Anders Johansson wrote:
On Saturday 21 May 2005 13:03, Sid Boyce wrote:
The libdvdcss that comes with SuSE distros is crippled for legal reasons,
libdvdcss isn't included at all, I think you meant 'the xine/mplayer'
Sure, xine. I'm sure libdvdcss used to figure if you wanted to play DVD's under Linux using xine and it's variants. I now notice libdvdnav that is in the downloaded source is not in the SuSE xine-lib, I wonder if that's the difference. With xine built from sources running, this is all I see. # lsof|grep dvd xine 11696 root mem REG 3,1 597089 452866 /usr/lib/xine/plugins/1.0.1/xineplug_inp_dvd.so Neither the plugin nor libxine.so.1.12.0 seem to depend on libdvdcss or libdvdnav.
DVD decyption is illegal in Germany.
Er, no, DVD players are actually sold even in Germany :)
What is illegal is to distribute a means to decrypt them without a license from the patent holder. It's more or less the same idea as the DMCA in the states. There is no law that I know of that specifically targets DVDs, it's a general patent/copyright thing
Granted, I was thinking - playing DVD's under Linux using GPL software.
It is possible to sell licensed DVD players though, and a few linux distributors have done so. I know TurboLinux did it, and I *think* Mandrake and Linspire have done it too
Both the above distros enable you to play DVD's under Linux. Turbolinux has licensed the commercial package PowerDVD which is obviously not GPL, so is not available on other distros.
That's why you either have to build your own from downloaded sources or use the one from packman's site.
packman doesn't distribute the sources or binaries anymore, you have to get the sources from videolan, and then Packman has the framework that helps you build them once they're downloaded. There is a site in Brazil that has the precompiled stuff.
I've used the Connectiva stuff in the past as they were compatible with SuSE. I've done a quick read of the differences between Connectiva and Mandrake, but I didn't get a clear idea of whether Mandriva's next distro is going to move in the direction of Connectiva or Mandrake, Connectiva being the distro that is way more FSH compatible, you'd think it would hold sway though the rational and the obvious don't necessarily carry the day. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM Mainframes and Sun Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux for all Computing Tasks