Re: setting a spca5xx webcam under sarge?

Andrew Sackville-West wrote:

On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 07:35:12PM -0200, Bruno Buys wrote:


Andrew Sackville-West wrote:


On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 01:53:23AM -0200, Bruno Buys wrote:


Andrew Sackville-West wrote:


On Sat, Jan 06, 2007 at 10:47:43PM -0200, Bruno Buys wrote:


compiled it with module-assistant. Everything went ok, and modprobe
inserts the driver with no apparent problems. The thing is, accessing
the camera causes the whole system to freeze. Some tutorials suggest its
a gcc version problem between the kernel gcc and the driver gcc.
Relevant modules loaded are:
spca5xx
videodev
v4l1-compat
v4l2-common
usbcore



I don't know much, but how are you accessing the camera? what if you
do a

cat /dev/video[0] > testvid

does that cause a freeze?

if not, can you play that file in mplayer or xine or whatever?

this method sometimes works with tuner cards for example just to see
if the thing is working. I just tried it with my webcam and it didn't
really work, in that I got no playable video (probably due to
compression), but at least it shows that there is info coming from the
camera.



Other people seem to be using this webcam model quite successfully, with
various distros, so I believe its some troubleshootable thing which I am
missing badly.
Someone help?



I think that you can get spca5xx binaries from debian, its the gspca
that needs compiling... at least in sid its spca5xx-modules-<kernel>



Hi andrew,
I tested the camera with the utility from the driver author, spcaview
and spcagui. Cat'ing /dev/video1 (video0 is a bttv card) froze the
machine just the same.

So, the problem is with the driver?


sounds like it. using cat pretty much eliminates everything but the
drivers from the chain. but maybe you are conflicting with the bttv
card? can you pull the tv card and try it? maybe you have conflicting
interrupts? as I said before, have you tried the binary modules from
debian ?



I upgraded the machine to etch, so now its 2.6.18-3-k7. Before that I
did try removing the bttv card, but no difference. Actually, I could set
those utilities to open both the webcam and the bttv card, doing '-d
/dev/video[1,2]'. The bttv was ok (no freeze), but the cam froze.
Also, I received feedback from Michel Xhaard, the author of the driver,
and following his advice, I upgraded to the new gspcav1 driver. Now the
machine doesn't freeze anymore. I seem to be moving forward, ;). But
spcagui and spcaview now open a window without any image. All I get is a
dark background.
So, I 'm stuck in this point.




I've not used either program so you're on your own there.



What I already did was:
- Test the webcam in a virtual win in the same machine: test ok.




what do you mean by this?



- Tried with both 'using frame buffer' option from xorg conf and 'not
using frame buffer'. (This is because when quitting, spcagui print
'Unmapping frame buffer' and 'freeing frame buffer' to the console. Test
yield no difference.

I am using the nvidia 3D binary driver, if it makes any difference. And
now the bttv card is installed.



don't think it matters



I was told to upgrade to 2.6.19, but no further explanation. So, it
remains to be seen. Sounds reasonable?




I'm running my camera on debian sid binary kernel (2.6.18-3 I think).



Do you have any idea whats going on?



nope. ;-)

why don't you try one of the other tools to view it before you start
heading off on tangents. I've had success with camstream and gqcam. In
one, if not both of them (not at my machine right now), you have to
close the camera window and re-open a new one to get an image. worth a
shot. another you could try is motion. its strictly cli, but will
generate a whole mess of jpg's and avi's when you move in front of the
camera.

A


I tried camE, gqcam and camstream. The dark background thing is
widespread. No single software did ok with the cam. So weird, the camera
lights on and off when some program accesses it. But no image.
Well, the issue is open...


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