Problems installing ubuntu-restricted-extras

Try re-downloading the Medibuntu keys using the terminal command below:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 2EBC26B60C5A2783

After that, run the terminal command below:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

HTH.

Normally, if you use a player like Rhythmbox and try to play a .mp3 file, the player will suggest you to install the appropriate decoder for the format.

Otherwise, the steps you've taken seem good at first look. The only thing I can say is you're missing the GPG key of http://packages.medibuntu.org

Also make sure you update you're packages list after enabling "multiverse" or adding an repo like medibuntu. To do so just run :
sudo apt-get update

Hi :)

Yes, i echo what Simon & Ian said. To make this whole thing a lot easier please follow the steps laid out in
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Following them 2 or 3 times does not hurt and becomes fairly quick.

Every new install of Ubuntu should run through the whole worksheet to sort out all the multimedia issues in 1 go making sure that all the different issues are covered. Otherwise it becomes something to keep re-finding to re-visit and find where to start from and which part to continue with.

Working through the whole sheet should take about 10mins if you have run through it on another system and don't need to re-read it.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

So...none of these things has solved my problem so far :(
I'm kind of frustrated because I have no idea what I'm doing - generally I think it's much easier to troubleshoot if you know what you're doing and what the error messages mean, but right now I just want to get support for playing mp3s because I will go crazy if I try to keep living without music.

I'm also kind of curious about why all these things are happening to me but apparently don't happen to everyone else installing from the same ISO as I did.

Here's what I've done:

When I did "sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 2EBC26B60C5A2783"

I got:
Executing: gpg --ignore-time-conflict --no-options --no-default-keyring --secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg --trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 2EBC26B60C5A2783
gpg: requesting key 0C5A2783 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key 0C5A2783: public key "Medibuntu Packaging Team <email address hidden>" imported
gpg: no ultimately trusted keys found
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1

and then running "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras" again gave me:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package ubuntu-restricted-extras is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package ubuntu-restricted-extras has no installation candidate

--

When I try to play an mp3 in Rhythmbox, it suggests I install a plugin, but the plugin will not install.

It gives "no packages with the requested plugins are found. The requested plugins are:

MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) decoder"

--

Then I tried doing the stuff on the medibuntu page, which ran and gave me:

W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/karmic-security/Release Unable to find expected entry uni.../binary-amd64/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/karmic/Release Unable to find expected entry uni.../binary-amd64/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)

W: Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/karmic-updates/Release Unable to find expected entry uni.../binary-amd64/Packages in Meta-index file (malformed Release file?)

E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
---
it did that each time I ran it. I ran it three times. (I ran the long bash command listed there, and the "sudo apt-get --yes install app-install-data-medibuntu apport-hooks-medibuntu")

When I go to Ubuntu Software Center and try to install GStreamer extra plugins (which seems to include mp3 support), I get the message "Not available in the current data" and "Canonical does not provide updates for GStreamer extra plugins. Some updates may be provided by the Ubuntu community."

Is there anything else I can do? Ultimately I'd like to understand what's going on, but right now I just want to fix the mp3 playing issue.

I also just tried installing from http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/amd64/ubuntu-restricted-extras/download, but I'm still not having success :( It told me the package was installed, but I still get errors in Rhythmbox, and Rhythmbox still tells me it can't find plugins for mp3s.

Hi :)

That does sound unusually weird. I suspect that there is something wrong with which repositories are getting looked at. Please can you get to a command-line again and try

cd /etc/apt
sudo cp sources.list sources.list.060310

The sudo command will ask for your normal user password, not your SuperUser one and it wont give any stars as you type. The "cp" should create a backup CoPy of the "sources.list" giving it the name "sources.list.060310". Then we can have a look at the file itself by trying

gedit sources.list

and then just copy everything into here. I have a feeling that it is trying to access a mix of repositories for different releases or perhaps it's just trying to access old ones that are out-of-date. This sort of thing only 'usually' happens when someone upgrades but it is very rare for it to happen at all.

Sorry this is not going as smoothly as normal :(
Regards from
Tom :)

Hi again :)

I am wondering if there is something else going on. Please let us know your cpu speed and ram-size. Also when you boot up do you get a boot menu with lots of options for booting into Ubuntu witha few other options too or is there only 1 line for Windows and 1 line for Ubuntu?

Regards from
Tom :)

thanks Tom :)

did what you said, which spit out:

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 9.10 _Karmic Koala_ - Release amd64 (20091027)]/ karmic main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted #Added by software-properties
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted uni... multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic restricted uni... main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates main restricted uni... multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates restricted uni... main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse #Added by software-properties

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu karmic partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu karmic partner

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security main restricted uni... multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security restricted uni... main multiverse universe #Added by software-properties
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main universe multiverse restricted
---
I have 4 gb of RAM. Processor is T5250 / 1.50 GHz.
I'm doing all this after putting a new hard drive in my laptop. After putting it in, I installed Windows XP Pro on one partition, made another partition for some data, and installed Ubuntu in the remaining space. When I start up I get options for Ubuntu, some sort of Ubuntu recovery or troubleshooting mode, some sort of other option (to check something? can't remember, I'll restart after this and see), Windows XP, and a WinXP recovery or troubleshooting.

By the way, installing manually from http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/amd64/ubuntu-restricted-extras/download, when I try to install the extras package in the terminal, I get:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ubuntu-restricted-extras is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-2.6.31-14 linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

And yet rhythmbox still says I don't have the plugin, and won't play mp3s.

Okay, restarted. Originally when I had this problem I was getting just two Ubuntu options, Ubuntu and an Ubuntu recovery mode, plus memtest and XP. When I just restarted I had

regular and recovery mode for two versions of Ubuntu (so 4 Ubuntu options)
memtest
and XP

Hi :)

All the lines starting with ## or # are "commented out" and wont be read by the machine. It s a handy way of leaving useful notes to people that might want to poke around inside the file. All the useful lines are only "karmic" so that blew away that theory.

Also since you have more than 2 lines in your boot menu you have clearly installed Ubuntu in a proper dual-boot with Windows rather than installing inside Windows using the Wubi (which is great for a demo of Ubuntu in the short-term but not great when things like this happen). Again another theory blown away.

The extra option is to check your Ram which it calls "Memory" but i really don't think there is a problem there.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Whoops, I accidentally closed this. I'm still having issues...

OK, this is bizarre, but after I restarted when I went to Ubuntu Software Center and tried to install GStreamer, it allowed me to, and now mp3s will play. Huh.

I think I may have added something to Software Sources (maybe deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted ?) before restarting but I don't see that in the list of software sources currently.

Hi :)

Lol, i was hoping to get a quick reply in to save you the hassle of rebooting lol

Yes as time goes by and you update Ubuntu you will get more pairs of kernel lines. Really you only need 2 pairs, one pair for the current/new kernel and one for the previous one which you know worked as backup in the unlikely event of having a kernel problem. The recovery mode is worth having a look at about every month or so for routine maintenance. It has a nice little menu n a disturbingly blue screen. Just avoid the "fix x-server" unless you want your eye-candy and graphics all reset to "factory defaults"

Ok, my 3 remaining theories are that

1. You haven't updated using Synaptic Package Manager (or one of the others) yet
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto
Really tho it's just go up to the top taskbar & click on
System - Administration - Synaptic
Then click on the "Mark all upgrades" and then the "Apply" button

2. Ubuntu has been given less than 15Gb hard-drive space

3. It's the mysterious curse of the 64bit Ubuntu somehow not working smoothly for no real good reason. I switched to 32bit Ubuntu for this reason which is actually faster on my 64bit machine weirdly, or at least seems that way.

One way to test the 3rd theory is to try a LiveCd session of 64bit Ubuntu, apply the medibuntu to it (maybe) and then try playing mp3. Does it work from the LiveCd?
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Ahh cool :))

Yeh when Ubuntu or most other linuxes need to reboot after some updates they will try to tell you quite discretely and then leave it up to you to choose when want to reboot or restart that particular service. Mostly the need to reboot is avoided if at all possible as it breaks at least 1 of the key corner-stones of Unix. Windows will keep pestering you and makes work extremely tough or will even force a reboot at inopportune moments but linux tries to be discrete

So, is this solved now?

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thanks again Tom!

I wish I knew precisely what had fixed this, though I'm thrilled to have mp3s working again. (And I'm also able to install Banshee now, which I couldn't before.) I've been totally unable to get wifi or wired ethernet working with my installation of XP, so I'm pretty much limited to Ubuntu for now. Internet + mp3s is the bare minimum for computer happiness, and now I have both in Ubuntu, so yay :) Now I can learn about the finer points of Linux without being frustrated about not having music.

I'll try the Synaptic package manager updates. Ubuntu has a bit over 30Gb of space, so I should be fine there. And the 32bit thing is weird. Should I have used a different install since I have an Intel processor rather than AMD? I remember puzzling over that before I burned the disc, but it was a while ago.

Whoops, our messages keep crossing. I think it is solved. I wish I knew which thing had fixed it, but it's fixed, at any rate!

Hi :)

It is often the way of linux that things get mysteriously fixed without ever really finding out why they didn't work in the first place nor understanding how they got fixed. Usually it makes a little more sense because it tends to be after some update arrived. You can help with this even at a very early stage by being fairly quick to ask about things that don't seem to work well, perhaps inspiring someone to develop a package in a new direction.

If 64bit is now working for you then stick with it is my opinion but as soon as something goes wrong it's handy to have something to blame. My 64bit machine uses a couple of AMD cpus/cores ...

Hopefully you should find it fairly easy to save data to your Xp partition so that Xp and Ubuntu can both use the same data. The linux name for shortcuts is "soft links". If you right-click on "My Documents" on the Xp partition then you should get the option to "Make a link" which you can then drag into Ubuntu's "Documents" folder.

Heck, who knows? You might even find better & lossless formats that make mp3 look very passée now. I like Rhythmbox but haven't explored Banshee or any of the others yet. I gather that Banshee is the way forwards and may become the default player in a future Ubuntu release.

One of the best things about linux is that there are countless different ways of arranging things. Hopefully you will continue to develop your own path in linux land. You can always try-out a different version of linux using their LiveCd session
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
perhaps the 32bit Ubuntu, or perhaps something completely different such as Mandriva or Wolvix
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mandriva
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix
Also it is usually possible to try things out in a virtual machine such as VirtualBox or as an additional part of a multi-boot system.

Welcome to linux-land, especially the ubuntu corner of it.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)