You have gotten your computer all set up with Linux, you have worked all day playing (and possibly breaking) different parts of it, and now you just want to relax and watch a movie on your newly rejuvenated computer. You pop in the dvd, your media player of choice (or just the default one) pops up, and… nothing happens. You try installing another media player (vlc perhaps) you take out the dvd to see if it is scratched, maybe it is dusty. Nah, it looks fine, so you put it back in the drive, start it up with the newly installed player and… once again, nothing seems to happen at an alarming rate (your new install is really peppy).

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Instead of giving up on Linux entirely and reaching for the comfortable shores of Windows or Apple (where you know for certain you will be able to play DVDs…), you do a bit of poking around and realise that it is not in fact Linux’s fault that you cannot play DVDs, it is because the disck is encrypted. Reading encrypted disks is a right that Apple, and Microsoft pay for (don’t worry, the cost is moved on to the you consumer) because it is a proprietary protection format. This means that to be legal everywhere, Ubuntu (and most other versions of Linux) would have to pay for the rights to use the software (that is my understanding anyway).

If you cannot play DVD movies, your install of Linux is most likely missing these libraries. They available in most repositories (and on some websites) free of charge because in some countries it is not illegal to use, and the laws in some countries should not hinder the legal use of them in others. If you are in one of these countries then you are in luck, otherwise, I am telling you that you should go buy a dvd player and watch your movies on a Television. Neither I, nor this site will be held liable for your breaking the law. Before you install the packages required, please make sure that you are in one of the countries that their use is legal.

If you are sure that you are in one of the safe countries (hint, America is not one of them), all you have to do is open up synaptic and install gxine, libdvdcss2, libdvdnav4, libdvdplay0, and libdvdread3. And voila, your DVDs should play no problem. Of course, if you are watching dvds that have not been encrypted, you will not have run into this problem. Yes it is possible to buy DVDs that are not encrypted.

[1] More information about deCSS and its legality

[2] An haiku for those among us who are nerdy enough… (I don’t think that linking to a poem is illegal)

Ok, so I lied, I didn’t write about Virtual machines this time…

Written by: SeanJA (Click link to view their site)