Re: suggestion: persuasive webcam installation when the webcam doesn't work at all

[Paulo Silva <nitrofurano gmail com>]

On 12/25/09, Mike Turquette <mturquette gmail com> wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 6:22 PM, Paulo Silva <nitrofurano gmail com> wrote:
>> On 12/24/09, Mike Turquette <mturquette gmail com> wrote:
>>> On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 6:30 AM, Paulo Silva <nitrofurano gmail com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> (Daniel, it's a Gmail issue on lacking sending to the mailing list as
>>>> well, and i'm always forgetting that, maybe because you CCed the
>>>> mailing list and sent the answer for me - Gmail still sucks sometimes
>>>> because of this... - is this mailing list also at google groups?)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Here is a screenshot from my desktop computer, after turning on the
>>>> webcam, connected on the usb - it's a gspca-compatible webcam, and
>>>> worked only on Ubuntu 8.04 (i'm not interested on downgrade..) after
>>>> compiling and installing kernel module (painful issue for me) - i were
>>>> trying it since Ubuntu 4.10, and got it no more working since Ubuntu
>>>> 8.10
>>>>
>>>> http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1551/webcamf.png
>>>
>>> GSPCA isn't everything.  The webcam built into my Dell monitor *only*
>>> requires UVC (usb video class) and no other GSPCA drivers.  In your
>>> kernel config this can be toggled on at Device Drivers -> Multimedia
>>> support -> Video Capture Adapters -> V4L USB devices ->
>>> CONFIG_USB_VIDEO_CLASS=m
>>
>> thanks the info you provided, but just a question: how can i access
>> 'Device Drivers -> Multimedia support -> Video Capture Adapters -> V4L
>> USB devices -> CONFIG_USB_VIDEO_CLASS=m' ? (maybe a screenshot would
>> also help, i think...) - and how can i access this 'kernel config'
>> anyway?
>
> Ah, I assumed from your previous mails that you were building your own
> kernel.  The configuration I mention above makes sense if you build

the only time i got it successfully, and only on Ubuntu 8.04, were
from a ready script, i think were from an Ubuntu package related to
gspca

after that, i were trying, after following instructions from people
trying to help, compiling patches related to gspca, all results very
painful and unsuccessful - that's why i'm always very surprised when
someone have a webcam running on GNU/Linux , it looks for me very
surreal, like some people are able to do the impossible..



> your own kernel, but that seems to not be the case.  I do recommend
> that you look into it, but honestly a how-to on building your own

i'm not skilled enough, and somehow afraid on having to reinstall
Ubuntu again, specially when all my Linux computers are computers i
use for work..




> kernel is probably outside the scope of this conversation.
>
> Sorry for any further confusion.  Just for your own edification you
> might find the following interesting:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile.  Again, the above

about https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile , this happened often:

"You have no idea what you are doing, and if you break something,
you'll need help fixing it. Depending on what you do wrong, you might
end up having to reinstall your system from scratch."

even after 11 years using GNU/Linux (and 5 using Ubuntu), i'm still
very newbie, even on compiling sources, and even worse on compiling
kernel modules...


> link won't really fix any of the problems in this thread, but you
> might find the information enlightening.

anyway, if someone know any webpage with very clear step-by-step
instructions for this specific situation, please let me know - and
anyway, a simple .sh script could do all of this without any error,
would be awesome indeed! :)

in my viewpoint, webcam should be a thing should work easily out of
box, without needing to know a thing about kernel compiling, and
worrying about whole GNU/Linux reinstallation and so on...

and after all this feedback, i'm really assuming webcam on Linux is
only for the very few privileged skilled people about compiling
kernels... :(

>
> Regards,
> Mike

thanks, and sorry for the annoyance


>
>> (getting even more lost after a google search at
>> http://www.google.pt/search?hl=pt-PT&safe=off&q=Device+Drivers+Multimedia+support+Video+Capture+Adapters+V4L+USB+devices&btnG=Pesquisar&meta=&aq=f&oq=
>> )
>>
>>
>>
>>> There is a good chance that your camera is supported, but its a matter
>>> of proper configuration.
>>> Mike
>>
>> thanks indeed for the encouragement! :)
>>
>> thanks in advance, and good xmas and 2010 to you all as well! :)
>> paulo
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> About iSight, is yours from the MacBook 2,0 as well? since i bought
>>>> that, i kept trying following all those instructions we find online
>>>> (Ubuntu documentation wiki pages), extracted the firmware file and
>>>> placing it on the right place as told, asking people if the md5sum of
>>>> the firmware is right, etc., and nothing - what happens is, when i
>>>> have the firmware placed on that location, the boot process hangs with
>>>> a kind of 'usb enumeration error', making me forcing the power button
>>>> for shutdown all the time, when the webcam worked fine on OSX... -
>>>> maybe it's just my bad luck with computer gadgets..
>>>>
>>>> thanks and cheers
>>>> paulo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 12/24/09, daniel g. siegel <dgsiegel gnome org> wrote:
>>>>> that is not true, at least as far as i heard. many webcams are using
>>>>> the
>>>>> same chip, and the majority is supported under linux. in the most
>>>>> cases,
>>>>> the fault is just wrong configuration or a driver bug.
>>>>>
>>>>> by the way: i am using the isight, and it works very nicely.
>>>>>
>>>>> daniel
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mi, 2009-12-23 at 21:11 +0000, Paulo Silva wrote:
>>>>>> webcams doesn't work at all on Linux, or
>>>>> --
>>>>> this mail was sent using 100% recycled electrons
>>>>> ================================================
>>>>> daniel g. siegel <dgsiegel gnome org>
>>>>> http://home.cs.tum.edu/~siegel
>>>>> gnupg key id: 0x6EEC9E62
>>>>> fingerprint: DE5B 1F64 9034 1FB6 E120 DE10 268D AFD5 6EEC 9E62
>>>>> encrypted email preferred
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Don't give Microsoft the remote control. Don't use Windows 7.
>>>> <http://windows7sins.org>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Don't give Microsoft the remote control. Don't use Windows 7.
>> <http://windows7sins.org>
>>
>


-- 
Don't give Microsoft the remote control. Don't use Windows 7.
<http://windows7sins.org>