Ubuntu
nautilus package

What is a 'character device'?

Asked by bwallum

I have been trying to get a web cam to work. Camorama tells me it cannot find /dev/video0

When I use nautilus to examine /dev/video It shows me a file and informs me it is of type 'character device'.If I try to open it with a text editor (gedit) I am informed it is not a regular file.

What is a 'character device'?

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Kelvin Gardiner
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Best Kelvin Gardiner (kelvingardiner) said : 		#1

In Unix everything is handled as a file including hardware. So for example a hard drive maybe /dev/hda.

A file that refers to a device is either a block device or character device. A block device are random access. A character provides serial access.

In your case gedit can't open /dev/video as this is your web cam not a normal file such as text file or image.

Camorama thinks your web cam is /dev/video0 put this file does not exist. You said you found /dev/video. Try to setting your web cam location in Camorama to /dev/video.

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bwallum (rbw2) said : 		#2

Thanks Kelvin Gardiner, that solved my question.