Playing DVDs on SUSE and OpenSUSE 10.0
My mission was to figure out how to play DVDs on SUSE 10.0. Due to stunningly ill-considered legislation such as the DMCA, Novell and SUSE are obliged to ship crippled versions of applications such as Xine which make it possible for people to watch DVDs they own. I don't fault Novell and SUSE for this — they are trying to stay in business and avoid ridiculous lawsuits from the likes of the MPAA, Hollywood's brownshirts and enforcers.
Here are links and information I found quite useful.
Useful Links
- The Jem Report: Hacking OpenSUSE — This is the document I used. Update:This article seems to have gone away, but its replacement appears to cover the same material.
- Playing DVDs on SUSE 9.3 — Although specific to 9.3, a savvy SUSE user should be able to apply its instructions to 10.0
Still More Useful Links
- libdvdcss, a library that makes it possible to access DVDs without having to bother with encryption or region codes
- DeCSS offers a method to extract information encrypted with the DVD Content Scramble System (CSS)
- Self-serving FAQ from the DVD Copy Control Association (a/k/a DVD CCA), the people who brought you CSS in the first place and attempt to criminalize making copies of DVDs you own Interesting discussion on the legal aspects of the DVD CCA's CSS