At 01:35 PM 7/10/2010, Michael Watterson wrote: > On 10/07/2010 20:20, Dwayne Reid wrote: > > > > What I find disconcerting, though, is that I had to configure my > > ubuntu install to go get those files. My question is: Why? Why > > wasn't that stuff already done? > > > > I >Legal reasons. On all Linux Distros > >MP3 particularly >Ubuntu may have done a H.264 deal though. I guess I wasn't clear enough about what I consider to have been 'undone'. Don't worry - I frequently have that problem . What I thought should have worked right out of the box was that ubuntu should know where its repositories are located. However, the version that I downloaded two days ago and installed onto a USB stick yesterday did NOT know where its repositories were. Its obviously a most common problem because the very first sticky post in the multimedia section in the ubuntu forums told me how to fix the problem - open a terminal window and copy / paste this big long string into the terminal. What would have worked for me would to have had ubuntu bring up a tiny configuration program the first time something tried to access a repository. That could have had custom links for repositories based upon which country the user is located in and provided a one-click fix to the problem. I realize that ubuntu is really up against a space limitation but something like this should be relatively tiny - a few KB. As it was, there was NO indication of a problem other than the application couldn't find the codecs. A non-technical user might just conclude that they can't use ubuntu to play their files - and just give up. I certainly have no problem with applications having to download and install codecs and such. Like you mention, there can be some extremely limiting restrictions about including certain files / utils / codecs, etc in a distro. dwayne PS - sometimes I think that little problems like this are a form of IQ test. Sort of: "Are you smart enough to go looking for an answer? We'll make the answer easy for you to find - but you have to be 'on-the-ball' enough to go look for it." While I don't mind stuff like that (usually enjoy it), the ubuntu community has to look at things from the perspective of a relatively clueless newbie if they want to win converts from Windows users. "clueless newbie" - someone who wants to do something but doesn't yet know how to do it. The kind of people that all of us should help become less clueless and, eventually, not a newbie anymore. dwayne -- Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist