still no video streaming

I'm sorry to recommend this on the Ubuntu support site, but your easiest way out is Freespire. It was made for people who want to use non-free formats. Multimedia just works out of the box. Freespire (like Ubuntu) is based on Debian. Check it out at http://freespire.org/

I can only assume freespire is a different linux
distribution. I have to say, with all the trouble I've
gone to here, I really don't feel like trying the same
thing with yet another distro.

If I have all the codecs and plugings, including the
QT, Flash, and so on, then it ought to work, since it
obviously works for other people.

Why in the world would some other Linux work any
better? Just because they have the codecs and plugins?
Well, so does ubuntu, and so do I, and it still won't
work, so its not going to work with some other Linux
either. I need to determine what the problem is,
before I'm going to start chasing distros around the
net.

Maybe my best bet is simply to go back to windows.
With all this talk about Linux being superior to
Windows, you'd think someone like me would see reason
to believe it...unfortunatley, that does not seem to
be happening.

I guess I just don't get to use features that I should
be able to use, and other users can use. Story of my
life, thanks a lot.

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Freespire is indeed a different distro. You won't find me recommending it though. Whilst I am sure it is great, it is as you say just another distro. Potentially anything that works on Linspire can be made to work on Ubuntu. The difference is how much work you intend to put in to make it so.

Fact is for the vast majority of people, making the changes to their system that are detailed on the following page result in video playback working:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

As you have so far only described at a high level what you have done to your system it is very difficult for anyone to know exactly what packages you have, and don't have. Can I suggest you open a terminal Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal and maximise it up to full screen then execute the following two commands. Could you paste the results in a pastebin and not here, it's not too easy to read them here.

gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
dpkg -l "*" > ~/dpkglist && gedit ~/dpkglist

If you paste the results of each into two separate pastebin documents and then paste the links to them in your reply, we can see what is and isn't installed on your system.

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/

On the subject of your throw away command about going back to windows, you could indeed do that. However I just tried installing the released version of Vista on a Dell laptop and out of the box it didn't find my sound card and wouldn't play flash, and wouldn't play most of the videos I have. Not exactly too dissimilar to Ubuntu don't you think? I then had to go round a bunch of thirdparty sites getting the necessary bits and bobs to make it work. There was no central document like the one linked at the top of this page that explained it all. That's my experience though, others may vary.

here is the link to the output of the first command
string:

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/36113/

and here is the second:

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/36116/

I also got this error on both commands before it
opened the editor:

(gedit:5499): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme
engine in module_path: "pixmap",

(gedit:5499): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme
engine in module_path: "pixmap",

(gedit:5499): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme
engine in module_path: "pixmap",

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It looks like your sources.list doesn't have all the necessary repositories enabled. This would lead to situations where software would be uninstallable. It would also mean you're unlikely to have all the codecs you need. Here are all the lines I'd expect:-

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

I would backup your /etc/apt/sources.list:-

cp /etc/apt/sources.list ~/backup_or_sources.list

Then use:-

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

And paste in the lines above.

Update using synaptic package manager or update manager in the System --> Administration menu then go through the following page again:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

ok, I tried to do as you directed. I opened a terminal
and ran the commands you specified. Then I tried to
run the update manager, which opened and immediately
closed.

I tried the Package manger and got an error stating
the the term 'multiverse' in my sources list was
unknown. It said to update the sources list from the
repositories dialog, so I went to the repositories
entry in the menu, and it said everything was
selected. But when iot tried to access the sources
server, it said some repositories were unavailable
either because they no longer existed, or due to
network problems. When I closed that dialog I got the
same error about 'multiverse' being an unrecognized
source. So I was unable to update.

What do I do now?

Also, I noticed something similar about unrecognoized
sources when trying t use easy ubuntu. I can't say it
it was exactly the same, but as best I can remember it
was basically the same kind of thing.

I do not understand this, as I have installed packages
from both the universe and multiverse repositories,
and I HAVE every codec and plugin that can be listed
by the package manager that involves any of the media players.

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In a terminal do the following to find out which one has a problem:-

sudo apt-get update

this is what it said:

E: Type 'multiverse' is not known on line 36 in source
list /etc/apt/sources.list

--- Alan Pope <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2739 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2739
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Alan Pope requested for more information:
> In a terminal do the following to find out which one
> has a problem:-
>
> sudo apt-get update
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
> https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2739
>

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Alan,

I am sorry I have not been able to respond to your
email, but I had a serious problem with my wireless
internet and could not log on for a couple days.

The problem with the internet was two-fold. one
problem seemed to be due to the cable company trying
to stop users from accessing on a wireless system, or
perhaps a problem with a power outage to the router.
But, at the same time, ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) was losing
my internet access at random times, for no apparent
reason. Due to this, I decided I would re-install
Dapper Drake, and once we got the router problem
cleared up, it all looks as if its working fine now.

I don't think I will be having the problem with
accessing the universe and multiverse repositories frm
Dapper, as I didn't when I first installed it.

I have saved every email from the ubuntu help service
though, so if the problem should re-arise, I will be
able to continue where I left off.

I'll let you know if the problem recurrs.

And thanks again for your help.

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