[GnomeMeeting-devel-list] New MiniDV driver

[Georgi Georgiev <chutz gg3 net>]

(I hope this mail makes it)

This message is mostly targeted at people who are using the AVC plugin
for their MiniDV camera.

A new implementation of a DV1394 plugin (cleanly installable along with
the current plugins) is available for download from
http://www.gg3.net/~chutz/dvplugins/

The major differences between the new DV and the current AVC plugins
are:

- no more (silently) dropped frames (or at least *less* of them)
- depends on a loaded dv1394 kernel module
- does not depend on libavc1394
- does not depend on libraw1394
- does not report the pretty name of your camera
- no crashes on my 2.6 kernel (AVC was freezing on me after a few
  seconds)

Any reports/comments/suggestions from brave souls are much appreciated.

                           == Short F.A.Q. ==

- ../../make/unix.mak: No such file or directory

  It should be possible to compile the module with a simple "make". If
  you get errors about a missing "make/unix.mak", then run this command
  on the "make/plugins.mak" file that came with pwlib:

  sed -e 's,\(include  *\)\.\./\.\./,\1$(PWLIBDIR)/,'

  To Whom It May Concern: Could someone fix the source, so that
  plugins.mak includes files from the proper location, like the other
  .mak files do?

- "ptlib-config: Command not found" or missing headers

  You need the pwlib development package for your system I guess. You
  also need the libdv devel packages, and that should be about it.

- The dv1394 kernel module:

  This module provides character devices that allow you to directly read
  a raw DV stream.

- No devices detected

  The new DV plugin for pwlib looks for a device at all possible (known
  to me) locations.  In addition, it will also look for a file named
  ./symlinked.dv. The idea of this ./symlinked.dv is to allow you to
  create a symlink to your device file on your system if it is not
  detected.

  If your /dev lacks the required devices, you probably need to create
  the nodes yourself.  Take a look at http://www.linux1394.org/dv1394.php

  Summarized:

        In the absence of devfs, you can make your own device by, for example,
        mknod -m 666 /dev/dv1394 c 171 32 for NTSC
        or
        mknod -m 666 /dev/dv1394 c 171 34 for PAL 

  Also see below for udev and devfs support.

- udev

  Version 2.6.12-rc1 of the linux kernel has the ieee1394 family of
  modules with enabled sysfs support. If you are running 2.6.12-rc1 or
  later with udev, you should get a device like /dev/dv1394-0 or
  similar.

  I also recommend adding the two lines below to your udev rules, in
  order to make your setup a bit prettier. I guess a future version of
  udev will include these lines.

    KERNEL="dv1394-*",       NAME="dv1394/%n",       GROUP="video"
    KERNEL="video1394-*"     NAME="video1394/%n",    GROUP="video"

- devfs

  The dv1394 module creates devices at /dev/ieee1394/dv/host#/{NTSC,PAL}/{in,out}
  I don't have a devfs setup, so I decided to trust the data at
  http://www.linux1394.org/dv1394.php


-- 
\    Georgi Georgiev   \  Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel  \
/     chutz gg3 net    /  in which it is stored as well as destroy the /
\   +81(90)2877-8845   \  object on which it is poured.                \