I once managed to play a DVD using the NON-FREE 
package libdvdcss2 from https://deb-multimedia.org/. I would recommend to disable the extra repository again afterwards, to prevent replacing many other programs already in PureOS with those versions from deb-multimedia.org (or use apt pinning to prevent this).
Another alternative could be https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/libdvd-pkg
I tried most of these things with no success. I’m also trying to play commercial DVDs. Has anyone had any further success?
This is from the Videos app that came on PureOS when I got the laptop.
Ever try VLC?
Yes, I installed the one with the orange cone icon. When I have my disk drive plugged into the USB and VLC open I go to Media and then down to Open Disk. From there I can select DVD and locate the disk device on a drop down menu. I hit the Play button at the bottom annnnnnnnd - I hear the drive wind up for 2 seconds and then, nothing happens. 
I didn’t know DVDs were still a thing. 
As independent Linux stable distribution (without extra add-ons) PureOS isn’t able to do everything (neither every Ubuntu is able to play multimedia content out-of-the-box, I guess) but same rules, as linked within post under, when extra main package(s) needed, should confidently apply as for other Debian based distributions, please read and understand thoroughly (why not) entire thing (merge those before installing needed codecs, etc.) even before you start, on your own: “To install something from backports run one of: (sudo) apt install <package>/bullseye-backports …”
First of all, what version of PureOS are you using?
Here is what I did in PureOS Byzantium. First install the dependencies:
sudo apt install build-essential debconf-2.0 debhelper dh-autoreconf wget devscripts libcap2-bin
Then download the package from Debian and install it:
wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/libd/libdvd-pkg/libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb
Then, run the script to download libdvdcss and install it:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg
These are instructions for Byzantium. If you have Amber, then you need to download the Buster package.
If that doesn’t work for you, then post the output that you see in your terminal, and maybe someone can help you.
How does one know what “version” of PureOS they have? I only know that I have the one that came on the laptop when I received it a week ago.
The enormous plastic bin in my storage room full of DVDs is quite convinced they’re still a thing! I’m not yet ready to accept that the (probably) thousands of dollars spent on them all was a waste.
I’m not running PureOS, but do you have an application named “System Monitor,” or something to that effect? If so, you may see it there.
Alternately: https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-check-linux-version/
I followed your link and used the first option. The results were:
Distributor ID: PureOS
Description: PureOS
Release: 10.0
Codename: byzantium
I assume this means I have the byzantium version of PureOS, right?
I followed the steps listed to determine what version of PureOS I have. I believe I also have Byzantium so I thought your steps might work here for me. Things seemed to be working until I enter the second line for what you list under “Then download the package from Debian and install it”. It seems to end with an error related to the “dependencies” but I thought those were installed in the first step.
Also, I don’t know if that error I got after the first command - “package has no installation candidate” was to be expected or if that also indicates something has gone wrong.
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$ sudo apt install build-essential debconf-2.0 debhelper dh-autoreconf wget devscripts libcap2-bin
[sudo] password for dbrokaw:
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
Package debconf-2.0 is a virtual package provided by:
debconf 1.5.77
cdebconf 0.260
You should explicitly select one to install.
E: Package ‘debconf-2.0’ has no installation candidate
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$ wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/libd/libdvd-pkg/libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb
–2021-12-12 13:06:36-- http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/libd/libdvd-pkg/libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb
Resolving ftp.us.debian.org (ftp.us.debian.org)… 64.50.236.52, 208.80.154.15, 64.50.233.100, …
Connecting to ftp.us.debian.org (ftp.us.debian.org)|64.50.236.52|:80… connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
Length: 15700 (15K) [application/x-troff-man]
Saving to: ‘libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb’
libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1- 100%[===================>] 15.33K --.-KB/s in 0.07s
2021-12-12 13:06:37 (229 KB/s) - ‘libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb’ saved [15700/15700]
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$ sudo dpkg -i libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb
(Reading database … 252979 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack libdvd-pkg_1.4.2-1-1_all.deb …
Unpacking libdvd-pkg (1.4.2-1-1) over (1.4.2-1-1) …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libdvd-pkg:
libdvd-pkg depends on debhelper (>= 9); however:
Package debhelper is not installed.
libdvd-pkg depends on dh-autoreconf; however:
Package dh-autoreconf is not installed.
dpkg: error processing package libdvd-pkg (–install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
libdvd-pkg
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$
@dbrokaw1251, Yes, you are using Byzantium.
This tells you to either use debconf or cdebconf instead of debconf-2.0.
Try this:
sudo apt install build-essential debconf debhelper dh-autoreconf wget devscripts libcap2-bin
Then follow the rest of the commands that I gave you.
I tried that new command but it produced this (see below). At that point I didn’t continue through the original list of commands.
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$ sudo apt install build-essential debconf debhelper dh-autoreconf wget devscripts libcap2-bin
[sudo] password for dbrokaw:
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
build-essential is already the newest version (12.9).
build-essential set to manually installed.
debconf is already the newest version (1.5.77).
libcap2-bin is already the newest version (1:2.44-1).
wget is already the newest version (1.21-1+b1).
wget set to manually installed.
You might want to run ‘apt --fix-broken install’ to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
debhelper : Depends: autotools-dev but it is not going to be installed
Depends: dh-strip-nondeterminism (>= 0.028~) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: dwz (>= 0.12.20190711) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdebhelper-perl (= 13.3.4) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: po-debconf but it is not going to be installed
devscripts : Depends: libfile-dirlist-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libfile-homedir-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libfile-touch-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libfile-which-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libipc-run-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmoo-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: patchutils but it is not going to be installed
Depends: wdiff but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: dput or
dupload but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libdistro-info-perl but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libgit-wrapper-perl but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libgitlab-api-v4-perl but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: liblist-compare-perl but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libstring-shellquote-perl but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: licensecheck but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: lintian but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: pristine-tar but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: python3-debian (>= 0.1.15) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: python3-magic but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: python3-unidiff but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: debian-keyring but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: equivs but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libsoap-lite-perl but it is not going to be installed
dh-autoreconf : Depends: autoconf but it is not going to be installed
Depends: automake but it is not going to be installed
Depends: autopoint but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdebhelper-perl but it is not going to be installed or
debhelper (< 12.6~) but 13.3.4 is to be installed
Depends: libtool (>= 2.4.2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try ‘apt --fix-broken install’ with no packages (or specify a solution).
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$
First of all, do “sudo apt update” and try again.
If that doesn’t work, then I suspect that you have conflicting repositories. Post the output of this command:
cat /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
Did the sudo apt update and tried again - same results.
Ran this command:
Output:
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
deb http://repo.pureos.net/pureos/ byzantium main
deb http://repo.pureos.net/pureos/ byzantium-security main
deb http://repo.pureos.net/pureos/ byzantium-updates main
cat: ‘etc/apt/sources.list.d/*’: No such file or directory
Have you tried this recommendation?
Looking into hardware, what excatly dvd device you’re using? External dvd or dvd player box? I never thought dvd player box would work thru general computers due to proprietary chips inside that only can work with television or monitor, so I never wasted my time trying to. You can order external dvd or blu rom from newegg, they have so many, then plug into your laptop to see if that works. They’re not too expensive. You might want to find one that’s more popular with linux users.
Actually, Blu-ray may not work so well: https://www.howtogeek.com/240487/how-to-play-dvds-and-blu-rays-on-linux/
FSF re Blu-ray: https://www.fsf.org/news/blu-ray
I just tried this. It said:
dbrokaw@DRBL14:~$ apt --fix-broken install
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?
