[AG-TECH] Webcams for Linux

[Douglas Kosovic]

Hi Jeremy,

> For testing I ordered a Logitech Quickcam Express USB and could never
> get it to work under Linux. Now I'm on the search for something else
> to replace our Pro 4000s and I would hate to order webcam after webcam
> to find something that works.
> 
> I've looked at the 5000 Pro and it says it works with the new USB
> Video Class driver with v4l2, however I do not know if VIC supports
> v4l2 devices just yet.

UCL vic from the SUMOVER SVN repository has V4L2 support, as does AG 3.1.
The new UCL vic from SVN will even work with V4L2 webcams that only provide
MJPEG.

For the Fedora 7 AccessGrid 2.4 & 3.0.2 RPMs, I've retro-fitted the V4L2
support from AG 3.1.

> Are there any recommendations from the AG community?

Sorry I don't have any recommendations, just some comments.

The UVC driver was having lots of issues with timeouts (and I'm not talking
about with just vic, but even a verbose 'lsusb' will produce half a dozen
timeouts). See the UVC linux driver mailing list archives for more details.
I'm not sure if the timeout issues have been fixed. Some of the workaround
patches posted on the list worked great on some PCs but not others.

I would prefer the 2nd revisions of the UVC Logitech webcams (the ones with
the works with Vista printed on the packaging) as apparently they provide
uncompressed video at the lower resolutions, unlike the 1st generation ones
that provided MJPEG. Unfortunately the 2nd generation of Logitech UVC
webcams are more prone to the UVC driver timeout issues.

I've had success with the cheap Microsoft Xbox360 Live webcam, it's probably
the cheapest UVC webcam on the market. Unfortunately I didn't have success
on all PCs with it, due to the timeout issue mentioned above.


Cheers,
Doug