Webcam support

Asked by oddvar

I have a a4tech webcam pk-635. Why I only get error msg from xawtv?
From terminal:
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.20-16-generic)
can't open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
v4l-conf had some trouble, trying to continue anyway
v4l2: open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
v4l2: open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
v4l: open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
no video grabber device availabl

At the same time, I have WinXP and vmware-player installed, From there the webcam function perfect!

I have spent hours and days try to debug this in Ubuntu, but nothing changes. The only is I have installed more programs that
neither can use the webcam. Why is there no "control panel" or like that in Ubuntu? That was what helped me in Windows.
Ubuntu Hardware manager say there is webcam, but nothing about status or helpful info as I can see.

Can anyone help with this?

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
oddvar
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Bjørn Sandåker (prognatus) said :
#1

There is a control panel in Ubuntu at menu item System->Preferences->Control Center, but it may not help you much with this problem.

It looks like the spca5xx driver possibly can work for you card: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsMultimediaWebCamerasA4Tech

Refer to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EasyCam and/or https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam for more instructions.

Other references that might be of help:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_a_webcam
http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Webcam-HOWTO/hardware.htmlt

Revision history for this message
oddvar (aha5262) said :
#2

Thanks for your advice. When I run sudo easycam I get a list of detected devices. Only two have a name, the rest is list of numbers.
I have tried most of them ,run easycam x times. But what am I supposed to do? When I choose a device, the program end.

Revision history for this message
phlegm (daveshome) said :
#3

Open a terminal and type tail -f /var/log/messages
Then plugin your webcam and see what is detected. This may help to determine which chip your camera has.

Revision history for this message
oddvar (aha5262) said :
#4

Thank you. As I said earlier, my webcam is already detected and works perfectly in WindowsXP/VMWare-player. So the problem is not the webcam, but what might be of auto-detection in Ubuntu Feisty.And this worked flawlessly on my computer first time I installed Feisty. Webcam support both in xawtv and Gyachi. So I can not understand what has changed or where to find the problem.

Revision history for this message
oddvar (aha5262) said :
#5
Revision history for this message
oddvar (aha5262) said :
#6

I have installed and run xawtv from the live cd. xawtv function perfect and so do my webcam.
So this must mean it is all the updates from Ubuntu that are making this error! How can I go back to a previous versions of different programs like xawtv + dependencies ? As I am writing this msg from Live cd my webcam function perfect. But some errors from the terminal window.
**************************************
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo xawtv
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.20-15-generic)
/dev/video0 [v4l]: no overlay support
v4l-conf had some trouble, trying to continue anyway
Warning: Cannot convert string "-*-ledfixed-medium-r-*--39-*-*-*-c-*-*-*" to type FontStruct
ioctl: VIDIOCMCAPTURE(frame=0;height=144;width=176;format=7): Invalid argument
***************************************
But the output from xawtv is my webcam with monitor title '???'.

Revision history for this message
oddvar (aha5262) said :
#7

Thank you all. I have found out I should use the restricted drivers in System>Administration>Restricted drivers manager.
That solved a lot of problems, and as far as I can see all function well now.
The next will be to upgrade Feisty to Gutsy when its launched.