Enable Multimedia bits in Ubuntu

Though xBuntu has been released since April 2008, in my quest to spread the usage of Linux, I usually recommend using Ubuntu as it is, IMHO the easiest to use and setup for noobs.

We can say all we want about how good and well OSS is for them, but if they can't even play MP3s or even play their favourite youtube site, well the argument ain't gonna hold water. So, for the benefit of newbies, to enable the "restrictive" multimedia bits enter in the following in terminal:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

Note key in your own log-in password when prompted for password.

Once that is done, launch the Synaptic Package Manager and select ubuntu-restrictive (or kubuntu-restrictive fro Kubuntu) and click apply.

Your multimedia bits should run now. If you need any additional stuff to be installed, just go back to Synaptic and install whatever that is required.

A great site for starting out with Ubuntu is the Ubuntu Geek site. It has tons of info for server as well as desktop.

Note, the above commands for adding additional software repository works with also Kubuntu (including the KDE4 re-spin), Xubuntu and Edubuntu. However all must be at version 8.04.