Ubuntu

How do I use my built in webcamera?

Asked by Jmax

I have recently puchased a laptop and I installed ubuntu on it. The laptop has a built in webcam, but I don't know how to use it with ubuntu.

Jmax

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Steven Danna
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Steven Danna (ssd7) said : 		#1

You can likely do many different things with your webcam. To see if it works at all, try the following:

1) Install Cheese. The following is one way to install cheese via the command line.

a) Open a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal
b) Run the following command:

sudo apt-get install cheese

c) Enter your password when prompted and agree to the installation.

2) Launch Cheese. Applications->Graphics->Cheese Webcam Booth

This program is a lot like photobooth on Macs and will let you take pictures and video with your webcam. If Cheese doesn't work post back here and we can try to troubleshoot it. If it does work you might want to look into other programs that will take advantage of your webcam. For instance Ekiga and Skype can be used to hold video chats with people.

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Jmax (jean-maximus) said : 		#2

The reason that I want to be use my webcam is because I want to be able to take vids and pics with it, so do you know of any other programs that have that option?

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Best Steven Danna (ssd7) said : 		#3

The program Cheese I mentioned can do both of those things. A quick
search using Synaptic Package Manager
(https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto) revealed that there
are a few more programs that may do what you want including Camorama.
However, in my experience, Cheese is more pleasant to use. If you are
looking for more heavy duty video editing capabilities you may want to
try Kino, although I have never used this program personally.

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Jmax (jean-maximus) said : 		#4

Thanks Steven Danna, that solved my question.

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smallzz (esmalheiser) said : 		#5

I installed Skype recently, and as soon as I did, my webcam didn't work for Cheese after. I also do not know how to set up my webcam, built in by the way, for Pidgin, which is frustrating because once I installed Skype the webcam fails. I have Ubuntu 9.04 with a Pengolin computer. Please help.