SERP2 built-in webcam and Hardy?

[hkarl629]

Tom,

I'm running Hardy Heron on my Serp2.

As I've said in my response to your more info request, I'm really making an assumption that an upgrade 'hosed' the camera. I'm to inexperienced to really know. It did work for a while and now, for some time, it doesn't.

Henry

[hkarl629]

I've been struggling to get the web cam in my Serp2 working. Using Hardy 32 bit. The camera worked for a while then quit. Tom is working on getting my camera working again.

What did you do to get it to function? I know you were without the camera for a good while.

I.m very new at Ubuntu. Think the Serp2 is a great computer but I want to be able to use Skype to its fullest.

Your comments?

Thank you.

Karl

[asmiller-ke6seh]

Anyone want to buy a SERP2? I think it might be time to find a fully-supported Ubuntu-compatible laptop, including webcam.

Then again, maybe my kids want a laptop and don't care that the webcam doesn't work.Or, maybe I can eBay it for use under Windows, where the webcam is supported. I still have the original packaging, including the Windows driver disk. All it would need is a Windows operating system, and with Windows 7 about to be released, Windows XP will be availble on the cheap.

[brijohn]

I'm one of the developers of said driver as well as an owner of my own SERP2, one of the reasons I got involved with this project to begin with

The SERP2 webcam should work just fine with the driver in question. I've been using it for the last year since we first got it working with 624f webcam used in the this computer.

Since the original posting by Tom in this thread the driver has evolved and changed quite abit including having its named change from microdia to sn9c20x since we only really support the sn9c20x chipset. One thing thats has changed since then is we have gotten rid of in kernel format conversion after successfully implementing hardware format switching. This however means that many applications won't work with the limited formats supported by the camera and therefor you will need to use libv4l to do user space format conversion.

If you are having trouble getting this driver to work on a SERP2 let me know I'll be glad to try and help.


And tom what problem are you having getting it installed on your shop computer? I do all my development for this driver on my SERP2 and haven't had any issues installing the driver.

[hkarl629]

Hello brijohn,
I'm an owner of A Serp2 also. I got the camera working when I was running Hardy. I want to use it with Skype primarily. Then it stopped working and I can't get it going. Tom has been on the case and so far has not had success. With Tom's help I have installed the 64 bit Ubuntu 8.10. Which works quite well. Now I would like to get the camera working with this OS. I am new to Linux/Ubuntu so detailed (step by step)and complete instructions that I can follow are what I need.

Can you help?

I would appreciate it.

Sincerely,

hkarl629

[brijohn]

hkarl629,

I do not know what you have tried so far but below is a set of
instructions for compiling both the sn9c20x driver and the necessary
userspace library libv4l. Since you are using a 64bit system and skype is
only available as 32bit application you will need to compile both 32bit
and 64bit versions of libv4l.

If you have any questions just let me know

Install SN9C20X Webcam driver on SERP2 from latest git HEAD

First make sure to install necessary build environment
# sudo make install linux-headers-`uname -r` git-core build-essential

Next grab a copy of the driver source from the git repository
# git clone git://repo.or.cz/microdia.git
# cd microdia

Build it using the following command
# make

To install the driver so that it loads every boot do the following
# sudo cp ./sn9c20x.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/ubuntu/misc/media/
# sudo depmod -a
# sudo modprobe sn9c20x

This should load the module and set it to load automatically on every boot.
To check that it has found your camera type the following
# dmesg
Expected Output:
> sn9c20x: SN9C20X USB 2.0 Webcam - 0C45:624F plugged-in.
> sn9c20x: Detected OV9650 Sensor.
> sn9c20x: Webcam device 0C45:624F is now controlling video device /dev/video0
> sn9c20x: Using yuv420 output format
> usbcore: registered new interface driver sn9c20x
> sn9c20x: SN9C20x USB 2.0 Webcam Driver v2009.01 loaded

Installing libv4l

libv4l is needed for two reasons. 1) using it you can use older applications that only support
the v4l1 API, sn9c20x only supports v4l2. 2) many applications such as skype do not natively
support the video output formats that the sn9c20x driver uses.

Note: intrepid and above have this library in their repositories. Its called libv4l-0.
I still recommend getting and installing the latest version though.

Download the source from the following location: http://people.atrpms.net/~hdegoede/libv4l-0.5.9.tar.gz

Extract the source archive
# tar xzvf libv4l-0.5.9.tar.gz

Compile and install libv4l
# cd libv4l-0.5.9
# make
# make install PREFIX=/usr/

If your camera was detected properly when installing the driver and you have successfully built
and installed libv4l the following commands should test the driver using mplayer
# export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so
# mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=320:height=240:outfmt=bgr24:fps= 30

If you need to compile the library as 32bits on 64bit system for use with 32bit applications (Skype).
Try the following

First make sure to install multilib support for 32bit compilation
# sudo aptitude install gcc-multilib libc6-i386 lib6-dev-i386

Next in the libv4l-0.5.9 directory type the following
# gedit libv4l2/Makefile libv4l1/Makefile libv4lconvert/Makefile

gedit should open with 3 tabs for each makefile. Next we will do the same thing for each Makefile
find the line near the top that looks like this CFLAGS := -g -O1, add the -m32 onto the end.
Next hit enter to create a new line and add the following LDFLAGS := -m32
Thing should look like this when you are done

CFLAGS := -g -O1 -m32
LDFLAGS := -m32
CFLAGS += -Wall -Wno-unused -Wpointer-arith -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes

Do that for all three Makefiles you opened and then save them.

Now close gedit and go back to the command line
# make
# make install PREFIX=/usr/ LIBDIR=/usr/lib32

This should give you a 32bit version of the library to use with 32bit applications

[hkarl629]

brijohn,
WOW! For a nearly 80 year old Ubuntu neophyte this looks like more than I can bite off. There's no one in this area that can guide me through this process. Tom Aaron at System 76 has been great helping me with some of the things I have done, but nothing this extensive. I've been waiting for Sys76 to get this problem worked out but so far they seem stymied. Maybe more pressing issues to resolve. Have been good to me though.

I will print out your instructions and ponder over them. This seems to require a "talking through" session to assure it will work.

In your instructions there is a line that tells about testing the driver using mplayer - there is a "Smiley" face obscuring the character directly after =240__ utfmt. I know the need for accuracy and the wrong character(s) would negate the whole effort.

Sincerely, Thank you for your detailed answer. Your concern and willingness to help is very much appreciated.

hkarl629

[jdb]

brijohn,
WOW! For a nearly 80 year old Ubuntu neophyte this looks like more than I can bite off. There's no one in this area that can guide me through this process. Tom Aaron at System 76 has been great helping me with some of the things I have done, but nothing this extensive. I've been waiting for Sys76 to get this problem worked out but so far they seem stymied. Maybe more pressing issues to resolve. Have been good to me though.

I will print out your instructions and ponder over them. This seems to require a "talking through" session to assure it will work.

In your instructions there is a line that tells about testing the driver using mplayer - there is a "Smiley" face obscuring the character directly after =240__ utfmt. I know the need for accuracy and the wrong character(s) would negate the whole effort.

Sincerely, Thank you for your detailed answer. Your concern and willingness to help is very much appreciated.

hkarl629

This is what that line should have looked like:

# mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=320:height=240:outfmt=bgr24:fps= 30

:o

becomes if it's not put in a code box.

Yeah, that's a couple notches above the average linux user's comfort level.

Maybe using brijohn's post, System76 can package something up in their custom drivers.

jdb

[brijohn]

Yes as jdb said this

mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=320:height=240:outfmt=bgr24:fps=30

is what i meant to say my original post has been updated and should fix the Smilely issue. Really who is genius idea was it have forum software decidide it knows what I meant better then me anyways (^-^)

Yeah I'm aware if you're really new to linux and ubuntu this may be abit much i did try to give a full step by step of each command needed though. If you are having trouble getting it to work with those instructions feel free to IM me sometime and I'll try and help walk you through things if you need it.

[asmiller-ke6seh]

>snip<

Install SN9C20X Webcam driver on SERP2 from latest git HEAD

First make sure to install necessary build environment
# sudo make install linux-headers-`uname -r` git-core build-essential

-----------%<---cut---------%<---------------

Do that for all three Makefiles you opened and then save them.

Now close gedit and go back to the command line
# make
# make install PREFIX=/usr/ LIBDIR=/usr/lib32

This should give you a 32bit version of the library to use with 32bit applications

brijohn,

You have done all of us a great service. All of us with the Microdia webcam in our Serp2 laptops can now enjoy the use of this piece of included hardware if we can follow your recipe. Unfortunately, there are people who are still waiting for System76 to deliver on the promise of turnkey Ubuntu in our systems through the support that we believed we where purchasing along with the System76 hardware.

Could you add your information to the System76 Knowledge base at: http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Main_Page - this will make it easier for all System76 users to find the instruction than having to search the support board.

Again, you have our thanks.