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Feisty Fawn Codec Update! Now Autosuggests codec pack when clicking on file

flickr.com — 6 PICS --> Easy as pie now! Just double click a wmv, avi, divx, mp3, etc. and Ubuntu autosuggests the proper package for you to install. Makes it damn easy for new users to watch their media files! See comments for more details.

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  • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -3/+53So now, in addition to having the ubuntu-restricted-extras metapackage, there is an autosuggestion system in place that determines the kind of media file you want to play, and suggests the correct package. Here's some more deets I couldn't fit in the description:

    only universe is enabled for grabbing the codecs, not multiverse. This means this autosuggestion behavior is not activated for H.264 video, VC-1, MPEG4 standard video, and AAC since they require multiverse packages. (this is baffling to me because gstreamer-ffmpeg, which plays aac, *is* part of the universe repository). However divx, xvid, mp3, wmv, etc. exhibit "autosuggestion" and play just fine.

    Also, on the downside, I had to make many many clicks just to go through all the various dialogs. Not exactly user-friendly :( Here's the breakdown:

    1. Double click mp3 file.
    2. Totem loads, fails to play, calls gnome-app-install, and I click checkbox for "Gstreamer extra plugins"
    3. I click "yes" when I am asked to enable universe repo.
    4. I click "close" when changes are applied.
    5. I click "apply" to gnome-app-install
    6. Finally the mp3 plays!

    That's a total of 5 clicks and about 8 or 9 windows I have to go through just to get the file to play. But it's just been recently implemented, so it'll probably be improved in the future. Hope this extra info helps for those interested in desktop usability.

    As a side note, after the autosuggestion is completed, the universe repo is left enabled.
    • schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -20/+10I notice a pattern here, Chuck. Are you a dev/contributer at Canonical? Just askin'...
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -2/+48nope just following the development closely :) I figure people are interested so I'll report things as accurately, timely, and exhaustively as possible. If people like it they'll digg it. I prefer to "make" the news instead of reporting what some news organization wrote up.
    • pufuwozu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21Problem is that there are legal issues preventing Ubuntu making it incredibly easy to install those proprietary codecs. I don't know, but this may be as close as Ubuntu can get without breaking the law.
    • jhaitas, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2this information has been available to the public for a long time... the plan is nothing new... digga just informed us of an advance in the implementation....

      thanks digga
    • jawbreaker4fs, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2I thought they had something like that already, except you don't have to click anything.. you just play the file... oh yeah, it's called VLC
      /sarcasm
    • SimonGray, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"this is baffling to me because gstreamer-ffmpeg, which plays aac, *is* part of the universe repository"

      No, gstreamer-ffmpeg plays - wait for it - mpegs! gstreamer-faad plays AAC.
    • SimonGray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21"Problem is that there are legal issues preventing Ubuntu making it incredibly easy to install those proprietary codecs. I don't know, but this may be as close as Ubuntu can get without breaking the law."

      Important correction: "without breaking the _US_ law". Software patents don't exist in Europe for example. No patent for mp3-decoding, no problem! It's problematic that US patent law is forcing developers to spend time hacking these circumvention measures into the operating system.
    • naz37, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Any idea if this will be available for other distros any time soon? I'm a fedora fan myself but looks like it could be a great feature.
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@SimonGray
      yeah you're right, gstreamer-ffmpeg actually doesn't play aac. I assumed it did because aac is just the advanced audio profile for the MPEG standard so I thought ffmpeg would play it. I stand corrected.

      However gstreamer-faad only existed in the gstreamer0.8 series. Now, in the 0.10 series, it's been integrated into the gtreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse package.
    • pozzoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Maybe there will be a possible "hack" to make this work with multiverse?
  • motang, on 10/12/2007, -3/+27This is sweet one more step to becoming more usable on the desktop.
    • msikma, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Yeah, definitely. I've been asking for something like this since version 4.10, and it seems that they finally got a chance to make it. It's really nice and something you don't have (as competent as this) in Windows or Mac OS X.
    • hobbitaussie, on 10/12/2007, -30/+1For the most part its something you don't need in Windows or OS X either.
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29oh yeah? try playing a wmv on a Mac or a quicktime movie on a Windows machine and see what happens...


      THAT'S RIGHT! NOTHING!


    • TriviallyTravis, on 10/12/2007, -16/+1http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm

      or

      http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
    • euvirtual, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11TriviallyTravis, that is not really the issue. We know there are codecs available. But they are available for linux too, and when someone suggests that a linux user needs to download codecs from somewhere, all hell breaks loose... It's not ready, you shouldn't need to download something, all other OS's play them fine with no downloads (not really... I never understood how someone could say this... My windows installs never play all the files I have) etc, etc.
    • captaineuphoria, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Holy *****, Travis, you're clueless.
  • Snakedal337, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25Bravo ubuntu team! Bravo!
  • captjc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Is this Ubuntu only or is it in kubuntu as well?
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Depends, I suspect they are targeting GStreamer at first so it wouldn't work properly with Kubuntu. They may well do both though. Roll on KDE4.
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6he's right, don't bury him. libgimmecodec only works with gstreamer as of now, so it's a no-go for KDE users. When KDE 4 rolls around and adopts gstreamer, I assume this "autosuggestion" behavior will be in Kubuntu as well.
    • eean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Amarok has had this feature for MP3 support in KUbuntu/Ubuntu for about 8 months now.
  • roxics, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Cool. When is this release due out?
    I really hope they package Beryl with it and maybe add better font rendering/management.
  • chiizu, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2WOW! UBUNTU WOULD DO THAT FOR ME?!
  • MonkeyFit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Awesome. Now, can anyone tell me why my WMA lossless file will play in Mplayer, but not gstreamer? I tried installing the w32codecs and ffmpeg for gstreamer.
    • psylence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10gstreamer won't care much about your win32codecs until you install gstreamer-pitfdll.
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4try gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse , one of those will work I promise :)
    • MonkeyFit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1neither of those suggestions worked. it still tells me in the terminal i don't have the necessary codecs, and i reinstalled them all. Thanks for the suggestions anyways. It was working in 6.06, but not now in 6.10.
  • naio21, on 10/12/2007, -54/+5Amazing how this Ubuntu File Browser interface is a rip-off Windows Explorer...
    • clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30How "revolutionary" can you really make a file browser?
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14Except it's also not a web browser. But thanks for playing.
    • SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -22/+4> Except it's also not a web browser. But thanks for playing.

      Neither is it in Windows (well, not since 98 & ME, anyway). Ironically, KDE's Konfabulator actually is.

      But clickwir has a point -- there really aren't many ways you can make a file browser, and I for one would way rather Gnome copied Windows Explorer than Apple Finder...
    • nauzilus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16@naio21

      Have you actually used nautilus? PIss off troll.

    • naio21, on 10/12/2007, -21/+2When OSS fanboys say that Microsoft is the "Redmond Copying Machine" they have the OBLIGATION of being innovative, not "copying the copier".
    • SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -2/+41Naio: Newsflash. EVERYONE copies EVERYONE else. MS copies Apple. Apple copies MS. Both copy Linux. Linux copies both. Also, all three of them copy from other software. It's life.

      By the same token, NO-ONE copies ANYONE else. Everyone's implementation of features -- even if the basic idea may be the same -- is different, and often, highly original and innovative. In all three OSes.

      Apple does LOTS of hardware and UI research. Microsoft's research department is the biggest you'll find anywhere. The combined innovation input from Linux developers is HUGE. All three innnovate... And all three copy.
    • MrSunshine, on 10/12/2007, -23/+3And not only did Ubuntu copy Explorer, they also copied the taskbar not once, but twice!

      Who the ***** needs two huge taskbars if BeOS manages to have a little box in the upper right corner?
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10"Neither is it in Windows "

      Yeah, try tell that to anyone who types a URL into an Explorer window and ends up on the Net. Microsoft chose make Internet Explorer a part of Explorer since Windows 98, and there it has been since. There is no way to remove Internet Explorer completely from your system (as it's now integrated as deeply as it is), and Microsoft likes it this way.

      At least I don't worry about my file manager attempting to run web content and possibly exploiting my system. I'll stick with Nautilus any day.
    • tiagobugarin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Because Every OS Sucks!
      http://youtube.com/watch?v=NXMOINb3l9s
    • SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1> Yeah, try tell that to anyone who types a URL into an Explorer window and ends up on the Net.

      Hey, if I enter the path of a word document in explorer, it opens Word. Therefore, by your logic, Word is Explorer!

      IE is and always has been a seperate program to Windows explorer in the NT line; it was only ever integrated in 98 & ME.
  • asraniel, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Kubuntu does that already with amarok. But it's good to see that gnome is catching up
    • kwilliam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Really? It'll suggest the packages needed to play WMV, Real, and Quicktime? I didn't know that. (Kaffiene didn't, as far as I remember.) I'm tempted to do a full reinstall just to find out... (Maybe a VMware install...)
    • jbus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This feature will go beyond audio/video files and will extend to other file types.
  • treetree888, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Cool. Now get ACPI working properly on (most) laptops, and we'll start talking.
    • Cbeck527, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13*looks up at panel*
      43% remaining, 37 hours and 23 minutes

      O_o
    • Sheco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I have installed ubuntu on several computers, I really like ubuntu (I used to use debian some years ago), it works perfectly but my dell inspiron 9300 laptop just won't wake up from sleeping, that's a major drawback, I wish it was finally solved. I've tried tweaking the config files and all that.

      Other than that ubuntu rocks.
    • dcherryholmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sheco:

      What video card and driver are you using? A lot of suspend/hibernate problems are caused by video drivers. Fglrx is known to break this functionality, but I was able to get it back by making the following changes to /etc/default/acpi-support:

      POST_VIDEO=false
      USE_DPMS=false
      SAVE_VBE_STATE=false
    • ibis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Get someone to clean up the ACPI standard, and then get manufacturers to follow it in a consistent manner so that it doesn't have to be redone for every single individual laptop that comes out.
  • wildag, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Because it is necessary to use the word "Damn", when reporting on new codec install methods for linux....
  • inkubux, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10This is awesome, however it's to bad that there is some codecs it won't install. Poor little Joe Schmoe who want to watch a DVD or a H.264 movie... I must admit that in windows it won't work out of the box either.
    • BladeMelbourne, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2You can download windows vista now. No bill gates box to open anymore. He's opened a can of DRM on you.
  • beerden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Why not just put a "I live in the US checkbox" that must be left checked or unchecked at some point during the install of k/ubuntu on a box, and let THAT decide whether a "restricted" package is installable during installation?
    • ruimoura, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5That would be really a nice idea. Why the hell do we (Europe) have to get with all the usa law crap ... And they call them selves the "most advanced country in the world" ... yeah, right ...
    • pozzoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That is actually a great idea.... now... where am I supposed to propose features?
    • Aninhumer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Why even have that?
      It already asks you where you live to work out your timezone, surely it could decide from that info?
  • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12please bury me
  • sukimashita, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2At some point it might be obvious to the people in charge (freedesktop?) that there is a requirement for a multimedia framework standard on Linux.
    Big cuddos to x-platform GStreamer constantly getting closer to possibly become such a standard in the future and solve a lot of hazzle for users.
    • ibis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is _exactly_ what GStreamer is. The homepage is gstreamer.freedesktop.org. Title of the page is GStreamer: open source multimedia framework. It's the standard for Gnome, and KDE are adopting it in their next version.
  • nazsco, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Every self respecting distro should ship only VLC for all media needs.
  • lurpitus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Lame. This codec problem has been "solved" in windows environment. MS tries this same thing with media player. It tries to find the correct codec and install it. This will never work 100%. First of all some video files require specific implementation of that codec. E.g. most xvid files play fine when using ffdshow but for some cases you have to disable the support from ffdshow and use original xvid codec. And while ffdshow supports h264 it is very slow so you'll need coreavc if you don't have fast machine. Also when you blindly install codec after codec you will end up with a system that just doesn't work at all when it comes to playing media files. I don't see why these problems would be any different in linux.
    • trogdoor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Because in linux software and codecs are made so that they don't conflict with each other as they are all managed by the package manager, so you can install every single codex available and NONE will conflict, and its not like klite or other windows codec packages, it actually works.
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