Full Circle Magazine FR

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Ask the New Guy! If you have a simple question and want an answer that doesn’t require taking sides on the “round vs. square dialogue box corners” debate, contact me at copil.yanez@gmail.com. Today’s question is: Q: I want to watch cat videos. How do I do that with Ubuntu? A: Good question. Nevermind all that tosh about a distributed communication system that could survive a nuclear war. The Internet was designed first and foremost to allow Department of Defense honchos to exchange videos of Mr. Tibbles attacking a potato. Early cat videos were nothing more than ASCII animations that Richard Nixon screened for his dog, Checkers, but we’ve come a long way since then. Now we have a whole universe of high-def movies, TV shows, and dad-getting-hit-in-the-crotch-at-a-kid’s-birthday-party footage. Accessing those videos is the first stop for many of us once we get Ubuntu installed. But, when you go looking for high-larious cat vids, you’ll quickly discover that not ALL videos are available to you. What gives? This is not the America Nixon would have wanted!

Salut, tout le monde ! Bon retour dans Demandez au petit nouveau !

Si vous avez une question simple et voulez une réponse que ne nécessite pas que vous preniez parti dans le débat concernant les coins arrondis - ou carrés - des boîtes de dialogue, contactez-moi à copil.yanez@gmail.com.

La question du jour est :

Q : Je veux regarder des vidéos de chats. Comment le faire sous Ubuntu ?

R : Bonne question. Oublie toutes les absurdités autour d'un système de communication distribuée qui survivrait à une guerre nucléaire. L'internet fut créé avant tout pour permettre aux grands manitous du Département de la défense d'échanger des vidéos de Mr. Tibbles s'attaquant à une patate.

Au début, les vidéos de chats n'étaient que des animations en ASCII que Richard Nixon montrait à son chien, Checkers, mais nous avons fait beaucoup de chemin depuis. Aujourd'hui, nous avons tout un univers de films HD, d'émissions TV, et de séquences de papa-recevant-un-coup-dans-l'entrejambe-lors-de-la-fête-d'anniversaire-de-son-gosse. La première chose que beaucoup d'entre nous faisons une fois l'installation d'Ubuntu réussie, c'est d'essayer d'accéder à ces vidéos.

Cependant, lorsque vous rechercher des vidéos de chats follement amusantes, vous découvrirez rapidement que TOUTES les vidéos ne vous sont pas accessibles. Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? Ce n'est pas l'Amérique telle que Nixon l'aurait voulue !

Don’t panic. All that feline tomfoolery is only a few clicks away. Let’s look at how to get videos working in Ubuntu and where to go for easy, no-hassle streaming on-line. First, though, a quick word on philosophy, because I know how much readers of this magazine like to get their Hobbes on. Ubuntu, like Linux itself, is built on the open source ideal that software should be free to download, modify and distribute. Unfortunately, many of the videos we want to watch are encoded using proprietary software, known as codecs. Codecs are easily available, and, once installed, allow you to watch just about any video format out there. So, why aren’t they available by default? Well, including them would do two things. First, it would require that all users pay a fee for the privilege. Second, it would undermine the very philosophy on which Ubuntu was built and which encourages the smart minds helping in its development to contribute. Are you doing something wrong by installing the proprietary codecs? Um. Yes? No? Maybe?

Ne paniquez pas. Toutes ces pitreries félines ne se trouvent qu'à seulement quelques clics.

Here’s where things get a little gray, especially in the US where use of these codecs is covered under the Digital Millenium Copyblah, blah, blah, and I’ve lost you. Look, even the most ethical examination of the issue would still argue for the personal use of proprietary codecs since you still have to pay for content that’s been encoded using them. And, while piracy is certainly a concern online, all the examples you’ll see below are legal streaming services. Besides, the consequence for not using the codecs is that you’ll have to get your cat videos the old fashioned way, via zoetrope and flip books. At that point, you’re just one pair of aviator goggles and a walking cane away from becoming a character in a bad steampunk novel. So what codecs should you get and what will they allow you to watch and how do they work? Who cares? Remember, this is Ask the New Guy. My goal is to get you up and running without too much mucking about. Let’s just download the most common stuff and move along.

In Ubuntu 12.10, click on the Ubuntu Software Center icon along the left side of your screen. If it’s not there, you can also get to it by typing “soft” into the Dash search field. When the Ubuntu Software Center screen opens, type “restricted extras” in the search field. You’ll see some software called “Ubuntu Restricted Extras” (funny how that works, no?). Click on that and then click Install. You’ll have to give Ubuntu your password to finish the install. Because some of the fonts that are included are owned by Microsoft, you’ll need to click on their EULA (End User Licensing Agreement). I didn’t read it all but you’re welcome to. Pretty sure I owe them my spleen now. Once you’re done with that, you’ll probably also want the ability to play DVDs by typing the following into a terminal window (CTRL-ALT-T): sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh Um, that’s kinda it! I know, everything in Ubuntu is so easy, it’s anti-climactic. It’s like putting together a crack team of operatives to steal the Crown Jewels – only to have the Queen herself hand them to you while she’s out for a pint at the corner pub.

Yes, you may run across some formats that won’t play automatically. The error message usually provides a link to search for and download the appropriate codec. If that appears, do it, for God’s sake! Cats playing pianos, man! So, you’re set up to watch all manner of videos in formats you didn’t even know existed. What’s out there? May I suggest you head over to YouTube and search for funny cats? We’ll see you in a few weeks. While you’re there, did you know you can also rent movies from YouTube? That’s right. Click on http://www.youtube.com/user/movies and watch The ABCs of Death or All Superheroes Must Die. Oh, I forgot, you’re so highbrow, la-dee-da, too good for The Human Centipede. Fine. They’ve also got Wall-E. Happy now? If you have Amazon Prime, you also have a ready supply of FREE streaming movies, including Mission Impossible III and Downton Abbey. If you have problems with the videos not playing, run these commands to allow the Amazon player to update: sudo apt-get install hal cd ~/.adobe/Flash_Player rm -rf NativeCache AssetCache APSPrivateData2 Hulu Desktop has a version that works with Ubuntu, and you can download that here http://www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop-linux. If you’ve been looking to catch up on the adorkable Zooey Deschanel on New Girl, now’s your chance. Crackle.com is a relative newcomer and offers no-hassle streaming of movies and TV shows. It’s not the most current selection, and you do have to sit through commercials, but c’mon, three words: Beverly Hills Ninja.

One last suggestion for you. Check out www.canistream.it. Enter a movie you want to watch and the website will tell you which service, if any, streams it.

Well, I guess that covers it for – what’s that? Netflix? Um, yeah, they’ve been promising native Linux support for a long time now. Thankfully the community has come to the rescue. There’s a PPA which can be added to your list of repositories that will let you watch Netflix in Ubuntu. Run these two commands in a terminal:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop

Voila! You’ll now see ‘Netflix Desktop’ in your list of applications.

Well, hopefully you had no problem setting up video playback in Ubuntu and found something worth watching. Any problems? Let me know.

Good luck and happy Ubuntuing!