Fill in the blank spaces with ubuntu-restricted-extras and libdvdcss [Ubuntu]

Two simple installations that bring life to your Ubuntu-from-the-scratch, be it Ubuntu 10.04 or versions. The ubuntu-restricted-extras package has been around for years now, it quickly resolves issues like the absence of a Java plug-in for Firefox by installing the icedtea6-plugin atop Ubuntu’s default web browser, Firefox. ubuntu-restricted-extras brings in support for Microsoft TrueType core fonts for the web including; Arial Black, Arial (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Times New Roman (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Verdana (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Georgia (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Trebuchet (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic), Comic Sans MS (Bold), Courier New (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) and Impact.

ubuntu-restricted-extras also installs FFmpeg plug-in for GStreamer (gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg) and GStreamer plug-ins from the “ugly” set (gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly), these two pair-up to bring support for MP3 playback and decoding for over 90 formats like AVI, OGG, MPEG.

You’ll also get unrar, the uarchiver for .rar files, Adobe Flash Player plug-in installer if not yet installed — amongst several other codecs like GStreamer plugin for using MS Windows binary codecs, gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad, gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse, freeware Advanced Audio Decoder and libavcodec-extra-52 (ffmpeg codec library)

To install ubuntu-restricted-extras go to the Synaptic Package Manager and search for it. Xubuntu and Kubuntu users can also install xubuntu-restricted-extras and kubuntu-restricted-extras atop their respective desktops.

What *buntu-restricted-extras doesn’t bring in that you’ll certainly need is libdvdcss2. It permits you to play encrypted DVDs with Kaffeine (Kubuntu video player), MPlayer, xine, Totem-xine, VLC media player.
In Ubuntu 9.04, 9.10 and 10.04 (i386, amd64), get libdvdcss2 with

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Now your *buntu can go to the highways and byways .