best to simply reformat all the partitions and re-install everything onto a 'clean slate'. It sure won't be a clean install if I leave all that junk behind by trying to install ubuntu over itself.
If you delete the partition/s that Ubuntu is currently using and just leave that space as unused, the installer will format and use that space automatically. (it will still offer you the option of doing something else, but the default option will simply install to the unused area.)
If you reformat the partition, you will have to explicitly tell the installer to use that partition.
Using gparted from a live CD (or live USB) is the most practical way of deleting partitions prior to inserting the install disk. However, the install disk does include a partition editor that you can use. (choose the 'do something else' option when asked how you want Ubuntu installed.)
I don't really like the partition editor on the Ubuntu install disk as it sometimes seems like there is something missing from the HDD.
Remember that your GRUB files are probably in your Ubuntu partition, so if you delete it, you won't be able to boot from your HDD untill after you've installed Ubuntu. (or some other distro that uses grub.)
If you ever plan on removing Linux completely and leave only Windows there, you need to restore the original mbr before deleting the Linux partitions.
I
Remember that your GRUB files are probably in your Ubuntu partition, so if you delete it, you won't be able to boot from your HDD untill after you've installed Ubuntu. (or some other distro that uses grub.)
If you ever plan on removing Linux completely and leave only Windows there, you need to restore the original mbr before deleting the Linux partitions.
Hi glue,
If my grub had been on the default location /dev/sda that the installer wants to use you are correct about not being able to boot to anything. That's the trouble, that way grub is in charge of the mbr too. I chose to not let grub control everything but rather put it on / root. Plus I am using EasyBCD on the Win XP partition to point to where grub is located. That way if grub is corrupted I can still use Windows via the mbr. Conversely if the mbr is fouled up I can still use Linux, via grub. That's what I am doing right now, Linux is gone and I simply booted to Win 7 to log on and send you this message The only boot flag that is set is for the mbr, there are none for Linux.
Even though I used GParted on a CD to format the 3 ext4 partitions one of them still has about 600mb of data in it that I can't seem to get rid of. Any idea what that might be? If all else fails I can delete the partition and remake it, that will surely clear out whatever is on there.
Back up and running again what backup method/program to use?
Quote:
Originally Posted by qlue
I would simply delete the partitions and let the installer create partitions in the empty space.
hi glue,
Back to fooling with ubuntu again this time NO vlc for me, although if you didn't do it I'd like to report it's errant behavior as a bug as you suggested prior. I don't know where that would be however and if anyone would bothere to fix it. I know it failed for you too so it's not just my machine.
The backup program that comes with ubuntu doesn't give me a lot of choices as to what to backup.IE: It just shows me the /home folder which is empty and folders to ignore: Trash and downloads. Where to put the backups and when to do it.Seems like there ought to be more there like / or something. <shrug>
Thanks, in spite of all the misery with vlc it's nice to have Linux back and working again even at the most basic level!
There are a lot of items near the bottom of that page that deal with vlc.... how relevant is this page? I wonder if we/I missed something to make it/vlc work they way they seem to think it should in linux.
Last edited by Ifeyegnuhow; 06-08-2014 at 08:26 PM.
Reason: more questions of course....
Well, vlc works in Ubuntu for me once I disable the 'autoplay' daemon in settings. I don't know why it won't work for you though.
That page you linked looks like the same page I linked to in comment #32 up there. These pages help to bridge the gap between the idealism of the distro maintainers and the practical needs of the end user so yes, that page is certainly relevant.
Beyond that, if you have any other questions that do not relate directly to playing DVDs with vlc in Ubuntu, you should really start a new thread for that. New threads attract more attention and you will get better answers from many different forum members than from just one.
P.S: I don't actually use Ubuntu and haven't used it for a few years now, hence the reason I had to specifically install it to get a sense of what was going on on your side.
Well, vlc works in Ubuntu for me once I disable the 'autoplay' daemon in settings. I don't know why it won't work for you though.
That page you linked looks like the same page I linked to in comment #32 up there. These pages help to bridge the gap between the idealism of the distro maintainers and the practical needs of the end user so yes, that page is certainly relevant.
Beyond that, if you have any other questions that do not relate directly to playing DVDs with vlc in Ubuntu, you should really start a new thread for that. New threads attract more attention and you will get better answers from many different forum members than from just one.
P.S: I don't actually use Ubuntu and haven't used it for a few years now, hence the reason I had to specifically install it to get a sense of what was going on on your side.
glue,
RE: That link >>> Would you suggest as the authors do that I run every command and install all that stuff? It seems like overkill to me but as we know, I'm no linux expert!
What extra libraries did you install to make vlc work in your new ubuntu setup? Or did you simply get it from the USC and disable the auto play? I don't like to have extra things installed that I don't need, same as in windows. Interesting that the link mentions that a lot of people think vlc should be included with ubuntu straigtaway. It can't be that much of a 'dog' if they feel that way.
Ok about more questions in a new thread makes good sense. I will be the first one to say that I got more replies in this forum than another one that I won't name
I can't thank you and widget for all the time you spent trying to get vlc sorted out for me.
RE: That link >>> Would you suggest as the authors do that I run every command and install all that stuff? It seems like overkill to me but as we know, I'm no linux expert!
What extra libraries did you install to make vlc work in your new ubuntu setup? Or did you simply get it from the USC and disable the auto play? I don't like to have extra things installed that I don't need, same as in windows. Interesting that the link mentions that a lot of people think vlc should be included with ubuntu straigtaway. It can't be that much of a 'dog' if they feel that way.
I only added libdvdcss as far as I recall. I think everything else on that page relates to other things.
You may not need everything suggested on that page for your own use so go through it carefully and see what applies to you and what doesn't.
The Gnu philosophy states that software should be 'free and opensource' and strives to ensure the use of opensource standards. However, many 'common' things we use daily rely on propriety codecs and software.
Since most distros attempt to, at least, pay lip-service to the Gnu philosophy, many libraries that fall into a grey area between opensource and propriety are either optional or wholly excluded. This is one source of frustration to the Linux newbie.
The problem is made more complicated by some hardware vendors like Lexmark and Broadcom that ship only propriety Windows drivers for their equipment and won't even offer an api or specification to the opensource community. This makes creating opensource drivers anywhere from difficult to impossible.
Ubuntu includes a lot more options for installing propriety software than Debian does though.
I only added libdvdcss as far as I recall. I think everything else on that page relates to other things.
You may not need everything suggested on that page for your own use so go through it carefully and see what applies to you and what doesn't.
The Gnu philosophy states that software should be 'free and opensource' and strives to ensure the use of opensource standards. However, many 'common' things we use daily rely on propriety codecs and software.
Since most distros attempt to, at least, pay lip-service to the Gnu philosophy, many libraries that fall into a grey area between opensource and propriety are either optional or wholly excluded. This is one source of frustration to the Linux newbie.
The problem is made more complicated by some hardware vendors like Lexmark and Broadcom that ship only propriety Windows drivers for their equipment and won't even offer an api or specification to the opensource community. This makes creating opensource drivers anywhere from difficult to impossible.
Ubuntu includes a lot more options for installing propriety software than Debian does though.
glue,
fwiw I have played a dvd using the program called 'videos' in Ubuntu. You may be interested to know that the behavior of that program is the same as the vlc player. It allowed me to play a disc one time, and after I ejected the disc the drive was locked and I couldn't open the tray!(that's a new bug to add to the mix) But trying the other optical drive gave me the choice of what program to use to play it. I chose the 'videos' one again and it wouldn't open at all.
Makes no sense to me, but if I reboot then it will work but only one time only so it's not just vlc that's cause, imho. I am still trying to figure out what's going on with it. Suffice to say that rebooting allowed me to open the locked drive and play the dvd with no trouble....
Thanks as always
Last edited by Ifeyegnuhow; 06-18-2014 at 08:16 AM.
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