Logitech Quickcam
From Mandriva Community Wiki
Here we have a Logitech Quickcam (Quickcam Express) and Mandriva 2008 with an instant messaging client (Kopete, aMSN and others) which supports video streaming. How can we use this Webcam?
Simple answer: Install the module (driver loaded by the Linux kernel) which manages it.
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Driver (Module) Installation
There are two drivers for this webcam, therefore two "known" installation methods. The first method is to install the module (driver) called qc-usb, the second is to install a more "universal" (generic) module which manages numerous webcams, called spca5xx.
Here I will document the first (and simpler) method, but I invite you to read numerous tutorials concerning the spca5xx module on the Mandriva forum.
If you have just updated your Linux kernel, it is necessary to to restart the system before adding a driver! Quite a lot of new users update their system and try to install a driver in the same breath without reboot that does not work.
Lets take this step-by-step. Above all, install the 2 software packages which allow the system to manage this webcam. To do this, launch Rpmdrake Menu-> System-> to install or to remove software) and then search for the following packets (this assumes your official repositories are already configured):
Under Mandriva 2007.1
- Kernel-source (or kernel-source-stripped)
- Dkms-qc-usb
Kernel-source: This is the Linux kernel source code installed on your machine. This packet is necessary to install new modules (drivers) on your kernel. It is necessary to choose the kernel-source corresponding to your version of the kernel. If you do not know the version of core, open a terminal (Konsole) and type this:
Press <Enter> to see the kernel version on your system. Ex: 2.6.17-5mdvlegacy.
It is then necessary to choose the kernel-source that corresponds to your version of the kernel. Ex: Kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.22.9-2mdv.
dkms qc-usb: The package DKMS automates the installation of modules on your kernel. Every module (or driver) has its DKMS (dkms nvidia or ati for instance). Here we need the qc-usb module (qc for Quickcam) which manages webcams Logitech.
Under Mandriva 2008
- kernel-devel
- dkms-qc-usb-messenger
kernel-devel: The source code for the Linux kernel installed on your machine. This package is necessary to be able to install new modules (drivers) on your kernel. It is necessary to choose the kernel-devel corresponding to your version of core. If you do not know the version of core, open a terminal (Konsole) and type this:
Press <Enter> to see the kernel version on your system. Ex:2.6.22.9-desktop-2mdv.
dkms-qc-usb-messenger: The DKMS package automates the installation of modules on your kernel. Every module (or driver) has its DKMS (dkms nvidia or ati for instance).
Webcam Configuration
Once these packages are installed, it is necessary to restart the system. If everything goes well, the module is installed and starts automatically on boot (you should be able to see by pressing on <ESC> during boot). Prove that it is loaded properly with this command:
lsmod | grep qc
Which should show something like "qc-usb". If you see nothing, it is because the module is not loaded. In that case, open a console, as root type this:
modprobe qc-usb lsmod | grep qc-usb echo "qc-usb" >> /etc/modprobe.preload cat /etc/modprobe.preload
The last command copies into this file modprobe.preload (modules loaded during system startup) a line containing "Qc-usb". You can restart the PC.
Once the module loads, it is time to connect the webcam to a usb port, and test it via amsn, kopete or Ekiga.
Another Example
One Man's Experience with the Logitech™ Quickcam Connect
Webcam Setup
Logitech webcams are generally reliable and all but the newest models work well with Linux. In my experience, a working webcam requires V4L and the GSPCA driver be installed. Assuming the device is recognized in the hardware layer, that should be enough to get things working, but I could have missed something along the way.
A working USB webcam looks something like this in lsusb:
# lsusb Bus 002 Device 006: ID 05ac:1262 Apple Computer, Inc. Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 006 Device 006: ID 0a5c:2100 Broadcom Corp. Bus 006 Device 005: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. Bus 006 Device 004: ID 10b5:ac70 Comodo (PLX?) Bus 006 Device 003: ID 046d:08d9 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Connect <---This is it here Bus 006 Device 002: ID 05e3:0604 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 1.1 Hub Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 005 Device 002: ID 056a:0015 Wacom Co., Ltd Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 058f:6362 Alcor Micro Corp. Hi-Speed 21-in-1 Flash Card Reader/Writer (Internal/External) Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
The GSPCA driver needs to load as a module.
Should show something like:
# lsmod|grep gspca gspca 676016 0 videodev 27104 1 gspca usbcore 121932 13 snd_usb_audio,hci_usb,pl2303,gspca,snd_usb_lib,cp2101,usbserial,usb_storage,wacom,uhci_hcd,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd
There are a number of applications out there that will use the webcam. I installed mine so that I could video conference with Skype. For the record, Ekiga may be a better application, but Skype is as popular as it is proprietary. Unfortunately the Linux Skype client seems a bit short on features. For example, there is no way to tune the video signal. If the image is dark, it's dark and there is no way to adjust it in Skype.
However, there is a way to adjust the signal via the driver itself. The GSPCA driver creates a directory under /sys/module/gspca/ which contains a list of files:
Yields
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 autoexpo -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 compress -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 debug -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 force_gamma_id -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 force_rgb -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 force_sensor_id -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 force_yuv -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-17 20:42 gamma -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 GBlue -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 GGreen -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 GRed -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 lightfreq -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 OffBlue -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 OffGreen -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 OffRed -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 rotate -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2009-05-19 11:22 usbgrabber
Notice the file named gamma. This file contains a number from 1 to 7 that sets the brightness of the webcam signal in all applications. To set this number, simply edit the file. One quick way to do that is to issue the command:
This would set the gamma to 4. You can check the contents by simply concatenating the file to standard out a'la:
This section is empty or not enough detailed, you can improve it by editing it !Quickcam vs. Skype
Relevance note: This information is relevant for Mandriva 2011.0
$ cat /etc/mandriva-release Mandriva Linux release 2011.0 (Official) for x86_64 $uname -a Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.38.7-desktop-1mnb2 #1 SMP Sun May 22 19:38:58 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Problem symptoms
- Skype detects the type of the webcam correctly, but doesn't record/send any video.
- Driver gspca is installed as described above (qc-usb is really obsolete now. Don't even try it with any newer Mandriva release.)
- Webcam works in different applications e.g. kopete, ekiga, cheese, but doesn't work with skype.
- You are using 64-bit installation of Mandriva.
Solution
- Before trying your webcam with skype I recommend to test functionality with 'cheese'.
- If you running 64-bit system remember that skype is 32-bit app. So you also need 32-bit v4l libraries e.g.: libv4l0-0.8.5-1-mdv2011.0.i586.rpm
- There is also trick to improve performance of video with skype. Run it with a pre-load e.g.:
