Anyone know of Linux distros that come preinstalled with codecs, etc.?

[billdotson]

Does anyone know of versions of Linux that are sold that come pre-installed with codecs and the like (I googled a little bit and didn't find much)? I ask because I overheard someone discussing how they thought it was unethical to use stuff like mp3 support, libdvdcss, w32codecs, etc.

As far as what *I* think about it, I own at least 8 devices in my house that can play DVD movies, and I can play mp3s on them too (not counting Windows XP and Vista which I got legitimately) so I don't care one bit about using that stuff.

[HappinessNow]

Does anyone know of versions of Linux that are sold that come pre-installed with codecs and the like (I googled a little bit and didn't find much)? I ask because I overheard someone discussing how they thought it was unethical to use stuff like mp3 support, libdvdcss, w32codecs, etc.

As far as what *I* think about it, I own at least 8 devices in my house that can play DVD movies, and I can play mp3s on them too (not counting Windows XP and Vista which I got legitimately) so I don't care one bit about using that stuff.
The best one that I have found is Macpup Opera 061:
http://macpup.org/

(Not sold but Free as in free beer ;))

[lisati]

One big difference between the typical DVD or MP3 player and many distros: the manufacturers of the dedicated players often pay a license fee for you to be able to use the decoding technologies, which is included in the price you pay for them.

[dragos240]

Mint. Not sold, but it has codecs.

[llemm]

The best one that I have found is Macpup Opera 061:
http://macpup.org/

(Not sold but Free as in free beer ;))

Medibuntu

[szymon_g]

if you wanna pay for it- i'd take Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop- it has codecs, flash, java etc intalled and working out-of-the-box.

if you prefer to get free product, take mint

[EV500B]

Antix (http://antix.mepis.org/)
Wolvix (http://wolvix.org/)

Both livecds with codecs but don't know 'bout flash though.
PS:Both can be installed!

[Raffles10]

Mandriva Powerpack includes codecs and drivers but has to be paid for.

[jaxxstorm]

Crunchbang Linux (http://www.crunchbanglinux.org) included most codecs by default as well as flash/java etc

[richg]

Mint 7. I use it

Rich

[jonathanysp]

yea Mint seems to be the only free one what comes with the codecs and its based on ubuntu as well! But why not just use the medibuntu repos?

[mikewhatever]

Ubuntu derivatives:

Kiwi Linux (http://www.kiwilinux.org/kiwi/en)
Linux Mint (http://www.linuxmint.com/index.php)
Crunchbang (http://crunchbanglinux.org/)

Non-Ubuntu

PCLinux (http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1)

I am sure there are more.

[Little Bit]

PCLinuxOS (http://pclinuxos.com) is based on Mandriva and has all the codecs and stuff. Now there's a new LXDE version (http://www.pclinuxonline.com/?p=174) of it for low-end computers that runs really sweetly on the old computer at our dance school. The LXDE version is just a quick 300MB download (even smaller than "Crunchbang Lite!") but still has all the codecs, Synaptic, all the cool tools. It's so good that we even replaced the old LXDE/Ubuntu remix at the studio with it!

Amy

[Firestem4]

The Canonical Store sells a Media-Codec pack that you can purchase for a small fee (~$30 i believe). You can obtain codecs that way if you want to Purchase them.

[binbash]

Crunchbang Linux (http://www.crunchbanglinux.org) included most codecs by default as well as flash/java etc

I confirm this

[speedwell68]

The Canonical Store sells a Media-Codec pack that you can purchase for a small fee (~$30 i believe). You can obtain codecs that way if you want to Purchase them.

Why would you want to pay for them?

[armandh]

with OOTB Ubuntu a quick trip to http://www.medibuntu.org/ then the how to repository tab. just 5 copy/paste to the terminal window and everything plays. for flash I go to Utube and click the get adobe flash. from the drop down select the Ubuntu install.

slam wham thank-you and it is done.

these few steps up front beat using semi functioning OSes

[tgalati4]

+1 for minty goodness.

[Oponium]

Why would you want to pay for them?
So you aren't breaking the law? :confused:

[staf0048]

I think there are quite a few, judging from the posts. Not to mention it's relatively easy getting the codecs you need for most distros.

As for the ethical aspect - it's definitely ethical in my opinion, just not legal in some countries - for example mine.

I prefer to let my moral compass guide my decisions rather than the government.

[hanzomon4]

It's not illegal or unethical considering the fact that you pay these fees when you buy the media and in the case of dvds with the price of your computer/dvd player

[handy]

Mint, & it was the most polished & simple install of an OS I've experienced.

Mint-6-Xfce is fast, Xubuntu needs to have a look at what the Mint dev's do I think.

[Nburnes]

Sabayon Linux

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/

[Bigtime_Scrub]

No one has mentioned Dreamlinux.

But for newbies the best bet would be either Mint or PCLinuxOS.

[handy]

Sabayon Linux

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/

I used Sabayon through 3.4* versions as my backup system, it is great, I had to move on because the 3.5 wouldn't handle my hardware anymore, that was when I tried Mint, which serves the same purpose for me.

[gjoellee]

Distros with all codecs, flash and java pre installed:

-Chrunchbang
-Linux Mint
-Medibuntu
-PCLinuxOS
-Ultimate
-Sabayon (not 100% sure,because I have never tried it)
-Moblin (not 100% sure,because I have never tried it)
-DesktopBSD (not 100% sure)

[gnomeuser]

Distros with all codecs, flash and java pre installed:

-Chrunchbang
-Linux Mint
-Medibuntu
-PCLinuxOS
-Ultimate
-Sabayon (not 100% sure,because I have never tried it)
-Moblin (not 100% sure,because I have never tried it)
-DesktopBSD (not 100% sure)

Strike Moblin from that list, they are not shipping patented codecs without licenses.

[stmiller]

Ubuntu stock install with one extra command:



sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras


:)

[ViperChief]

if you wanna pay for it- i'd take Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop- it has codecs, flash, java etc intalled and working out-of-the-box.

if you prefer to get free product, take mint

Have they started shipping codes with SLED? When I bought my T61 last year with SLED, it didn't have codecs. That was something that I was greatly disappointed about.

[t0p]

Ubuntu stock install with one extra command:



sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras


:)

Don't you also need to enable the medibuntu repo and install w32codecs and libdvdcss to get all the codecs and enable DVD playback?

[MasterNetra]

Don't you also need to enable the medibuntu repo and install w32codecs and libdvdcss to get all the codecs and enable DVD playback?

the w32codecs/w64codecs don't seem to be available in medibuntu's repo anymore, at least its not showing for me...

[wojox]

install libdvdcss2 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

[Firestem4]

Why would you want to pay for them?

Because there is nothing wrong with paying for something? Open source doesn't mean everything has to be free as in free beer.

If I could afford to spare the money I would definitely buy the media codecs from the canonical store.

Technically downloading the codecs for w32 and DVD playback is illegal because you haven't purchased the rights to use those. When you purchase Windows OS a portion of that price goes to the right to play dvd's.

Who are you paying when you download from the repo's? I don't have any problem with it..Ive downloaded more codecs than I care to remember.

[HermanAB]

Mandriva Powerpack has everything you can shake a stick at and it doesn't cost much.

[frt975]

Make your own with ubuntu customization kit

[mikewhatever]

Because there is nothing wrong with paying for something? Open source doesn't mean everything has to be free as in free beer.

There is also nothing wrong with getting something for free, especially for personal use. Besides, the codecs in question aren't open source.


If I could afford to spare the money I would definitely buy the media codecs from the canonical store.

Well, you should buy them first, and then advance your arguments. Otherwise it's sounds out front hypocritical.


Technically downloading the codecs for w32 and DVD playback is illegal because you haven't purchased the rights to use those. When you purchase Windows OS a portion of that price goes to the right to play dvd's.

I heard these codecs are patented in the USA, and that Medibuntu repository is located on French servers. Do USA laws apply anywhere else but in USA?


Who are you paying when you download from the repo's? I don't have any problem with it..Ive downloaded more codecs than I care to remember.

Oh, so all that stuff you said before doesn't apply to you? Isn't that neat?

[Firestem4]

I heard these codecs are patented in the USA, and that Medibuntu repository is located on French servers. Do USA laws apply anywhere else but in USA?



If a certain rifle is illegal to own in california, and you buy it in Canada. Its still illegal in California..get the picture?




Quote:
If I could afford to spare the money I would definitely buy the media codecs from the canonical store.

Well, you should buy them first, and then advance your arguments. Otherwise it's sounds out front hypocritical.


How did the "I can't afford it" fly in one ear and out the other?

Because I say that there is nothing wrong with paying for something, and because i can not afford it you call me a hypocrite? Thanks... I never knew that about myself..Think Canonical accepts monopoly money?

[HappinessNow]

Does anyone know of versions of Linux that are sold that come pre-installed with codecs and the like (I googled a little bit and didn't find much)? I ask because I overheard someone discussing how they thought it was unethical to use stuff like mp3 support, libdvdcss, w32codecs, etc.

As far as what *I* think about it, I own at least 8 devices in my house that can play DVD movies, and I can play mp3s on them too (not counting Windows XP and Vista which I got legitimately) so I don't care one bit about using that stuff.


The best one that I have found is Macpup Opera 061:
http://macpup.org/

(Not sold but Free as in free beer ;))

Update: after about a week of continuous use (by the elderly couple I installed this for), I wanted to reinforce that Macpup Opera 061 as being the best choice, if you prefer Firefox simply use Macpup Foxy.

[billdotson]

If you have bought windows (OEM on PC or regular in the past 8 or 9 years) then you already paid for the codecs. If you bought a DVD player or a TV with a DVD player included you bought the codecs for DVD playback. I don't understand why the US has to be so restricted about stuff like that. If I can walk 10 feet from my PC and play mp3s or watch a commercial DVD then there is now way in you-know-where why I shouldn't be able to play them on my computer, especially if I have purchased Windows in any way in the last 10 years. It is absolutely absurd, just like making backups of DVDs or video games. You bought the game, the disc is likely to get scratched eventually and then you are SOL. Good luck trying to find some games or movies years later when they aren't as popular, especially if you aren't comfortable with auction sites or used stores.

It is illegal to get around copy protection on a DVD, but legal to back your purchase up.. what? How does that make any sense (at least I think this is correct)? Does it make any sense for me to buy a $60+ ~7% sales tax for an xbox 360 or ps3 game and not be able to have a backup copy of it, especially when the xbox 360 is notorious for giving discs a nice circular scratch all the way around if the console moves at all while one is on it? No, it doesn't.

Does it make any sense for me not to be able to rent PC games like I do for consoles? No, all the people that steal/pirate games (to play them for free, not to get around DRM or play a short demo before buying it) make developers and publishers paranoid about piracy and now PC gaming has a huge caveat. And guess what? I can still go online if I wanted to and download the "coolest" game right now, so it didn't piracy enough.

The government here is getting even more draconian with all its patent and copyright laws. There are cures to diseases/gene patents being patented right now. There are agricultural seeds being patented right now. I would sure as heck "steal" a gene sequence to avoid having to pay a wad of money to heal my grandmother of diabetes. I would definitely steal some carrot seeds to be able to have a garden in my backyard without having to pay AgriCorp Limited $10 a pack. US law is anywhere from the protection of the consumer. So many things are "leased" now it is ridiculous. Buy a cellphone, it really isn't yours, they are just letting you borrow it until you do something with it they don't approve of.

I don't steal and I try to follow my conscience on what is right (it really isn't that difficult to know what is right and wrong), but some laws are just in place to make you keep your mouth shut and under the thumb of major corporations. For that reason screw proprietary technology and screw the US legal system.

It is so sad to see technology advancing so quickly yet with these advances it is being more and more restricting and more and more an invasion or privacy and consumer (and citizen) rights.

[anunn2001]

If you have bought windows (OEM on PC or regular in the past 8 or 9 years) then you already paid for the codecs. If you bought a DVD player or a TV with a DVD player included you bought the codecs for DVD playback. I don't understand why the US has to be so restricted about stuff like that. If I can walk 10 feet from my PC and play mp3s or watch a commercial DVD then there is now way in you-know-where why I shouldn't be able to play them on my computer, especially if I have purchased Windows in any way in the last 10 years. It is absolutely absurd, just like making backups of DVDs or video games. You bought the game, the disc is likely to get scratched eventually and then you are SOL. Good luck trying to find some games or movies years later when they aren't as popular, especially if you aren't comfortable with auction sites or used stores.

It is illegal to get around copy protection on a DVD, but legal to back your purchase up.. what? How does that make any sense (at least I think this is correct)? Does it make any sense for me to buy a $60+ ~7% sales tax for an xbox 360 or ps3 game and not be able to have a backup copy of it, especially when the xbox 360 is notorious for giving discs a nice circular scratch all the way around if the console moves at all while one is on it? No, it doesn't.

Does it make any sense for me not to be able to rent PC games like I do for consoles? No, all the people that steal/pirate games (to play them for free, not to get around DRM or play a short demo before buying it) make developers and publishers paranoid about piracy and now PC gaming has a huge caveat. And guess what? I can still go online if I wanted to and download the "coolest" game right now, so it didn't piracy enough.

The government here is getting even more draconian with all its patent and copyright laws. There are cures to diseases/gene patents being patented right now. There are agricultural seeds being patented right now. I would sure as heck "steal" a gene sequence to avoid having to pay a wad of money to heal my grandmother of diabetes. I would definitely steal some carrot seeds to be able to have a garden in my backyard without having to pay AgriCorp Limited $10 a pack. US law is anywhere from the protection of the consumer. So many things are "leased" now it is ridiculous. Buy a cellphone, it really isn't yours, they are just letting you borrow it until you do something with it they don't approve of.

I don't steal and I try to follow my conscience on what is right (it really isn't that difficult to know what is right and wrong), but some laws are just in place to make you keep your mouth shut and under the thumb of major corporations. For that reason screw proprietary technology and screw the US legal system.

It is so sad to see technology advancing so quickly yet with these advances it is being more and more restricting and more and more an invasion or privacy and consumer (and citizen) rights.

Unfortunately, your arguments regarding the acquisition of those licenses by virtue of having bought a copy of Windows would not stand up in court as a right to use them in any other OS, in the U.S. Also by definition if you violate the law regarding property rights you are a thief regardless of your perspective. such is the reality od the situation in the U.S.

[jimbob]

Mint, & it was the most polished & simple install of an OS I've experienced.

Mint-6-Xfce is fast, Xubuntu needs to have a look at what the Mint dev's do I think.

+1

I continually read about people's problems getting flash, or mp3, or DVD etc, etc.. working in the Comprehensive Multimedia thread in these forums and wonder why they don't just use a distro like Mint where all this stuff is done for you right 'out of the box'.

[billdotson]

Anunn, I may technically be a "thief" under the US law if I downloaded codecs, but under common sense not even close. Like I said, I can walk 5 feet over and play dvds, mp3s and windows media on my xbox 360. It makes no sense to constantly have to purchase the rights to use media types that I don't choose to use. Just because the US law on copyrights and license agreements says that would make me a thief doesn't make it so. How would buying them again especially for use on a Linux distro be any different than me paying for them originally buying a Windows OEM machine every 4 years, not to mention I can't tell you how many other media gadgets.

The idea of free choice in the technology market is utter crap. The government doesn't do jack squat about it while Microsoft hovers around 90% of the market share most all the time. You can either go with Microsoft, get all types of driver support, games and applications but have an operating system that is relatively uncustomizable, fairly unstable/virus,malware, etc. prone (better go buy some virus software now..) and probably get spied on by Microsoft (I absolutely do not trust my computer being connected to Microsoft any time I am on the internet).

Or, I can buy a Mac for the better part of my year's pay and marvel at how slick and white it is while I edit my hip tracks in garageband. But say I want a choice between the devices I buy, well that is too bad because Apple restricts hardware and software to make their system more stable. Want to upgrade? Better go through the Mac store. What about games on a Mac? Whoops, nope. You have to have a copy of Windows to boot up to do that. Only thing here is it has UNIX underpinnings so it is pretty stable and it has enough applications to keep most normal people occupied. But, want AutoCAD or anything like that? Too bad.

Other options: get Linux, Solaris, BSD or some other lesser known operating system. How much do you want to bet you can't get 10% of your software running on them (good equivalents) or anything that isn't as basic as an ethernet port. Sure, you could download these, but good luck being able to do anything media-centric since Microsoft, Apple, the RIAA and the MPAA have almost everything out there using their special "you have to pay to play this or do anything to this" formats.

So you can either shell out $50 to fluendo to get their codec packs (which I hear work shoddily at best) or download them and be classified a pirate by US law regardless of how many times you have paid for the formats you don't want to use by buying other stuff. Normally I wouldn;t care about not being able to use those file formats. Problem is though is that they are everywhere and if you want to actually be able to use the internet fairly well you HAVE to use them. That is right, you have NO choice. Any mp3 file I buy it goes straight to ogg. Any video goes straight to theora. If it were possible I would use flac, ogg and theora. If a company actually came out with a codec that was very good at compressing or something else useful then yeah, I might buy it, but I see nothing about wma, wmv, quicktime, or any of those other file formats I am just dying for.

I am really quite pissed off at the way technology is going. Everything is getting more and more locked down and big brother like. Sometimes I just feel like saying screw it and not bothering with any of it any more except for typing essays for my classes.

And by the way, who are you, a lawyer for the RIAA or Microsoft?