Setting up webcam...

miggols99 · 2007-08-28 16:37:05

I bought a webcam today, but it doesn't seem to work in Linux...in Kopete I see green...my lsusb outputs:

Bus 005 Device 004: ID 055d:3021 Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0c45:60b0 Microdia
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0416:5518 Winbond Electronics Corp. 4-Port Hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 413c:2003 Dell Computer Corp.
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 054c:002c Sony Corp.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 043d:0078 Lexmark International, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05d8:4002 Ultima Electronics Corp. Artec Ultima 2000 (GT6801 based)/Lifetec LT9385 Scanner
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0458:002e KYE Systems Corp. (Mouse Systems)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Can someone help me with this?

mac57 · 2007-08-28 19:33:52

It is always fun getting a webcam working, and you do have to keep in mind that Linux may not have a driver for the cam you have bought. Can you tell us what the brand and model name of your webcam is? It might also be worth trolling through /var/log/messages.log to see if Arch even detected your webcam. More than likely, you need to determine the correct driver for it, and then modprobe it in.

miggols99 · 2007-08-28 20:07:27

It's genius...but I haven't heard of it. It seems to have detected it because the light has lit up on it.

Found some stuff about it in /var/log/messages.log:

Aug 25 09:33:21 knights-desktop usb 5-2.1: SN9C10[12] PC Camera Controller detected (vid:pid 0x0C45:0x6029)
Aug 25 09:33:21 knights-desktop usb 5-2.1: PAS106B image sensor detected
Aug 25 09:33:21 knights-desktop usb 5-2.1: Initialization succeeded
Aug 25 09:33:21 knights-desktop usb 5-2.1: V4L2 device registered as /dev/video0
Aug 25 09:33:21 knights-desktop usb 5-2.1: Optional device control through 'sysfs' interface disabled
Aug 25 09:33:21 knights-desktop usbcore: registered new interface driver sn9c102

Will this help?

mac57 · 2007-08-29 03:18:14

Is this it? Genius GE111-Express-II

Your log output looks promising. It shows that Arch found it, recognized it and loaded a driver for it. Now, if we can just establish the exact model of the webcam, we can determine if Arch loaded the RIGHT module for it.

miggols99 · 2007-08-29 09:21:03

Yes it looks something like that. Found a PDF about it:

http://www.genius.hu/dokument/kamerak/VideoCAMLook.pdf

That's the one I have.

miggols99 · 2007-08-31 08:06:57

*Bump*

mac57 · 2007-08-31 20:47:14

Thanks - I looked it up and found this blog:

http://www.jonobacon.org/?p=596

In it, he asserts that Genius says there is no Linux driver for the chip used in this camera:

I had a response from my email asking about Linux drivers for the 
Genius VideoCam Look:

> It's right that we use this chip. But, as I know, there is no Linux driver 
for this chipset.

> We regret to inform you of this news.

Bugger. So I replied:

> Thanks for the reply.

> I am sure that someone in the Linux community would be happy to 
support the camera by writing a device driver. If I can find someone 
who would happily write a device driver, would you be interested in 
sending them a free Genius VideoCam Look?

We can hope. :)

Now that doesn't sound too hopeful, but this 19 Mar 2007 review of the camera
on Amazon.com does offer some hope:

Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.     

      
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Disappointed, 19 Mar 2007
By     Anonymous - See all my reviews
Contrary to what it says on the box, this camera does NOT support Linux. 
There is a binary, closed-source driver enclosed on the CD, but it will 
only work with some outdated 2.6.5 kernels compiled by a specific 
version of GCC. This is hardly what I call Linux support. I eventually 
managed to get it working using the free software gspcav1 drivers, 
but it was not without hassle. Since I bought this camera only because 
I thought that its manufacturer really supported Linux, I am bitterly 
disappointed and give it only 1 star.

This suggests that you may be in luck; gspcav1 is in AUR! I can't
guarantee that it will work, but it is worth the try. Good luck!

Last edited by mac57 (2007-08-31 20:54:38)

miggols99 · 2007-09-05 18:49:19

So how do I use the driver? I installed it, but then what. I should have chose the webcam...

mac57 · 2007-09-05 19:01:19

First of all, rmmod the existing driver, since it is not doing the trick for you. Then modprobe in the new one. Check dmesg - if all is well, you should see a new device (hopefully something like /dev/video0) being registered. If that all works out OK, you are "good to go". Fire up your favorite video app, such as Ekiga, and see if it can use the camera.

Just in case, and to ensure a clean slate, you might wish to put the existing driver onto your module blacklist in /etc/rc.conf, then reboot, and THEN modprobe in the new driver. This would likely be safer than the initial rmmod/modprobe route I suggested above. Good luck!

Arch Linux

#1 2007-08-28 16:37:05

Setting up webcam...

#2 2007-08-28 19:33:52

Re: Setting up webcam...

#3 2007-08-28 20:07:27

Re: Setting up webcam...

#4 2007-08-29 03:18:14

Re: Setting up webcam...

#5 2007-08-29 09:21:03

Re: Setting up webcam...

#6 2007-08-31 08:06:57

Re: Setting up webcam...

#7 2007-08-31 20:47:14

Re: Setting up webcam...

#8 2007-09-05 18:49:19

Re: Setting up webcam...

#9 2007-09-05 19:01:19

Re: Setting up webcam...

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