I recently updated to Ubuntu 9.10. The new Ubuntu version comes with a lot of new packages, including a new version of Java (6.16). Unfortunately, the newest Java plugin from Sun for Thunderbird depends on version 6.15. As a consequence, you’ll get an error message like the one below if you try to install the Java plugin. In this case when you try to open your BankID (which is a Java application). I have had a few problems with BankID on Ubuntu before as well.

Error message:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
sun-java6-plugin: Depends: sun-java6-bin (= 6-15-1) but 6-16-0ubuntu1.9.04 is to be installed
E: Broken packages


To fix it, I removed the java implementation through the following commands (thanks to FrostCake):
sudo apt-get remove sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-bin sun-java6-fonts
sudo apt-get autoremove

Then I reinstalled the sun-java6-plugin through the Synaptic Manager. This will also install all packages which the Java plugin depends on.

I have for some time had problems with flash videos in Firefox on my AMD64 Ubuntu machine. I normally use the computer for work so it has not really been that much of a problem. However, I hate not being able to use Ubuntu the way you would expect it to work … A Google search later, I found these simple instructions. Just follow the instructions and you will have flash videos working in no time. If you want to test your flash player on your AMD64 Ubuntu machine, you may check of EpicBattleAxe video above.

By the way, the new Ubuntu 9.10 looks and feels quite good

Steam - Technology for the future or infrastructure from the past?

Recently I complained about Canal Plus’ C Sports awfully high prices. Paying close to €20 for streaming a Premiere League game, is in my eyes way too expensive. While I am a very big fan of digital distribution I wonder why so many digitally distributed products have to be so expensive. Digitally distributed products are often sold at the same or even higher price as their retail counterparts. The most recent example is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. MW2 was recently made available through Steam for close to €60. Elkjøp, a Norwegian retail store, is currently selling the same game in a weekend deal for 350 NOK (about €40).

A €20 price difference is quite astonishing. Retail products come on a disk which is put into a case together with a manual. The cases are transported all over the world and sold in stores which need to pay rent and their employees. These are all costs which can be cut if the product is distributed digitally.

Setting up and maintaining a server park for digital stores is obviously not free either. However, it would surprise me if these costs are higher than the costs related to printing, distributing, and selling retail products. Moreover, digital distribution should give the developers and publishers added advantages. First, it is so far not possible to resell digitally distributed product. Hence, everyone who wants to get their hands on a product needs to buy it from the publisher rather than through second hand stores or on the private market. Second, by requiring activation of the games through the digital store, the stores may contribute to reducing piracy. Third, digital stores would make it far easier to sell add-ons, extensions, and other products using micro transactions. All in all, digital distribution seems to be a big advantage for the developers and publishers.

However, this is not the first time Steam charges the price of a kidney for their games. I guess we as consumers should look elsewhere to increase the competition in the market. I hope that stores like Impulse and Direct2Drive will increase their catalogs and contribute to forcing Steam into reducing their  prices.

Premiere League action

The Good: C Sports is the services I have been waiting for. I would like to enjoy Premier League football from time to time, but I don’t really have time to watch that many games. Hence, I don’t really bother to pay about 3000 NOK (€370) per year for the whole Canal+ package. Having Premier League games available through pay-per-view is perfect.

The Bad: Like most other paid or rental services, C Sports does not support other browsers than Internet Explorer and Safari on Windows and Mac. Linux is not supported.

The Ugly: The really ugly thing about the C Sports service is not the fact that I have to run it on Windows using IE. It is rather the awful price you have to pay per game. 159 NOK (close to €20) per game is way, way too expensive. Personally, I think maybe about 50 NOK (€6) would be a good price. However, I understand that the Premier League rights are expensive and I could have paid 100 NOK. 159 is just too expensive. I might try the serivce but I am not becoming a regular viewer.

Apparently there is a bug in the Movie Player Youtube-plugin, distributed with Ubuntu 9.04.This bug gives you a message saying Could not open location; you might not have permission to open the file, when you try to open a Youtube video.

Fixing it was rather easy. Have a look at the solution provided by M.Srinivasaverman (thanks man!).