Webcam - so close yet so far

[hartz]

Hi there.

I am sure that I am very close to getting my webcam to work, but I'm not there yet. I am just missing something small.

I have read a great many posts on identifying the driver, checking USB and kernel modules, etc.

Currently all the video4linux / v4l2 apps that I have installed give me some variation of an error indicating that /dev/video0 is not a video4linux device.

For example, camgrab prints:

/dev/video0: no v4l device

Also webcam prints:

reading config file: /home/hartz/.webcamrc can't get rgb24 data

camstream opens a window, but on the terminal it prints:

CVideoDevice::CVideoDevice() could not query capabilities; is this really a video device? CVideoDevice::ResetImagesRGB() CVideoDevice::ResetImagesYUV()

I have the following configuration:
Ubuntu Edgy with kernel 2.6.17-10-386 - for what it is worth, this was previously a 6.06 instalation which I upgraded using apt-get dist-upgrade.
The camera is a Genius TREK 310

lsusb:

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0c45:608f Microdia Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0409:0059 NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

lsmod|grep usb

snd_usb_audio 78880 0 snd_usb_lib 17536 1 snd_usb_audio snd_rawmidi 25600 1 snd_usb_lib snd_hwdep 9860 1 snd_usb_audio snd_pcm 80520 4 snd_usb_audio,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_ oss snd 55428 12 snd_usb_audio,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep ,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer _oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer usbcore 130304 7 sn9c102,snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,acx,ehci_hcd,ohc i_hcd

and grep -i usb /var/log/messages

Dec 20 18:43:06 linwarg kernel: [17179576.268000] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found Dec 20 18:43:06 linwarg kernel: [17179576.668000] usb 2-8: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2 Dec 20 18:43:06 linwarg kernel: [17179576.800000] usb 2-8: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice Dec 20 18:43:06 linwarg kernel: [17179576.800000] hub 2-8:1.0: USB hub found Dec 20 18:43:06 linwarg kernel: [17179592.540000] acx: Loaded combined PCI/USB driver, firmware_ver=default Dec 20 18:43:06 linwarg kernel: [17179595.120000] usbcore: registered new driver acx_usb Dec 20 19:36:31 linwarg kernel: [17182822.376000] usb 2-8.1: new full speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3 Dec 20 19:36:31 linwarg kernel: [17182822.484000] usb 2-8.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice Dec 20 19:36:32 linwarg kernel: [17182822.936000] usbcore: registered new driver snd-usb-audio Dec 20 19:36:32 linwarg kernel: [17182822.960000] usb 2-8.1: SN9C103 PC Camera Controller detected (vid/pid 0x0C45/0x608F) Dec 20 19:36:32 linwarg kernel: [17182823.160000] usb 2-8.1: OV7630 image sensor detected Dec 20 19:36:32 linwarg kernel: [17182823.240000] usb 2-8.1: V4L2 device registered as /dev/video0 Dec 20 19:36:32 linwarg kernel: [17182823.240000] usbcore: registered new driver sn9c102 Dec 20 20:10:07 linwarg kernel: [17184837.868000] usb 2-8.1: Initialization succeeded Dec 20 22:44:06 linwarg kernel: [17194076.248000] usb 2-8.1: Device /dev/video0 is busy...

So it seems that my camera is recognized by the kernel, the modules are loaded and attached to one another, and the device node created. Yet it doesn't work. Any advice, ideas, suggestions?

Thanx,
_Hartz

P.S. I have experienced lockups on Linux since I started playing with the webcam, particularly on loading modules or on plugging the camera in. When the system locks up, I can not break out even with Ctrl-Alt-F1 or Ctrol-Alt-Backspace, and CAPSLOCK/NUMLOCK stops working - the only outcome is to power-cycle the machine.

[hartz]

This forum is surprisingly busy, so bump!

[hartz]

Hello all.

I'm still at it. I've upgraded my kernel to 2.6.19.1, but still have problems.

When I plug in the camera, the following appears in the messages log file

Dec 26 15:58:32 linwarg kernel: [ 4674.968000] usb 2-8.1: new full speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 Dec 26 15:58:32 linwarg kernel: [ 4675.076000] usb 2-8.1: Product: USB camera Dec 26 15:58:32 linwarg kernel: [ 4675.076000] usb 2-8.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice Dec 26 15:58:32 linwarg kernel: [ 4675.076000] usb 2-8.1: SN9C103 PC Camera Controller detected (vid/pid 0x0C45/0x608F) Dec 26 15:58:32 linwarg kernel: [ 4675.088000] usb 2-8.1: OV7630 image sensor detected Dec 26 15:58:32 linwarg kernel: [ 4675.112000] usb 2-8.1: V4L2 device registered as /dev/video0

lsmod shows the following which I believe is good:

hartz@linwarg:/$ lsmod|grep usb snd_usb_audio 82304 0 snd_usb_lib 17920 1 snd_usb_audio snd_rawmidi 27136 1 snd_usb_lib snd_hwdep 10628 1 snd_usb_audio snd_pcm 86280 4 snd_usb_audio,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_ oss snd 58500 12 snd_usb_audio,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep ,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer _oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer usbcore 157572 7 uhci_hcd,sn9c102,snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,ehci_hc d,ohci_hcd

Yet I still have trouble with basically all webcam software, eg:

hartz@linwarg:/$ camgrab /dev/video0: no v4l device hartz@linwarg:/$ webcam reading config file: /home/hartz/.webcamrc can't get rgb24 data hartz@linwarg:/$ xawtv This is xawtv-3.95, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.19.1) xinerama 0: 1600x1200+1600+0 xinerama 1: 1600x1200+0+0 X Error of failed request: XF86DGANoDirectVideoMode Major opcode of failed request: 136 (XFree86-DGA) Minor opcode of failed request: 1 (XF86DGAGetVideoLL) Serial number of failed request: 67 Current serial number in output stream: 67 hartz@linwarg:/$ camorama

So.... Still hopeful ... anybody out there able to help me here?

[loell]

you still haven't posted the webcam's name and model.

[hartz]

Originally Posted by loell you still haven't posted the webcam's name and model.

I believe I did, in BOLD face at that, but for the record, here it is again:

It is a Genius TREK 310. The Chipset is the Sonix SN9C103, and it has got an OV7630 image sensor. The ID bits are 0c45:608f Microdia. The kernel modules, sn9c102, loads automatically, so I believe that the device is indeed recognized by linux.

This camera has got one special feature: built-in infrared LEDs, coupled with IR sensitivity. It wasn't very expensive at all, and I fear it is not the best quality possible, but the night-mode is what made this camera attractive to me.

I connected the camera up to a windows machine and after much struggling with the software managed to get it to work - I was able to record video clips, take snapshots, etc, so the camera appears to be fully functional.

I have checked that reported bug link posted by Shay Stephens, and the problem description does not appear to be similar to my symptoms - in my case most of the programs doesn't even load, these just exit with an error messages.

I am wondering ... what is the difference between Video-4-linux and V4L2 ... Are the two compatible, backward compatible, etc? According to the messages log file, I see that /dev/video2 is a V4L2 device, but most of my software says Video-4-linux in the APT description. kdetv is the notable exception here, and the only program I have that actually loads, though it spews continuous messages about an Unknown format error - I have tried many options in this program to no avail.

Thanks all for your responses - I am sure I will beat this obstacle and learn something about Linux in the process.

[Shay Stephens]

Webcam drivers are broken in edgy. If you must have webcam support, use dapper or wait for a possible fix with fiesty. I'm not necessarily saying to give up in edgy, but your chances are slim.

[loell]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens Webcam drivers are broken in edgy. If you must have webcam support, use dapper or wait for a possible fix with fiesty. I'm not necessarily saying to give up in edgy, but your chances are slim.

is there any link to back this up?

my webcam works i believe that there are many pepople who have working webcams on edgy.

[Shay Stephens]

Hmm, yes, I didn't want to say all webcams were busted, but the philips webcams and some others (i.e. all the ones I own) don't work right in edgy.

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....17/+bug/56090

[loell]

i see, thanks

[loell]

Video-4-linux is the previous api or identified as v4l1 while v4l2 is the current api. i think v4l2 is backward compatible with v4l1

this Link seem interesting

the problem could be the video format that the webcam uses.