bootable distro that plays restricted formats?

Thomas Milne tbrucemilne-TcoXwbchSccMMYnvST3LeUB+6BGkLq7r at public.gmane.org
Thu Apr 15 17:12:30 UTC 2010


On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 12:17 PM, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 1:14 AM, Thomas Milne
> <tbrucemilne-TcoXwbchSccMMYnvST3LeUB+6BGkLq7r at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> I need a bootable distro that will allow me to play the restricted
>> formats without installing any software. Does any such thing exist?
>> Any discs I've tried of course will not play the standard avi format
>> or mp3.
>>
>> From what I've been reading, it looks more like I would have to create
>> a custom bootable disc or USB key. If so, can someone point me to one
>> that was dead easy setup routine they've found? I've looked at
>> UNetbootin, but I can't see anything in there for restricted
>> multimedia support.
>
> This sounds like a job for Morphix, which is a variant of Knoppix
> intended to enable creating custom bootable distribution disks.
>
> Unfortunately, you're asking for something that's inherently dangerous
> for distribution makers to directly support.  The codecs for MP3 and
> AVI include components where there are patent claims.  MP3 has a
> surprisingly longer set than I'd have expected; see
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3#Licensing_and_patent_issues>
>
> "In short, with Thomson, Fraunhofer IIS,[52] Sisvel (and its U.S.
> subsidiary Audio MPEG),[53] Texas MP3 Technologies, and
> Alcatel-Lucent[36] all claiming legal control of relevant MP3 patents
> related to decoders, the legal status of MP3 remains unclear in
> countries where those patents are valid."
>
> AVI doesn't seem to have such issues directly, but it's just a
> container for other formats, and some of those are "touchy" much as
> with MP3.
>
> It's much the same issue as that with Java, which isn't normally
> included in CD-able distributions, albeit with somewhat different
> reasons.  (The devil's in the details for *all* of these!)  Mono's
> freer, license-wise, but I periodically hear hysterical rants about
> how inclusion's a disaster because of magical Microsoft tentacles...
>
> In any case there are enough prickly organizations with their legal
> tentacles all over codecs for things you care about that while you may
> readily construct your own bootable CD, you won't find one pre-made
> for you.

That's what I was thinking, but I was surprised that there wasn't more
on offer for this, ie. a tool like UNetbootin that would allow me to
build my own bootable disc with multimedia tools, just like adding the
recovery tools and so on. I checked out Morphix, but it's not
exactly...there.


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