[AG-TECH] UBUNTU 9.10, VIC, webcam (driver pb ?)

[Christoph Willing]

Philippe,

We've now been able to replicate your problem with another webcam that  
is usually "well behaved". At the moment it looks related to the  
kernel version since a particular version of vic that works fine with  
this webcam and kernel series 2.6.29 does not work with the 2.6.31  
series kernel.

Maybe vic will need some modification to adapt to the newer kernels.  
We'll let you know when there is some progress. Until then, the only  
immediate solutions I can think of are:
   1. revert to an earlier version of your distro (which contains an  
earlier kernel version), e.g. karmic->jaunty
or
   2. install an earlier kernel version, e.g. 2.6.31.* -> 2.6.29.6


chris


On 01/12/2009, at 11:51 PM, Christoph Willing wrote:

>
> On 01/12/2009, at 11:05 PM, Philippe d'Anfray wrote:
>
>> Bonjour
>>
>> Merci !! for your answer. I have 2 Logitech cams (pro9000 and  
>> QuickCam
>> sphere)
>> so far they have always worked fine with Linux.
>> The picture I send was from my Dell latitude and I have no special  
>> card
>> inside it.
>> The /dev/video0 appears when I plug in the cam.
>> Then when I add a video service in AG it just proposes me X11 or
>> V4L2:/dev/video0
>> (no V4L .. there is a V4L in Ubuntu 9.04)
>> When I enable or disable the service the light on the cam is turned  
>> on
>> or off
>> But I do not know where the stream come from !!
>> With the last vic it turned to pink rather than than green...
>> but definitively it does not seem to come from the cam
>> (putting one's finger on the lens does not change anything..)
>
>
> Philippe,
>
> The 9000 is one of the Logitech cameras known to have problems,  
> although there seem to be many Logitech cameras with the 9000 label  
> and not all are affected. See:
>  http://www.quickcamteam.net/documentation/faq/how-many-versions-of-the-quickcam-pro-9000-are-there
>
> For some time the V4L2 developers have added additional code to work  
> around the issues but a decision was made to remove such code at  
> some time. I don't recall the exact kernel release when that  
> happened but I guess Ubuntu 9.04 contains a kernel without the  
> workarounds. Different Linux distros will all eventually arrive at  
> that particular kernel version according to their own release cycle  
> so, unless the distro maintainers patch the v4l2 code themselves,  
> Linux support for such cameras will cease completely.
>
>
> BTW the fact that Ubuntu 9.04 only offers v4l2 devices (no more v4l  
> devices) reflects a somewhat similar situation. For some time, a  
> transition from v4l to v4l2 has been taking place, with both systems  
> being supported via a compatibility code layer. It looks as if that  
> transition period may be at an end i.e. no further support for the  
> old v4l. I doubt whether this is related at all to your problem with  
> the Logitech camera; its just happening at around the same time.
>
>
> chris
>
>
>> Christoph Willing a écrit :
>>>
>>> On 01/12/2009, at 6:26 AM, Christoph Willing wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 01/12/2009, at 12:07 AM, Philippe d'Anfray wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Bonjour
>>>>>
>>>>> I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on our "AG-machine" and since I cannot  
>>>>> use our
>>>>> Logitech webcam(s) with VIC I just get  scrambled pictures (and  
>>>>> going
>>>>> throuht
>>>>> the various menu settings does not help)
>>>>>
>>>>> ** VIC works perfectly well with other cameras (we have a Falcon
>>>>> quattro
>>>>> card).
>>>>>
>>>>> ** Logitech webcams  seems to work  fine with some other softwares
>>>>> (e.g. gstreamer-properties, xawtv, ekiga...)
>>>>>
>>>>> I have the same problem with my laptop on which I just installed  
>>>>> Ubuntu
>>>>> 9.10. I can't find any error message
>>>>> in the logs, is this  a driver problem  under Ubuntu 9.10 ? Has  
>>>>> someone
>>>>> noticed the same behaviour ??
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Philipe,
>>>>
>>>> Logitech cameras have not always been well supported under Linux -
>>>> some just don't work. Since your camera works with other  
>>>> applications
>>>> it appears that this particular LOgitech camera should work with  
>>>> vic.
>>>>
>>>> However the image you sent looks like an untuned TV input which  
>>>> isn't
>>>> possible from a Logitech camera. Do you have any other video  
>>>> capture
>>>> cards installed at the same time? Its as if vic is running with  
>>>> some
>>>> other device which has a tuner, not the Logitech camera i.e. the
>>>> Logitech has been undetected by vic, which has instead detected  
>>>> some
>>>> other capture device (which has a tuner).
>>>>
>>>> Have you checked the "If you already have a camera" section at:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.quickcamteam.net/documentation/faq/does-my-logitech-webcam-work-on-linux
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The latest vic from svn has just been pushed to the UQVislab
>>> repository - perhaps that will help. Its difficult to debug without
>>> access to the same camera.
>>>
>>>
>>> chris
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Christoph Willing                       +61 7 3365 8316
>>> QCIF Access Grid Manager
>>> University of Queensland
>>>
>>>
>>
>> <Philippe_d-Anfray.vcf>
>
> Christoph Willing                       +61 7 3365 8316
> QCIF Access Grid Manager
> University of Queensland
>

Christoph Willing                       +61 7 3365 8316
QCIF Access Grid Manager
University of Queensland