Microsoft Lifecam VX-1000 -- Revisited

English Hardware
1

I have followed the instruction to install the correct drivers for the above web cam that appear elsewhere in this forum as provided by Akoellh.However, I am still getting errors as follows:

:~> LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so gqcam
libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG header: Not a JPG file ?

Error reading image…
libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG header: Not a JPG file ?

Error reading image…
libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG header: Not a JPG file ?

AND

:~> LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

Starting the process…
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 33
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 126
libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG
header: Not a JPG file ?

libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG
header: Not a JPG file ?

libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG
header: Not a JPG file ?

libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error parsing JPEG

What is my next step toward having a happy web cam installation? :slight_smile:

2

Vic: if I try and go back through your earlier thread;

Microsoft Lifecam VX-1000 - openSUSE Forums

I look to this webpage for advice

http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html

and what intrigues me is that

it says

MicroSoft 227 0x045e 0x00F7 VX1000 sn9c105r OV7660 Yes Jpeg gspcav1

and I would have thought it meant it used gspca but Axel in his post said

By default, this device uses a “non-gspca” driver.

he did say

there is a gspca-driver which recognizes this device.

  • add my OBS-repo to your online repositories

Index of /repositories/home:/Akoellh/openSUSE_11.1_Update

so you did all he said?

  • blacklist the other driver and unload it

Code:

su -

(Password)

echo “blacklist sn9c102” >> /etc/modprobe.d/webcam

modprobe -rv sn9c102

then

as you are using the pae-Kernel, install “gspca-kmp-pae” via YaST/zypper from my OBS-repo and load the module

Code:

su -

(password)

zypper install gspca-kmp-pae

modprobe -v gspca_sonixj

then

read this HCL/Web Cameras - openSUSE (the part for 11.1), install the correct libs from packman and test with the LD_PRELOAD-commands given there.

When I read this page

it seems to me to say:

  1. UVC compliant webcams
  • Most modern webcams support the USB Video Class (UVC) and work without specialised drivers.
  • Check the list of webcams supported by the uvc driver.
  • If

your one is supported, check the UVC Webcams page.

…well I thought your camera was NOT UVC compliant …

  1. Webcams supported by the Gspca/Spca5xx driver

If your web cam is NOT UVC compliant,
check if your device is on the list for the Gspca/Spca5xx driver.

If it is, (and I think yours is …)

install the driver as follows:

and there is a big green button: so did you install from that?(that is a question, not a command …)

before I ask you about the libraries Axel talked about …

install the correct libs from packman

3

The web cam is NOT on the UVC compliant list.

I think that I followed all of the instructions that I was given.

I am running OS 11.1 so on the page that you are referring to there is no big green button, but a bunch of instructions. I did load the kernel stuff from his repo and I loaded the other libraries from packman. I also did the blacklist thing to get rid of the default driver.

There seems to be a piece / step missing, but I don’t know what that is.

Thank you for your assistance.

4

have a read at this post;

HP 2-megapixel webcam on opensuse 11.1 - openSUSE Forums

see if anything in posts #1 and #2 ring true for you;

see if anything in post #3 is of use to you;

(I have checked your ID

GSPCA V4L2 - Webcams

(I use the “find” option in Firefox from the edit menu, and paste the numbers in …)

and it has the same status (ie OK) as Tsandu’s camera);

but hey; linux is for adults; so it’s your computer; so what you do is for you

we call tell you how to install tar.gz files if needed if you choose to

5

Well, all of this would seem to fit. On the other hand much of this is beyond my pay grade! Let’s keep going. What files do I down load, and how do I install them.

6

You can find out the procedure that work with tsandu in this link.
webcam problem Logitech, Inc. OrbiCam - Page 2 - openSUSE Forums

For information on what you are looking please revisit pdc_2 post and his link to tsandu and tsandu’s links in his post on how he obtain the source tarball for his webcam.:wink:

Have a happy compiling.

7

HI Vic;

Conram has kindly pointed you to some pretty thoughtful stuff that someone did:

the straight and narrow instead would be to go here:

~jfrancois/gspca: Summary](http://linuxtv.org/hg/~jfrancois/gspca/)

click on the last icon of the second line: it is a gz file

your computer will offer you the option of open with file roller, or save: I would save it to your download directory;

the gz is compressed file; current is gspca-49ece7a25984.tar.gz

read the instructions that Conram gave you:

Compiling and installing software from source in Linux

but my summary would be:

the first step is to “unpack” the gspca-49ece7a25984.tar.gz file in your download directory, where it is likely you will download the package to;

(and you should be able to copy and paste these commands into your terminal)

tar xvzf gspca-49ece7a25984.tar.gz

if you then type in

ls

that asks the computer to list all files in that download directory; in blue, you show now have a gspca folder; should be gspca-49ece7a25984 or something very similar!

so the package has been unpacked and is now in the form of a directory, in your download directory; you need to install the goodies in that gspca directory and so make them active

right. now you type in

cd gspca-49ece7a25984

and

./configure

and then

make

then assume rootly powers as swerdna would say, and enter your root password and the terminal should show the # sign and

make install
(the hash is just to show root, don’t enter it the command line)

… that should do it …

but it’s your computer and we are trying to help you get your webcam running

8

The
./configure script? is not there
If I look at the README file it would appear that I don’t have to do that. But I am only guessing.

9

so the readme file says:

V4L and DVB documentation are at:
linux/Docummentation directory.

To compile both v4l and dvb, just do:
make

To install over kernel’s old files:
make install

A more complete list of other possible usages for the building system
can be found at:
INSTALL

if you want to contribute by offering your work to V4L/DVB, please read:
README.patches

Notice: v4l dir is used also as a temporary dir for building v4l/dvb modules.

so it sounds likes you just do and all should be done

make

if I say again; your webcam does not work; you want it to work; installing the latest gspca drivers seems to have worked for others

eg

Nabble - video4linux-list - gspca (ubuntu 8.10) and sonixj camera problems

but always make sure you have backups of any valuable personal files;

10

Well I followed all of the instructions. The make and make install seemed to go OK. However, in the end, my web cam is no longer detected. :frowning:

I notice that if I turn off the spash screen at boot time, there seem to be a number of new, and perhaps error messages that appear. The scroll past too quickly for me to read them and I don’t know how to freeze the display.

11

Hi,

Did you follow the steps from the readme in the Jef Moine site.
This is the link for the readme from that site.http://moinejf.free.fr/gspca_README.txt
Please read it carefully and everything should work.
also if you do the make xxxxconfig, you will need to install the ncurses devel package from yast. Also if using kde you will also need the qt3 devel installed.

To work with kopete you also need to install the libv4l (packman repo)
Collection of video4linux support libraries
libv4l is a collection of libraries which adds a thin abstraction layer on top of video4linux2 devices. The purpose of this (thin) layer is to make it easy for application writers to support a wide variety of devices without having to write separate code for different devices in the same class. libv4l consists of 3 different libraries: libv4lconvert, libv4l1 and libv4l2.
libv4lconvert offers functions to convert from any (known) pixelformat to V4l2_PIX_FMT_BGR24 or V4l2_PIX_FMT_YUV420.
libv4l1 offers the (deprecated) v4l1 API on top of v4l2 devices, independent of the drivers for those devices supporting v4l1 compatibility (which many v4l2 drivers do not).
libv4l2 offers the v4l2 API on top of v4l2 devices, while adding for the application transparent libv4lconvert conversion where necessary.

AND

pwlib-plugins-v4l2 - V4L2 support for pwlib (from repo oss)
This plugin enables ‘video for linux’ (version 2) support (e.g. for USB cameras) for pwlib.
The level of support is unspecified

The libv4l you can download it from the link site on previous post and compile,but it is available as an rpm in yast so you can just install the rpm to save time compiling.

Hope this helps

12

Did I mention in a previous message that all of this is beyond my pay grade. Well it is. I have read much of what you suggest, above, and I am at a loss to know what to do next. I can tell you that I have no /dev/video0 entry. Here is part of the diagnostic that was suggested in the README file:

dmesg | tail -70
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
parport_pc 00:09: reported by Plug and Play ACPI
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778), irq 7, dma 3 [PCSPP,TRISTATE,COMPAT,ECP,DMA]
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
gspca_main: disagrees about version of symbol video_ioctl2
gspca_main: Unknown symbol video_ioctl2
gspca_main: disagrees about version of symbol video_devdata
gspca_main: Unknown symbol video_devdata
gspca_main: disagrees about version of symbol video_unregister_device
gspca_main: Unknown symbol video_unregister_device
gspca_main: disagrees about version of symbol video_register_device
gspca_main: Unknown symbol video_register_device
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_frame_add
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_debug
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_disconnect
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_resume
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_dev_probe
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_suspend
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 62x/62x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
sr 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 40x/40x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
sr 1:0:1:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_frame_add
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_debug
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_disconnect
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_resume
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_dev_probe
gspca_sonixj: Unknown symbol gspca_suspend

The long and short of it is that I have no idea what to do next.

13

Hi Vic,

Sorry to hear that, but you’ve been warned that it takes a lot of reading and familiarity to do this task especially if you are new to these stuffs. I am not an expert in this matter but I did persevere and encourage myself to do the compiling in order to make my webcam work. The things I had written in my posts regarding my webcam issue were the steps I did that worked for me.

If you won’t mind posting the procedure you’ve done, can you please post it here, it might help us straighten it or let’s say there might be something you missed or skipped that you didn’t notice.

tsandu