w32codecs for ubuntu ‘hoary’
The stock Ubuntu repositories don’t include the w32codecs (wmvdmod.dll, etc) so xine, mplayer can play WMV and other formats. Basically the package puts 127 DLLs in /usr/lib/w32codecs.
So, I temporarily added the following line to my /etc/apt/sources.list
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ testing main
And then did this:
apt-get update && apt-get install w32codecs
I then commented that line out since and apt-get upgrade would have picked up a bunch of updated packages from that repository.
Tags: apps, config, General, hp, laptop, linux, tips, ubuntu
September 19th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
here there is a better one (for ubuntu)
ftp://cipherfunk.org/pub/packages/ubuntu/
September 30th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
According to the logs, this is my most popular blog entry.
Leave a note here if you find it helpful. Also leave a note if you *don’t* find it helpful and suggest a URL
that is.
Thanks!
-marc
October 5th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Hiya Marc
The line “deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ testing main”
….. is fine - but I have found out that “testing” should be replaced by “sarge”. Not sure if this is a permanent change……
The second link doesn’t work for me….. just times out.
Take care man
JJ
October 7th, 2005 at 12:16 am
JJ is right, thanks for mentioning that JJ, or i doubt i would have figured it out myself.
BTW this page is #1 when you search for w32codecs+ubuntu on google. :)
October 7th, 2005 at 5:47 am
I put that deb line in the list and then ran “sudo apt-get update && apt-get install w32codecs” but got these errors:
W: GPG error: ftp://ftp.nerim.net sarge Release: The following signatures couldn ‘t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 07DC563D1F41B9 07
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (13 Permission denied )
E: Unable to lock the list directory
got any ideas?
Thanks for the help
October 7th, 2005 at 10:09 am
tod: try `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install w32codecs`
October 13th, 2005 at 2:44 am
To install the appropriate key, use:
gpg –recv-key 07DC563D1F41B9
gpg –export 07DC563D1F41B9 | apt-key add -
October 13th, 2005 at 4:10 pm
Tod,
From a note I finally added to my /etc/apt.sources so I would not have to look it up again:
# keys for verification are retrieved with gpg:
# gpg –recv-keys 07DC563D1F41B907
# and added with apt-keys:
# gpg –export -a 07DC563D1F41B907 | sudo apt-key add -
# (the example is Christian Marillat’s key)
sdb
October 15th, 2005 at 10:53 pm
http://murtog.blogspot.com/2005/10/w32codecs-for-ubuntu-hoary-breezy.html
In this link there is a tutorial to install the package.
October 16th, 2005 at 7:29 am
the repo in the article didn’t work for me, but the one listed by marC did. the line i added to /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb ftp://cipherfunk.org/pub/packages/ubuntu breezy main
then did the:
sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install w32codecs
they also have more up-to-date versions of some other video codec packages.
October 25th, 2005 at 9:07 am
Guys
I can’t this to work. I think it may be due to my architecture.
W: Couldn’t stat source package list ftp://cipherfunk.org breezy/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/cipherfunk.org_pub_packages_ubuntu_dists_breezy_main_binary-powerpc_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
Any assistance greatly appreciated
Graham
October 25th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Yes, as you guessed the problem is those binary-only codecs are only available for the i386 platform.
You can tell because in ftp://cipherfunk.org/pub/packages/ubuntu/pool/main/w/w32codecs/ there is not powerpc packages.
-marc
October 26th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Marc - cheers for confirming that.
November 3rd, 2005 at 3:22 am
i used mike’s explaination and it works very good. But there is still a problem that i need serious answer which i think someone can help me to find answers to it, i have searched but no answer the problem is my laptop is azerty but after installation of the new version of ubuntu ie hoary the keyboard is now qwerty i have tried but no fruitfull result
Any idea about how to go abt is hartely welcome
taran
November 7th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
Working Ubuntu w32codecs
The details in the article didn’t work for me either - some nice dude near the bottom of the comments has got it working (marC). I added this to the /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb ftp://cipherfunk.org/pub/packages/ubuntu breezy main
then did the:
su…
November 10th, 2005 at 11:32 pm
Awesome. Thanks Marc (and Mike), CNN video works now. :)
November 13th, 2005 at 2:41 pm
What about authentication? There’s no indication that these w32codecs are coming from an official source, because they aren’t signed by anyone. Doesn’t this introduce the risk of a trojan?
November 13th, 2005 at 6:11 pm
M, of course you are trusting the owners of cipherfunk.org & http://ftp.nerim.net
are doing the right thing.
Anytime you download and install binaries or source, there is an element
of trust involved.
-marc
November 15th, 2005 at 7:40 pm
Just wanted to say THANK GOD for finding this. I have been working for liek 3 hours and came across this and got it working in like 15 min.
Good job guys.
Ry
November 22nd, 2005 at 1:34 pm
on irc.freenode.net’s #ubuntu channel, the uboto chatbot says this:
…about w32codecs ([w32codecs] binary only codecs that some call evil., and they’re available from http://giannaros.org/public/breezydebs/)
January 15th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
got this working with
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sid main
for my debian unstable box.
see http://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ (scroll down) for help.
January 17th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Ubuntu 5.04 sources have been peeving me off for months.
I like the 5.04 Unofficial faq, but unfortunately very little of it works until you spend hours searching and playing with sources. Someone setup a repo that doesn’t change every three weeks for Gods sake.
I support a lot of Fedora machines and I find answers to be quick and almost always accurate.
With Ubuntu (I like Ubuntu) I find the answers about 95% of the time are either inaccurate or out dated.
Ubuntu is a pretty cool OS once tweaked … but the community seems filled with misinformation which is damned irritating and I can see why people don’t speak favourably of it.
Granted its not the OS, its defintely the community.
I will keep supporting Ubuntu for laptop, and stay with Fedora on everything else .
The information I found here, as typical is not working (either because its out of date I am seeing it in January 2006) or because it was just wrong to begin with.
I could care less either way, I will figure it out.
Yep its a rant .. but I have been lurking in the ubuntu posts a long time as well as the Fedora ones.
The Fedora community just seems like a much more organized group.
January 17th, 2006 at 10:01 am
David,
Ubuntu 5.04 is no longer the current version, Ubuntu 5.10 has out since
October 2005.
My original posting was related writing back in July 2005 when I was using
the older version. It appears that the *unofficial* repositories have changed
since then.
You didn’t mention where you are getting your information. I recommend
the official Ubuntu Wiki — https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ or checking in on IRC in
#ubuntu on irc.freenode.net
May 24th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
Don’t trust unofficial repos (especially packages that aren’t signed).