Dear Archie,
First let me apologize for not replying sooner. I found your post which had the Download link and I downloaded the .rpm you created.
I then tried your command in the Konsole (under root) but it did not work (I had
copied the .rpm to my Desktop and in the Konsole I entered cd/ Desktop and got there, but the command you gave failed).
So I went to my Downloads folder and I opened the original .rpm with the < rpm-installer > program (which I had previously found when casually looking through the programs offered in the Synaptic Package Manager [I do this from time to time]; this had looked like a very useful one so I installed it). That worked perfectly and the program was installed.
I have an LG Slim Blu-ray ReWriter BP40NS20 External USB 2.0 Silver Portable Writer Burner (
http://www.amazon.com/LG-ReWriter-BP40NS20-External-Portable/dp/B0077QTOA2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346612195&sr=8-2&keywords=lg+bp06) which can read (and write) CDs (including the new M-Discs), DVDs, Blu-rays, and it even plays 3-D Blu-rays (play only).
I attached it to my computer and inserted a Blu-ray disc. I copied only the main feature and just the main sound track. The process took about 40 minutes and resulted in an MKV file of about 26.5 GB (the same size as what I copied).
As the computer on which I have PCLinuxOS (only; Windows Vista has been long-since 'wiped' off) installed is rather slow by current standards (it is an Acer Extensa 5620-6419, purchased in 2008), I cut and pasted the file to a 32 GB flash drive and then transferred it to my new computer (a ZaReason Strata 7330, i7-3720, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB hdd) and ran it through HandBrake. That process took something over one hour.
(I could have used the HandBrake installation on the PCLinxOS computer but the compression would have taken over six hours! While MakeMKV works just as fast on the Acer as it does on the ZaReason, HandBrake is much slower.)
So I can tell you that the MakeMKV program, as you compiled it and I installed it, works 100% perfectly. The resultant video looks spectacular, just as the original Blu-ray does.
I can understand why you would exclude this program from support within this forum and let me say that this would present no problem, in itself, to me.
But now to the main problem: yes, the MakeMKV company, which makes Windows and Mac installations and also provides installations for GNU/Linux distributions, is evidently a commercial one. They do have a EULA. They probably will, sometime in the relatively near future, require money (though they do not now). And as new versions of the beta are released, you must reinstall the whole program; updating is not possible. To make matters worse, after the expiration of the time-limited version, the program will not work at all unless you do install the new version.
It's a 'pain.'
Now someone suggested here that it might be easier to run the program within Windows (using a dual-boot computer).
Let me say this:
I have had my fill of Windows.
I detest Windows.
I
will not use Windows in any way, shape, or form.
I hope I have made myself clear.
I like PCLinuxOS. Other than this MakeMKV program, it has
each and every program (audio & video) that I use - and they are all available from just
one repository. In addition, PCLinuxOS is a rolling release distribution. I like both of those features.
Please understand: I am an older man who has never had any computer training whatsoever. I am completely self-taught. But I still have the capability of following directions.
I would not ask you or anyone else to compile an .rpm of this program just for me every time it is upgraded.
But, if you, or someone else, could
clearly explain,
step-by-step what I would have to do in order to compile an .rpm of this program myself for installation on the PCLinuxOS machine, I would be very appreciative.
There is no other program of its type available for Linux. (There is another such for Windows - DVDFab (
http://www.dvdfab.com/) - but that one is costly and, as I said, no Windows for me!)
I want you to know that I appreciate very much the effort you made in helping me to get this latest version of MakeMKV installed. I hope that you will be able to help me to install future versions of it.
If that is not possible, I can still use MakeMKV on my ZaReason computer which has a GNU/Linux distro which uses Debian package management. But I would also like to be able to use it on machines which have Red Hat Package Management, such as PCLinuxOS.
And to anyone else reading this, MakeMKV is a
fantastic program. It is, as I said, the only program available for Linux which will 'break' a Blu-ray and directly create an MKV (which can be further reduced in size using HandBrake).
While you can then use DeVeDe (an excellent program) to create a DVD from the uncompressed MKV file made from the Blu-ray, I no longer bother with discs. The wave of the future is to store all your movies and music on external hard drives. I keep my music on three (3) 1 TB hard drives (three -
all containing the same things - ensures I won't lose anything) and I also keep my movies on three 1 TB hard drives (though I'll need larger ones in the future).
Doing this allows me to have over 200 movies (so far!), some SD, others HD, on an item
that I can put in my pocket! And, as of today, I still have a bit over 500 GB space left on the drives which contain the movies!
Everybody here ought to at least consider doing this; then you can get rid of your old CDs and DVDs (or put them in the basement) and use the drives to watch movies or listen to music through compatible players. Any computer will do and if you have a Blu-ray player which will support MKV playback, you can use that in your TV or home theater setup.
I'm sorry for the length of this post (brevity not being one of my strong points), but I again thank you, Archie, very, very much for producing the .rpm of MakeMKV and I look forward to receiving instructions so that I will be able to do it myself in the future.
Lawrence H. Bulk