PeterFeeling in the dark when it comes to WMV files, QuickTime movies, Real media files or any other popular (but proprietary) media format?
If you're running the latest version of Ubuntu, it's actually pretty easy to get yourself playing all of these formats and more with Mplayer - one of the best media players for Linux, and the Win32 codecs.
First of all, hit Alt-F2 and type in:
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
At the bottom of that file paste in the following lines (only do this if you haven't already enabled the Universe and Multiverse repositories, which you might have done if you've followed other tutorials):
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy universe
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy multiverse
Save and close that file.
Head over to the terminal now (there's a bit to do, but it's copy and paste-able):
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install mplayer mplayerplug-in
$ wget http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/essential-20061022.tar.bz2
$ tar -xjvf essential-20061022.tar.bz2
$ sudo mkdir /usr/lib/win32
$ sudo mv essential-20061022/* /usr/lib/win32
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/win32 /usr/lib/codecs
$ rm -rf essential-20061022
When that's done, restart your browser and enjoy all that content!
