Re: simple webcam question -- urgent!

Joshua Whalen wrote:

is there a usb webcam that will work with debian with the default install,
simple yes or no. I am in danger ( I should actually say "facing certainty
of") of being fired from my job is this is not up and running and serving
video by this evening (saturday). I've had good experiences with linux as
a web server, file server, etc... so this took me off guard. I'm using the
most recent stable release of debian (typing this on my mac, so don't ask
the exact kernel version. I ran the update ran hour ago, so it IS up to
date.) with a brand spanking new quickcam messenger. I have tried a dozen
different tutorials, most recently this one:
http://www.aboutdebian.com/webcam.htm , and have reinstalled from disk
again and again. I have followed the above tutorial to the letter. xawtv
does NOT see the camera, this is what it reports:

This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.18-6-686)
looking for available devices
port 65-65
type : Xvideo, image scaler
name : NV Video Overlay

port 66-97
type : Xvideo, image scaler
name : NV Video Blitter

/dev/video0: OK [ -device /dev/video0 ]
type : v4l2
name : BT878 video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENER
flags: overlay capture tuner

/dev/video1: OK [ -device /dev/video1 ]
type : v4l2
name : BT878 video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENER
flags: overlay capture tuner

/dev/video2: OK [ -device /dev/video2 ]
type : v4l2
name : BT878 video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENER
flags: overlay capture tuner

/dev/video3: OK [ -device /dev/video3 ]
type : v4l2
name : BT878 video ( *** UNKNOWN/GENER
flags: overlay capture tuner

I would use something other than XawTV. It doesn't seem to understand or
work with your devices. The Linux video layer is kind of restricted/dumb
in some ways. It expects the application to implement a layer for dealing
with all of the video formats, rather than supporting conversions from the
various hardware formats. This means there are like 10 different apps for
webcam servers, and display, and quite often only a few will work,
depending on if your webcam uses YUYV, or MJPEG, or JPEG...

I wrote a webcam server for my UVC-based device. A Creative webcam that
provides MJPEG. The uvc driver is one of the better drivers for webcams,
but it also doesn't support the read() interface (only mmap()); which
causes some problems, and various apps don't work with V4L2/uvc, such as
Gyachi, and kopete.


This is lsmod, a hideous mess after hair pulling for 72 hours at this
point:


Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 4256 1
isofs 32540 1
udf 73156 0
nfs 202860 0
nfsd 197936 17
exportfs 5600 1 nfsd
lockd 54344 3 nfs,nfsd
nfs_acl 3584 2 nfs,nfsd
sunrpc 138812 13 nfs,nfsd,lockd,nfs_acl
appletalk 33228 0
ppdev 8676 0
lp 11012 0
button 6672 0
ac 5188 0
battery 9636 0
ipv6 226272 29
dm_snapshot 15552 0
dm_mirror 19152 0
dm_mod 50200 2 dm_snapshot,dm_mirror
cx2341x 10308 0
parport_pc 32132 0
c_qcam 11512 0
parport 33256 4 ppdev,lp,parport_pc,c_qcam
ultracam 11084 0
ibmcam 43980 0
vgastate 7776 0
uvcvideo 31016 0
quickcam_messenger 12324 0
usbvideo 24388 3 ultracam,ibmcam,quickcam_messenger
sisusbvga 47612 0
sbp2 20840 0
scsi_mod 124168 1 sbp2
loop 15048 0
bt878 10392 0
bttv 159732 1 bt878
video_buf 23012 1 bttv
firmware_class 9600 1 bttv
ir_common 27780 1 bttv
compat_ioctl32 1472 3 c_qcam,usbvideo,bttv
i2c_algo_bit 8424 1 bttv
btcx_risc 4776 1 bttv
tveeprom 13840 1 bttv
videodev 21120 4 c_qcam,uvcvideo,usbvideo,bttv
v4l1_compat 12036 2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_common 20448 4 cx2341x,uvcvideo,bttv,videodev

This indicates you have V4L2 drivers and one of them is uvc-based. Try
using luvcview.

snd_usb_audio 69024 0
snd_usb_lib 14976 1 snd_usb_audio
snd_seq_dummy 3844 0
snd_seq_oss 28768 0
snd_seq_midi 8192 0
snd_seq_midi_event 7008 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_intel8x0 30332 1
snd_ac97_codec 83104 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus 2400 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq 45680 6
snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 38368 0
snd_mixer_oss 15200 1 snd_pcm_oss
serio_raw 6660 0
snd_rawmidi 22560 2 snd_usb_lib,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_device 7820 5
snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
rtc 12372 0
i2c_sis96x 5380 0
snd_hwdep 8836 1 snd_usb_audio
psmouse 35016 0
pcspkr 3072 0
tsdev 7520 0
sis_agp 8420 1
i2c_core 19680 4 bttv,i2c_algo_bit,tveeprom,i2c_sis96x
snd_pcm 68676 4
snd_usb_audio,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 20996 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 47012 14

snd_usb_audio,snd_seq_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mix
er_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc 10184 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
soundcore 9248 1 snd
shpchp 33024 0
pci_hotplug 28704 1 shpchp
agpgart 29896 1 sis_agp
evdev 9088 2
eth1394 18212 0
ext3 119240 1
jbd 52456 1 ext3
mbcache 8356 1 ext3
ide_disk 14848 3
ide_cd 36064 1
cdrom 32544 1 ide_cd
generic 4868 0 [permanent]
usbhid 37248 0
8139cp 21920 0
via_rhine 22664 0
sis5513 12360 0 [permanent]
ide_core 110504 4 ide_disk,ide_cd,generic,sis5513
ohci1394 30800 0
8139too 25120 0
mii 5344 3 8139cp,via_rhine,8139too
ieee1394 86904 3 sbp2,eth1394,ohci1394
ehci_hcd 28136 0
ohci_hcd 18276 0
usbcore 112644 12

ultracam,ibmcam,uvcvideo,quickcam_messenger,usbvideo,sisusbvga,snd_usb_audio,snd_
usb_lib,usbhid,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
thermal 13608 0
processor 28840 1 thermal
fan 4804 0


I'm perfectly willing to start over from scratch with a fresh install
(probably best, at this point) but it must work the first time. PLEASE.

A fresh reinstall probably won't solve anything. Be thankful if any of them
work, because the manufacturers often change chipsets without warning, and
a device that has a certain lsusb id now, possibly won't in a few weeks...
That said, the logitech company makes some effort to support Linux. See:
http://www.quickcamteam.net/hcl/linux/logitech-webcams

It's similar to the crazy network card issues; where a wireless card works
in a certain model with Linux or BSD, but then the manufacturer changes
chipsets without changing the model number or name.

--George
.