Handbrake is a great DVD ripper. Unfortunately, currently there is no deb version on the Handbrake website. Here is a how to for installing Handbrake on Ubuntu.

First we need to get DVD playback enabled:

sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Next we need to add the PPA for the Handbrake Snapshots:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-snapshots

Your system will now fetch the PPA’s key. This enables your Ubuntu system to verify that the packages in the PPA have not been interfered with since they were built.
Then do and update of the Apt repos lists:

sudo aptitude update

Next you need to install the software:

sudo aptitude install handbrake-gtk