Re: working on webcam driver
Thanks much for the feedback! Here's what happened: Because the vendor id (0c45) is listed by the gspca website but not the product (612a), I decided to try inserting the id into one of the drivers/media/video/gspca. When I actually grepped (had not grepped the tree itself yet), low and behold 612a is in sonixj. The module compiles and responds to the camera, although the results in gstreamer, et. al, are disappointing -- the camera is not really usable, I suspect from the output it is the kernel driver, but I am not sure. Since I didn't write this stuff, I think working alone it will be more trouble than it is worth to track the problem down, esp. if this is mostly a problem with an (obscure) inexpensive item that few linux users actually possess. So, I am going to cut my loses early on this project and cop out. I've learned a bunch about the kernel and in the process written some nifty little char drivers that are probably more useful to me than a webcam anyway. I think my time would be better spent on other things, eg, I might become useful in someone else's (more significant) linux kernel/driver project. I will have a look around. But thanks again! You were much nicer than mr Greg Kroah-Hartman ;) :0 Sincerely, Mark Eriksen (getting his feet wet) -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: working on webcam driver
Hi Mark, just searching 0c45:612a gspca could save you lot of time. I suppose you were looking at the old gspca homepage, because it listed on Jean F. Moine site http://moinejf.free.fr/webcam.html ( it dont know even it that page if still updated ) About the gstreamer, what kind of troubles are you having?. It's the webcam streaming? Did you follow the steps using libv4lconvert?. I wrote that patch a year ago, so , if there's any problem let me know. If you need help, about the lib4vlconvert thing, look at deaglecito.blogspot.com Best Regards Costantino Leandro On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 12:08 PM, MK halfcountp...@intergate.com wrote: Thanks much for the feedback! Here's what happened: Because the vendor id (0c45) is listed by the gspca website but not the product (612a), I decided to try inserting the id into one of the drivers/media/video/gspca. When I actually grepped (had not grepped the tree itself yet), low and behold 612a is in sonixj. The module compiles and responds to the camera, although the results in gstreamer, et. al, are disappointing -- the camera is not really usable, I suspect from the output it is the kernel driver, but I am not sure. Since I didn't write this stuff, I think working alone it will be more trouble than it is worth to track the problem down, esp. if this is mostly a problem with an (obscure) inexpensive item that few linux users actually possess. So, I am going to cut my loses early on this project and cop out. I've learned a bunch about the kernel and in the process written some nifty little char drivers that are probably more useful to me than a webcam anyway. I think my time would be better spent on other things, eg, I might become useful in someone else's (more significant) linux kernel/driver project. I will have a look around. But thanks again! You were much nicer than mr Greg Kroah-Hartman ;) :0 Sincerely, Mark Eriksen (getting his feet wet) -- video4linux-list mailing list Unsubscribe mailto:video4linux-list-requ...@redhat.com?subject=unsubscribe https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/video4linux-list -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: working on webcam driver
Since I'm cross-posting this (as advised) I should introduce myself by saying I am a neophyte C programmer getting into kernel programming by trying to write a driver for an unsupported webcam. So far I've gotten the device to register and have enumerated the various interfaces. On 05/11/2009 02:50:00 PM, Erik Andrén wrote: First of all, this list is deprecated. Send mails to linux-media@vger.kernel.org if you want to reach the kernel community. Secondly, have you researched that there is no existing driver for your camera? A good way to start would perhaps to search for the usb id and linux in google to see if it generates some hits. I've done this last bit already, and I just checked out gspca. There is a lot of listing for the vendor id, but not the product id, so I imagine there is no point in trying any of the drivers (unless I hack the source to accept the id string). However, a rather unhelpful person at the linux driver backport group informs me not all USB video drivers are under drivers/media/video/usbvideo/ In fact, the majority of them are not. but then tells me I should take off and go find them myself with a web browser (very nice). Does anyone know where these drivers are located? The same person also claims that the kernel now has support for all devices that follow the USB video class specification, and [sic] that the additional 23 device specific drivers in the tree* are just for non-conforming devices. This kind of flies in the face of everything else I have read about linux and usb webcams. I also notice that it is impossible to select anything other than the v4l layer with xconfig, ie. the individual drivers cannot be selected. Is it normal to include module sources in the tree without making it possible to configure them into a regular build? Sincerely, Mark Eriksen *I can only find the six under drivers/media, and nothing in documentation/ is of assistance -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: working on webcam driver
On 05/14/2009 06:00 PM, MK wrote: Since I'm cross-posting this (as advised) I should introduce myself by saying I am a neophyte C programmer getting into kernel programming by trying to write a driver for an unsupported webcam. So far I've gotten the device to register and have enumerated the various interfaces. On 05/11/2009 02:50:00 PM, Erik Andrén wrote: First of all, this list is deprecated. Send mails to linux-media@vger.kernel.org if you want to reach the kernel community. Secondly, have you researched that there is no existing driver for your camera? A good way to start would perhaps to search for the usb id and linux in google to see if it generates some hits. I've done this last bit already, and I just checked out gspca. There is a lot of listing for the vendor id, but not the product id, so I imagine there is no point in trying any of the drivers (unless I hack the source to accept the id string). However, a rather unhelpful person at the linux driver backport group informs me not all USB video drivers are under drivers/media/video/usbvideo/ In fact, the majority of them are not. but then tells me I should take off and go find them myself with a web browser (very nice). Does anyone know where these drivers are located? Most non yvc (see below) usb webcams are driven through the gspca usb webcam driver framework. This is a v4l driver which consists of gspca-core + various subdrivers for a lot of bridges, see drivers/media/video/gspca The same person also claims that the kernel now has support for all devices that follow the USB video class specification, and [sic] that the additional 23 device specific drivers in the tree* are just for non-conforming devices. This is correct recently the USB consortium (or whatever they are called) have created a new spec called UVC, this is one standard protocol for all webcams to follow. All *newer* webcams use this, but a lot of cams still in the stores predate UVC (which stands for USB Video Class). The first thing to find out to get your webcam supported is what kind of bridge chip it is using, try looking at the windows driver .inf file, typical bridges are the sonix series (often refenced to as sn9c10x or sn9c20x), spca5xx series, zc3xx, vc032x, etc. If you see a reference to anything like this in the windows driver .inf file (or inside dll's) that would be good to know. Also it would be very helpful to have the usb id of your camera. Regards, Hans -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-media in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: working on webcam driver
On Thu, 14 May 2009, Hans de Goede wrote: On 05/14/2009 06:00 PM, MK wrote: Since I'm cross-posting this (as advised) I should introduce myself by saying I am a neophyte C programmer getting into kernel programming by trying to write a driver for an unsupported webcam. So far I've gotten the device to register and have enumerated the various interfaces. On 05/11/2009 02:50:00 PM, Erik Andrén wrote: First of all, this list is deprecated. Send mails to linux-media@vger.kernel.org if you want to reach the kernel community. Secondly, have you researched that there is no existing driver for your camera? A good way to start would perhaps to search for the usb id and linux in google to see if it generates some hits. I've done this last bit already, and I just checked out gspca. There is a loit of listing for the vendor id, but not the product id, so I imagine there is no point in trying any of the drivers (unless I hack the source to accept the id string). However, a rather unhelpful person at the linux driver backport group informs me not all USB video drivers are under drivers/media/video/usbvideo/ In fact, the majority of them are not. but then tells me I should take off and go find them myself with a web browser (very nice). Does anyone know where these drivers are located? Most non yvc (see below) usb webcams are driven through the gspca usb webcam driver framework. This is a v4l driver which consists of gspca-core + various subdrivers for a lot of bridges, see drivers/media/video/gspca The same person also claims that the kernel now has support for all devices that follow the USB video class specification, and [sic] that the additional 23 device specific drivers in the tree* are just for non-conforming devices. This is correct recently the USB consortium (or whatever they are called) have created a new spec called UVC, this is one standard protocol for all webcams to follow. All *newer* webcams use this, but a lot of cams still in the stores predate UVC (which stands for USB Video Class). The first thing to find out to get your webcam supported is what kind of bridge chip it is using, try looking at the windows driver .inf file, typical bridges are the sonix series (often refenced to as sn9c10x or sn9c20x), spca5xx series, zc3xx, vc032x, etc. If you see a reference to anything like this in the windows driver .inf file (or inside dll's) that would be good to know. Also it would be very helpful to have the usb id of your camera. Regards, Hans All of the above is excellent advice, especially in view of the fact that you say, There is a lot of listing for the vendor id, but not the product id, so I imagine there is no point in trying any of the drivers (unless I hack the source to accept the id string), apparently with reference to the cameras supported by gspca. From there, things could go in several directions. First, it might possibly be the case that it suffices only to add the camera's Vendor and Product ID to an existing driver. Or, it might be a completely different one. Or, it might be that everything can be solved but for the fact that the camera is using an undocumented and unsolved compression algorithm, which is the ultimate obstacle to overcome and also the most difficult. Perhaps in addition to the list from Hans, above, an output of lsusb or the content of the /proc/bus/usb/devices file (available if your kernel supports usbfs, otherwise not) would help. Finally, since you say that the Vendor ID appears, it could possibly be the case that someone is already working on support for your particular camera. The matter would be more clear if the Vendor and Product ID numbers are known. Theodore Kilgore
