Hi Lou, the simplest and easies way to get all the 'non free' codecs including Real Player and a whole bunch of other stuf is with Automatix. This is a GUI which allows you to download and install a whole bunch of stuff. Get it at <a href="http://www.getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php?title=Installation">http://www.getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php?title=Installation</a> and select the version for Dapper. You can also do a lot of this via the Synaptic Package manager but you will need to enable all the non official repositories. As far as a driver for your scanner is concerned, have you checked the Epson web site? have you tries Xsane image scanner to see if it picks up the scanner? Have a look here <a href="http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Epson-Stylus_DX6000"> http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Epson-Stylus_DX6000</a> Cheers Bhaltair (also in Scotland) <div>On 23/05/07, Louis Gidney <<a href="mailto:Louis-a@cromer.demon.co.uk"> Louis-a@cromer.demon.co.uk</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Hello! Only just got round to joining this list although I have been using Ubuntu Dapper for about four months, to assess whether it will serve my purposes.  I like it.  After all, unix was a mature OS long before even the 8086 and affordable computing got started. However, the main problem I have found with it is obtaining and installing printer drivers  (and media codecs).  I'm told this is a widespread problem with other linux distros --for those who don't have the technical know-how. I would be grateful if anyone out there could help me to get my printer/scanner working. That's my top priority.  It would also be nice to be able to watch video clips on the BBC website.  But if needs must I can live without that. (Adobe flash player works fine in Firefox when needed --but of course the BBC for reasons best known to themselves have opted for RealPlayer / Helix(?) Thank you in anticipation, best wishes, Lou   (in Scotland) PS:  In due course, I am also looking for a programming language with which I can write short programs for numerical work, that must also draw line diagrams.  In the past I have used bbc BASIC which is just right for this kind of work. Any suggestions welcome from programmers out there! (HP-basic and HT-basic based on it, are in the same ball-park for numerical work) I suppose to draw a line I have to become familiar with OpenGL and all that (?) -- <a href="mailto:ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com"> ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com</a> <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk</a> <a href="https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/">https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/ </a> </blockquote></div>