With the release of Ubuntu Dapper, many were the new users who initiated the linux world without any knowledge of how to configure their systems for a complete nirvana experience. Sure the default instalation takes care of supplying the majority of tools and applications a “normal” home user would need “out of the box”, but there are certain technologies which, due to some licensing issues (mostly related to distribution, etc), are not installed automatically.It is with thys type of end user that I present here my recipe. The steps below were performed as soon as I finished the default installation, using the command line. Obviously, the Synaptic Package Manager can also be used for a graphical experience.For a faster and simpler browsing experience, I recommend the installation of the Epiphany web browser:
sudo apt-get install epiphany-browser epiphany-extensions
To add support to some of the default, but unfortunately proprietary, web tecnologies:
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree sun-java5-plugin
During the installation process for Flash and Java, confirm that you accept the terms of their licences, by checking the appropriate check box. To add support for multimedia contents, including MP3 and other video formats:
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
If you’ve seen some the old Clint Eastwood’s movies and have seen
â€Å"The Good, the Bad, and the
Uglyâ€Å", will notice that the
packages gstreamer0.10-plugins-good* are already installed (default) in
your system.
And now, to add support for all other types of proprietary media content
(Ewwww!) which unfortunately plague the WWW world , download the
W32codecs package, pasting the following URL into your favorite web
browser (which by now should be Epiphany, right?):
After downloading it, double-click it with the left button of your mouse to iniciate the installation process. When the “smoke” clears, you should have a system ready for prime time usage! * Thank you Kai D. Lahmann for the tip (comment below). ;) * Thank you Brunno for pointing out my original mistake about the epiphany package. ;) * Thank you slomo for the gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg tip! ;)