how to get libdvdcss and w32codecs through apt

[Corey Burger]

<snip>
> Does there exist, somewhere, a chart that details the characteristics of
> the various names of repo "types":
> - which are supported by Canonical?
> - which are non-free?
> - which are packaged by the community?
> - what draws the line between what is merely non-free, and that which is
> unavailable at Ubunbtu servers?

As Daniel pointed out, that components page is a good start. Aside
from the commercial stuff, there are two pakcages that people go
looking for frequently not on canonical or ubuntu servers: libdvdcss2
and w32codecs. The former is not included because the DVDA sues
anybody that distributes it and the latter is not because it breaks
copyright laws.

>
> This information appears to exist, but it's scattered and inconsistent
> and sometimes hidden from view.
>
> >> While you're at it, maybe then you can help me understand why
> >> un-intuitive names like "multiverse" are used intead of clear language
>
> > Main = the core of the OS
> >
> You're not being a jerk at all, and I really do appreciate your efforts
> and patience in bearing with my questions (which I'm sure come across as
> jerky to some others).
>
> I hope you understand my irritation at the choice of a term that has
> relevance only to quantum physicists and comic book fans. While the
> definition at Wikipedia is appreciated, it's equally significant to me
> that there's no definition of the word at dictionary.com. IOW, it's not
> a commonly understood term like "restricted", "core" or "universe".
>
> My point is that the frequent and common use of esoterica (who the hell
> knows and an "eft" is, without looking it up?) is part of a ongoing
> struggle to be "clever". This is found throughout open source culture
> (ie, self-referencial acronyms such as "GNU") but offered in the extreme
> at Ubuntu. I, as a single person obviously going against the tide, have
> no chance in heck to change this. But as someone who has worked in IT
> for more than 25 years, in large and small companies translating English
> to technobabble and back, in my opinion this kind of "cleverness" is not
> very appreciated in the mainstream.

Most of this "esoterica" is completely hidden from the end user. To
them it is, unsupported software and support software and there are
version numbers, like 6.10 and 6.06 LTS.

Corey