Web Cam driver "Linux-UVC" (Install or Upgrade)

[linux23dragon]

Summery

If you have a webcam that does not appear to work with Ekiga or any other web cam applications. Then this
thread maybe the solution for you. I've written some steps that will help you determine if the Linux-UVC driver
will (or should) work for you or not. This thread supports Hardy (Ubuntu-8.04), Gutsy (Ubuntu-7.10) and Ubuntu-7.04



Check to see if your webcam is supported with the Linux-UVC driver.

I'll first point you to the Supported Device Section of the official Linux-UVC home page (http://linux-uvc.berlios.de).
That should give you a list of supported Webcam models with the Linux-UVC driver itself.

You can find that out if the Webcam is working (or is detected by the UVC driver) by reading the Kernel System
log, using a program called System Log Viewer. You will find this program in the System menu on your task bar:-
System->Administration->System Log

Select the "kernel.log" and carefully read (line by line) until you see something like the following:-

Oct 27 10:19:07 core2-desktop kernel: [   32.416587] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device <unnamed> (046d:08c1)
Oct 27 10:19:07 core2-desktop kernel: [   32.430238] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
Oct 27 10:19:07 core2-desktop kernel: [   32.430242] USB Video Class driver (v0.1.0)

If you find the "uvcvideo" lines in the kernel.log, then its safe to say that your webcam is detected and uses the
Linux-UVC drivers.

If you don't see any line that states "uvcvideo", then its safe to say that you don't have a UVC Webcam. And so
the webcam will not work with the Linux-UVC driver. There is lots of other Linux webcam drivers that may
support your webcam. And here is more information about webcam drivers and applications.

UPDATE:- more web cam driver support info can be found from tuxmobil.org


Installing or upgrading the Linux-UVC driver

Ubuntu-7.04 and 7.10 already has the Linux-UVC Driver installed in the kernel. However, this does not mean that
it will just work out of the box for everybody. The Linux driver is new (just around 2 years) and is improving with
more supported web cam models added every month or so.

Copy and past the following code into a terminal, to upgrade the Linux-UVC driver:-

For Hardy (Ubuntu-8.04) and Gutsy (Ubuntu-7.10)

sudo apt-get install subversion build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) &&
svn checkout svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk &&
cd trunk &&
make &&
sudo cp -av /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules &&
sudo install -v -m644 uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko &&
sudo depmod -ae $(uname -r)

Reboot

Note: You have a backup of the original driver located at "/lib/modules/uvcvideo.ko", in case the upgrade turned out
for the worst. You only need to copy it back to /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/
to restore the original driver. You can try to upgrade again at later date after the developers release some updates.


For Ubuntu-7.04

sudo apt-get install subversion build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) &&
svn checkout svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk &&
cd trunk &&
make &&
sudo cp -av /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules &&
sudo install -v -m644 uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko &&
sudo depmod -ae

Reboot

Note: You have a backup of the original driver located at "/lib/modules/uvcvideo.ko", in case the upgrade turned out
for the worst. You only need to copy it back to /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/
to restore the original driver. You can try to upgrade again at later date after the developers release some updates.


The Linux-UVC driver only supports V4L2 (Video 4 Linux 2) applications. You should be able to use Ekiga by using
the V4L2 plug in found in Ekiga preferences (Edit->preferences:- Video device section).

There is a unofficial WiKi page that details the applications that work (or not) with your supported webcam. Have
a look at the "Known Problems" section for workarounds and patches, that you might need. The Wiki
also details on how to use an official test program called luvcview. It is recommended to use luvcview, to see if
your Webcam is working correctly with the Linux-UVC driver.

[tyboon]

man.........you rock ......
It did work .... thanks a lot...

[magicrobotmonkey]

yea, this helped me with getting skype to work right, thanks a lot!

[maconlysource]

Cannot get my compaq c756ca webcam to work in Ubuntu 7.1.

If I install Hardy, it works fine. It does use uvcvideo in Hardy.

Any ideas how I can get it to work in 7.1?

If I start xawtv in 7.1 I get a black screen and the webcam blue light blinks. Cheese freezes, and camoram cannot find dev/video0.

Thanks in advance.

[tribunal]

yes, it works
But no so good as I want it to
I have some bugs with my Logitech Ultra-Vision
After some time SOMETHING happens and my cam stops working
It works ok only after restarting PC, or shutting down the cam, and rmmod/modprobe drivers
What should I do?
There are something about patches in
here, but I'm not a system developer to use them

[ericstoesser]

will this work with stickam

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by ericstoesser will this work with stickam

I dont think it will help with stickam, as the problem with stickam is that it is using Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flash doesnt support V4L2. The UVC drivers only work with V4L2. So basically if your camera relies on UVC drivers, it wont work with anything that uses V4L1.

[Koen460]

thnx for your reply. I m new user and have to get used to this environment. So sorry if I don't reply correctly at this very moment.

[cirpo]

hi,
can't get it working...


modprobe uvcvideo

FATAL: Error inserting uvcvideo (/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

dmesg output:

[ 312.503261] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_devdata [ 312.503266] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_devdata [ 312.503469] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_unregister_device [ 312.503472] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_unregister_device [ 312.503536] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_device_alloc [ 312.503538] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_device_alloc [ 312.503588] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_register_device [ 312.503590] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_register_device [ 312.503749] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_device_release [ 312.503751] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_device_release

help...


thanks

cirpo

[carlos_listas]

Hi all, until today morning my web can was working very well, but I installed a cx18 driver to try do work a hp tv tuner (http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Cx18) and after this my webcan didn't work more.

hp pavilion dv9640us
/var/log/messagesNo LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu hardy (development branch)
Release: 8.04
Codename: hardy



before cx18 module

Mar 28 21:02:02 tocals-linux kernel: [ 46.453205] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device HP Webcam (04f2:b023)
Mar 28 21:02:02 tocals-linux kernel: [ 46.455223] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
Mar 29 14:41:01 tocals-linux kernel: [ 47.412424] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device HP Webcam (04f2:b023)
Mar 29 14:41:01 tocals-linux kernel: [ 47.414471] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo

after cx18 module

:# modprobe uvcvideo
FATAL: Error inserting uvcvideo (/lib/modules/2.6.24-12-generic/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.180567] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_devdata
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.180571] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_devdata
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.180988] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_unregister_device
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.180990] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_unregister_device
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.181122] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_device_alloc
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.181124] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_device_alloc
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.181211] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_register_device
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.181214] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_register_device
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.181473] uvcvideo: disagrees about version of symbol video_device_release
Mar 29 16:12:22 tocals-linux kernel: [ 55.181475] uvcvideo: Unknown symbol video_device_release