Webcam
From Rivalug Wiki
It I had to do this over again, I would choose a UVC compatible webcam - they are known to have native support under linux, mac os x 10.4.9+, and ms vista. Finding one is difficult because many manufacterers change chipsets within a production run of a model without changing the model number. A good guide could be this site:
http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/?ID=MNN http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logitech_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6471
Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000
Contents |
History
I started this on the VCU LUG site when RivaLug's forums were down, but I will continue to develop it here.
http://vculug.sometimes.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31 http://rivalug.org/forums/index.php?topic=12.0
References
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Webcam-HOWTO.html http://www.linux-usb.org/
Hardware
I've been looking for a usbcam that I can use crossplatform: Windoze, Mac, Linux and it looks like I found one:
Logitech Quckcam Pro 4000, retail price $99
The biggest problem with USB cams under linux is that you need to know what chip is used to control the camera. Many cams have chip with only proprietary drivers. Some camera model change chip without changing model names or numbers.
Drivers
Based on advice I found here: http://mia.ece.uic.edu/~papers/volans/quickcam.html and here: http://www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/pwc/rh8.0.html
Looks like the pwc driver is broken under kernel 2.6.5, we shall see if it gets fixed:
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/3024 http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/faq.html#Q16
I chose the Pro 4000 and installed it on my home workstation running RedHat 9. I didn't need to all the steps listed in the above site.
RedHat 9 & Fedora Core 1
I didn't need to compile my own kernel or module because the pwc module was already included in RedHat 9 with 2.4.20-31.9smp
see /usr/src/linux-2.4.20-31.9/drivers/usb/ and /lib/modules/2.4.20-31.9smp/kernel/drivers/usb/pwc.o
I downloaded the PXCX decompressor from the Linux Phillips USB cam site: http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/
This is the one for the 2.4.20 kernel: http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/pwcx-8.2.2.tar.gz
I untared it in /usr/local/src and the full path to the binary becomes: /usr/local/src/usb-pwcx-8.2.2/x86/gcc-3.2/pwcx-2.4.20.o
I added the following lines to /etc/modules.conf
alias char-major-81 videodev alias char-major-81-0 pwc #options pwc size=vga leds=250,250 fps=25 mbufs=3 compression=0 options pwc fps=15 mbufs=3 compression=0 post-install pwc /sbin/insmod --force -k /usr/local/src/usb-pwcx-8.2.2/x86/gcc-3.2/pwcx-2.4.20.o >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
when I reboot the camera is detected by the kernel:
kernel: pwc Philips PCA645/646 + PCVC675/680/690 + PCVC730/740/750 webcam module version 8.8 loaded. kernel: pwc Also supports the Askey VC010, Logitech Quickcam 3000 Pro, Samsung MPC-C10 and MPC-C30, kernel: pwc the Creative WebCam 5, SOTEC Afina Eye and Visionite VCS-UC300 and VCS-UM100. kernel: usb.c: registered new driver Philips webcam kernel: pwc Logitech QuickCam 4000 Pro USB webcam detected. kernel: pwc Registered as /dev/video0. kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usblp
Then I run xawtv, but I need to specify the video device:
xawtv -c /dev/video0
This may be able to be specified in a ~/.xawtv config file
The picture is clear and bright under regular household lighting
At this time the webcame does not work with Fedora Core 2 because the pwc driver is not in the 2.6 kernels yet. For more info see here
Fedora Core 2
Now I'm going to work on getting the Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000 working under Fedora Core 2:
It now appears the driver is no longer being maintained for linux due to disagreements with the linux kernel maintainers see http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/
Also xawtv is no longer included in FC2.
References
http://www.thelinuxpimp.com/main/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=571 http://www.thelinuxpimp.com/main/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=566
It appears that pwc 9.02-unofficial is included in kernel 2.6.9-1.6_FC2 based on reading this:
less /usr/src/linux-2.6.9-1.6_FC2/drivers/usb/media/pwc.h (must have kernel-sourcecode to see this file)
Download the Decompressor module tar file: http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/pwcx-8.4.tar.gz (it states in the documentation that for the pwc 8.x module, any decompressor pwcx 8.x modules will work; the version numbers do not need to be the same)
I put it in /usr/local/src/ so it untars to /usr/local/src/pwcx-8.4/2.6.0/gcc-3.2/pwcx.ko
I made a symlink to /usr/local/lib/modules
I edited /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias char-major-81 videodev alias char-major-81-0 pwc #options pwc size=vga leds=250,250 fps=25 mbufs=3 compression=0 options pwc fps=15 mbufs=3 compression=0 post-install pwc /sbin/insmod --force -k /usr/local/lib/modules/pwcx.ko >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
A New Hope
A free Philips USB Webcam driver is currently under development here: http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/
This page has been accessed 2731 times. This page was last modified 08:12, 29 Jul 2005.
