Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G WebCam

First of all, check what make and model your camera is with this command:

lsusb

You can paste the output here if you need help with that.

Hi Cesare!

Here is the output of the "lsusb" command below:

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 05ca:1836 Ricoh Co., Ltd
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 04d9:0499 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond to my inquiry. :)

Best regards,

Steve

Your model is supported but the driver is not officially available from the ubuntu repositories.
If you decide to install it anyhow, here is how:

1) Download and save to Desktop this package:

http://www.arakhne.org/packages/pool/ricoh-webcam-r5u870/2.6.20-16-generic/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-16-generic_0.10.0-3_i386.deb

Note that this package is for the i386 architecture.

2) Install by opening a terminal and giving this command:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Desktop/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-16-generic_0.10.0-3_i386.deb

Let us know if there is any problem/error.

Thanks very much. Unfortunately, I get the error message below and have no idea what it means :)

(Reading database ... 124331 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-16-generic (from .../ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-16-generic_0.10.0-3_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /root/Desktop/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-16-generic_0.10.0-3_i386.deb (--install):
 trying to overwrite `/lib/firmware/r5u870_1810.fw', which is also in package ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /root/Desktop/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-16-generic_0.10.0-3_i386.deb

Steve

Have you already installed this package:

ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic

and if so how? AFAIK its not in the official ubuntu repositories.

Can you also check if in /lib/firmware you have the r5u870_1810.fw file?
In any case you need the r5u870_1836.fw so perhaps the package is not well built, you can check if this works:

http://www.arakhne.org/packages/pool/ricoh-webcam-r5u870/2.6.20-15-generic/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic_0.10.0-2_i386.deb

BTW, here is a list of applications which have been tested to work with the camera (source http://www.arakhne.org/):

xawtv: the canonical video4linux test application
Ekiga: softphone
camstream: version 0.27. Version 0.26.3 does not work due to YUYV bugs
Kopete: instant messenger, although version 0.12 decodes color incorrectly and presents non-working video controls
aMSN: instant messenger
effectv: real-time video effects
Motion: motion-detection and security

Applications tested and found to not work:

Camorama 0.18
Wengophone 2.0

Cesare,

No, I did not specifically install the package named ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic. When I first installed Ubuntu, I was alerted there were 60 updates available to my system and I allowed the Update Manager to install those. Maybe it was in those updates somehow ? You think?

Yes, the file at /lib/firmware/r5u870_1810.fw does indeed exist on my computer.

I tried running the second package you suggested and the following results appeared:

 sudo dpkg -i ~/Desktop/ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic_0.10.0-2_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 124331 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic 0.10.0-2 (using .../ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic_0.10.0-2_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic ...
Setting up ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic (0.10.0-2) ...
Installing ricoh-webcam-r5u870-2.6.20-15-generic...
        refreshing kernel modules...ok
        updating /etc/modules...ok
        loading module r5u870...FATAL: Module r5u870 not found.
ok
done.

The "FATAL" message doesn't look so good ... :) Seems to contradict the fact that the file /lib/firmware/r5u870_1810.fw exists on my machine.

I think that there are problems with the 2.6.20-16 package. Unfortunately it is not an ubuntu package so you can try addressing this to the good folks at arakhne. We have a bug report already which is asking for the r5u870 module to be added to the ubuntu kernel (#64888).
The only solution I can see for you is to make the module yourself.
If you decide to go this way be aware that in case of a kernel update you will have to remake the package yourself.
Do you think you can do this? It implies downloading the module source, some basic compilation tools, the kernel headers, and compile and install the module yourself.

Cesare,

I am a software engineer, but my exposure to Linux is very limited thus far. I could probably figure it out, but I'm not sure how to even download the source code, how to view it, and how to compile it in the Linux environment yet.

Thanks for your help.

Steve

You can download the source tarball from here:

http://lsb.blogdns.net/files/r5u870-0.10.0.tgz

To build and install this kernel module make sure that you have the essential build utils and kernel headers with these commands:

sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

To build just give this command:

make

And to install the module to the appropriate location:

sudo make install

You can test the module by loading it with these commands:

sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe r5u870

The driver should be automatically loaded during boot.
If not you may need to add a line with r5u870 to /ect/modules

You can find some more info as well as module options in the README file.

Cesare,

See my terminal session output below. Does this look like I am heading in the right direction?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

root@stevelw-sony-ubuntu-laptop:/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0# ls
ChangeLog r5u870_1810.fw r5u870_1834.fw r5u870_1870.fw usbcam.h
COPYING r5u870_1830.fw r5u870_1835.fw r5u870_md.c
Kbuild r5u870_1832.fw r5u870_1836.fw README
Makefile r5u870_1833.fw r5u870_1870_1.fw usbcam.c
root@stevelw-sony-ubuntu-laptop:/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0# ./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
root@stevelw-sony-ubuntu-laptop:/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0# make
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-generic/build M=/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0 V=0 modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic'
  CC [M] /usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0/r5u870_md.o
  CC [M] /usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0/usbcam.o
  LD [M] /usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0/r5u870.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
  CC /usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0/r5u870.mod.o
  LD [M] /usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0/r5u870.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic'
root@stevelw-sony-ubuntu-laptop:/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0# make install
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-generic/build M=/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0 V=0 modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic'
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic'
make INSTALL_MOD_PATH= INSTALL_MOD_DIR=extra \
                -C /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-generic/build M=/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0 modules_install
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic'
  INSTALL /usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0/r5u870.ko
  DEPMOD 2.6.20-16-generic
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-16-generic'
install -m 0644 -o root -g root r5u870_1830.fw r5u870_1832.fw r5u870_1833.fw r5u870_1834.fw r5u870_1835.fw r5u870_1836.fw r5u870_1870_1.fw r5u870_1870.fw r5u870_1810.fw /lib/firmware
/sbin/depmod -a
root@stevelw-sony-ubuntu-laptop:/usr/src/r5u870-0.10.0#
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again! Steve

More:

I was able to install XawTV and when I click the "Grab Image" button, I see a little green light come on next to my camera lense, so I presume it is working !

Steve

The compilation and install seems to be OK. You can check if the module is loaded with this command:

lsmod | grep r5u870

Check also in dmesg if there is any relevant error message.

Let us know if you succeed!

When I typed dmseg, the following lines appeared -- is this a success ?? :) Looks promising to me ...

[ 17.200000] usbcam: registering driver r5u870 0.10.0
[ 17.200000] r5u870-0: Detected Sony VGP-VCC4
[ 17.284000] r5u870-0: interface 1 already claimed
[ 17.292000] usbcore: registered new interface driver r5u870

Oh yes, it is DEFINITELY working now. I can see myself on the screen via the camera in xawtv. Thanks so much for all of your dedicated help.

SUCCESS !!

Indeed. :)

Hi,
 I am using sony vaio laptop and i installed all the necesasry drivers and done all the tests explained in the above. I get the following output with
dmesg | grep r5u870

usbcam: registering driver r5u870 0.10.0
usbcore: registered new interface driver r5u870

and my dmesh | grep sony shows,

sonypi: Sony Programmable I/O Controller Driver v1.26.
sonypi: detected type3 model, verbose = 0, fnkeyinit = off, camera = off, compat = off, mask = 0xffffffff, useinput = on, acpi = on
sonypi: enabled at irq=11, port1=0x1080, port2=0x1084
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call1 (line 645)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call2 (line 656)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call2 (line 658)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call1 (line 645)

I am not knowing why the camera = off is shown above. Help needed please.

Hi folks
I have approximately similar problem with VCC4 on VGN-FE855E
It starts but dont show me correct video in Ekiga, onlt the scrambled lines but green light in camera is lighting and i see that signal avaliable as it is.
Does this driver have any deep tunings ?
what can i do with it ?
If somebody need a screenshort i ll post it to anythere.
alex

hi there fellow readers. the camera on the SONY VAIO AR61S is fairly similar, i think. here's what lsusb has to say:

sean@renegade:~$ lsusb
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 05ca:1839 Ricoh Co., Ltd
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 005 Device 005: ID 044e:3012 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 044e:3013 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 044e:3010 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 044e:3011 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

do you think it's gonna work with the current version of the arakhne binary?

many thanks,

sean

hi all,

i had a prob with my camera in amsn, i have the FE31M model, if i use Ekiga the camera is working properly.

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 0ac8:c002 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC1
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 045e:00e1 Microsoft Corp. Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 Reciever
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

thnx

hi all

i had a problem with my webcam driver motion eye sony vaio cr 490
i'm use ubuntu 8.10 operating system

$lsusb
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05ca:1839 Ricoh Co., Ltd

thanks

On my SONY VAIO AR61S

I must run this and the camera works fine:

// get then extract -
tar xf r5u870-0.20.tar.bz2

// then run once
cd r5u870-VCC6/
sudo make
sudo make install

// this must be run after every boot, or automated
sudo modprobe videodev
sudo modprobe video-buf
sudo modprobe v4l1-compat
sudo modprobe v4l2-common
sudo modprobe r5u870
sudo chmod 666 /dev/video0

Hi guys,

I am having problem with my webcam I cant use it on skype.It is really emergency...plz help me.

Bus 005 Device 004: ID 0ac8:c002 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC1
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 054c:0281 Sony Corp.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 044e:300c Alps Electric Co., Ltd Bluetooth Controller (ALPS/UGPZ6)
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Hi!
I'm using UBUNTU 8.10 on my SONY VAIO CR23G/L... everything else is working fine except for -
1. Motion Eye WebCam
2. Built In Mic
3. Can't configure Wine

When I typed 'lsusb' this message was displayed.

Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 04d9:0499 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 044e:300d Alps Electric Co., Ltd Bluetooth Controller (ALPS/UGPZ6)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05ca:1839 Ricoh Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I really liked ubuntu but without my webcam and mic... I kind of feel handicaped.

How about doing an upgrade, the linux kernel updates might have your model camera. Are you sure they are not working? Try recording a sound. applications>sound & video>sound recorder.

I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 and I've used 8.10. Neither of these has worked for my Sony Vaio

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05ca:18b3 Ricoh Co., Ltd

ok, what we can do now with our cameras ? we are waiting for drivers from palmix.org.. but i think is too long waiting.. :-|

Bummer! Just went to Ubuntu 9.04 and lost the camera. the above instructions I posted no longer work. Don't upgrade to 9.04 til someone posts a solution to this problem!

(also lost the microphone and the headphone minijack socket)

sean

yo! for ubuntu 9.04 i followed the instructions http://wiki.mediati.org/b/2008/01/r5u870/ and it has worked a treat.
(sony vaio AR61s)

xxsean

thank you a lot!!!! :)

but my webcam works in all software - but in skype.. it works very bad - i see only one portion of image and it`s double.. strange

rodislav - i had this problem when my devices had the wrong permssions...

reboot -
then

sudo chmod ugo+rw /dev/video0

before starting skype worked.

that fixed the problem for me. hope it helps you!

thanks for help, but it`s not working.. i will try on kde... maybe that will work

I am not sure anyone is still keeping up with this thread, but I thought I would ask as well to see if the problem can be fixed for me as well. I appreciate any help ahead of time, of course!!! My 'lsusb' output is as below:

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 045e:00e1 Microsoft Corp. Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 Reciever
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05ca:1839 Ricoh Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 044e:3012 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 044e:3013 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 044e:3010 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 044e:3011 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Thanks!!! :)

Greg, someone showed me this page: http://wiki.mediati.org/b/2008/01/r5u870/

On it are these instructions:
    Download the latest driver: svn co http://svn.mediati.org/svn/r5u870/trunk r5u870
    cd r5u870
    sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion
    make
    sudo make install
    Reboot the machine
    sudo chmod 777 /dev/video0
    Test with gstreamer-properties or xawtv or skype

and they worked perfectly on my machine - sony vaio AR61S with
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 05ca:1839 Ricoh Co., Ltd

looks like the same camera as yours, so it should work fine. good luck with it!

Sean

Hello Sean!

That worked simply amazing, webcam seems to be working just perfectly now. No problems at all!

Thanks a lot for your time and your fast response, I really appreciate it!!

-Greg

Hi, i have Sony FZ348E and this webcam:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05ca:183b Ricoh Co., Ltd

i tried to install this -> http://svn.mediati.org/svn/r5u870/trunk <- driver but no luck.. can anyone help me with this .. !?

ok, somehow it works now , but in kde applications i see double image with a big zoom.. something like that..

i used also this drivers:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/arakhne/pool/r/ricoh-webcam-r5u870/
http://bitbucket.org/ahixon/r5u87x/overview/

Damn,

I upgraded to Karmic Koala - Ubuntu 9.10 and lost my camera... with the further problem that the above instructions no longer work. Did anyone out there find a workaround??? in either gnome or kde?

thanks!