Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Science and Technology > Computers
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 07-14-2009, 03:43 AM
 
Location: WA
167 posts, read 516,816 times
Reputation: 88

Advertisements

I can't play videos. Does anyone know what could be wrong. Operating system is Ubuntu 8.04 on Dell computer.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-14-2009, 10:31 AM
 
Location: Rochester, NY
1,293 posts, read 4,982,399 times
Reputation: 369
You need to install the codecs if you have not already. You could also try a distro like Linux mint, it is Ubuntu made even easier, all the codecs and adobe flash are setup for you already.

I may be wrong on the command but type the following in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install w32codecs

it will prompt you for a password.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-14-2009, 11:43 AM
 
Location: Phoenix
674 posts, read 2,546,766 times
Reputation: 273
You should have bought a PC with Windows.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-14-2009, 12:08 PM
 
Location: Cicero, NY
623 posts, read 1,812,992 times
Reputation: 227
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxPower123 View Post
You should have bought a PC with Windows.

I think she wanted a good running operating system that doesn't crash and is virtually immune to viruses
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-14-2009, 12:50 PM
 
Location: Home
1,482 posts, read 3,120,422 times
Reputation: 624
I tried this myself too and I have to say I was impressed (Kubuntu 7.12 I think?).

The problems were simple. Non FAT compatibility, having to run a VM to run games, and no media player that cued nicely (they played, I just could not open more than one at a time).

So I gave up and went back to XP.

Now I am wondering about 7 and what all the hooplah is about......
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-14-2009, 02:04 PM
 
Location: West Virginia
16,607 posts, read 15,553,885 times
Reputation: 10839
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxPower123 View Post
You should have bought a PC with Windows.
Moderator cut: see comment OP already has the machine with Linux. Suggesting Windows accomplishes nothing.

Last edited by Bo; 07-16-2009 at 07:17 AM.. Reason: Careful with the t-word. Calling another member a troll is considered a personal attack at City-Data.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-15-2009, 03:00 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
674 posts, read 2,546,766 times
Reputation: 273
Quote:
Originally Posted by mensaguy View Post
Moderator cut: see comment OP already has the machine with Linux. Suggesting Windows accomplishes nothing.
Yes it does. It saves her from the headaches that she's about to go through. I'm a PC tech and will never go back to Ubuntu or Linux and will never recommend it to anyone. I have spent more time trying to get everything to work on Ubuntu than I've spent cleaning malware from my Windows machines. Ubuntu is not user friendly, one update and the whole thing can break (it's happened to me). Windows is not perfect but it's user friendly (almost anyone can install software on it), it works, and it has better compatability with hardware and software. If she wants to buy a new printer, odds are it's going to work with Windows, my Canon printer couldn't print in color with Ubuntu because of drivers issues. I can go on and on but you get my point.

Last edited by Bo; 07-19-2009 at 11:06 AM.. Reason: updated quote to match original
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-15-2009, 07:34 PM
 
Location: WA
167 posts, read 516,816 times
Reputation: 88
Default Ubuntu

It worked great - thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-16-2009, 06:56 AM
 
Location: West Virginia
16,607 posts, read 15,553,885 times
Reputation: 10839
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxPower123 View Post
Yes it does. It saves her from the headaches that she's about to go through. I'm a PC tech and will never go back to Ubuntu or Linux and will never recommend it to anyone. I have spent more time trying to get everything to work on Ubuntu than I've spent cleaning malware from my Windows machines. Ubuntu is not user friendly, one update and the whole thing can break (it's happened to me). Windows is not perfect but it's user friendly (almost anyone can install software on it), it works, and it has better compatability with hardware and software. If she wants to buy a new printer, odds are it's going to work with Windows, my Canon printer couldn't print in color with Ubuntu because of drivers issues. I can go on and on but you get my point.
Irrelevant. She's running Linux. People come on this forum frequently and tell people to solve a PC problem by buying a Mac or by switching to linux. Same thing. This thread is about linux.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-19-2009, 09:02 AM
 
Location: Marietta, GA
7,887 posts, read 17,145,945 times
Reputation: 3701
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrice View Post
I think she wanted a good running operating system that doesn't crash and is virtually immune to viruses
I agree that recommending Windows to someone who wants Linux was silly, but please don't go to your Linux religion and claim "immunity" from viruses or that Linux "doesn't crash."

My Windows systems don't crash either, and they will run a HUGE amount of hardware and software, off the shelf, out of the box, without downloading codecs or drivers written by a high school kid in their parent's basement. When applications are written poorly and don't follow the SDK, they can at times crash. Since Windows XP, and especially with Vista x64 and Windows 7 x64, these types of application crashes don't take down the OS. Despite the vitiole, Windows Vista is rock solid, and Windows 7 (which I've been using for months) is not only solid, but faster as well.

The difference here is that I have thousands of application choices available and hundreds of hardware devices that work with plug and play or with a ready to use driver. With Linux, I have very few of either, so in order to make Linux useful to real people who just want to do stuff, as opposed to geeks who just want to tweak or prove their tech coolness, I have to use Windows emulation.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Science and Technology > Computers
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:51 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top