I am on a fresh install of 11.3 on KDE. I followed the HCL:Web_cameras guide to setup my cam and it still doesn’t work after testing with aMSN and Kopete.
I can see the device when I run lsusb:
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 041e:4034 Creative Technology, Ltd Webcam Instant
However, the 11.3 drivers link was not added on the guide so I managed to find this link but I get “The following packages could not be installed webcam-gspca2” in Yast when I try to install it (without any more details).
I also tried everything I could find on the Web without any luck.
Does anyone have any recommendation? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
From what I can see here, that webcam should be supported by the Gspca/Spca5xx, Spca5xx-LE WebCams Driver driver included with the kernel in openSUSE-11.3. So no need to add any more drivers (it may make things worse if you do so).
What v4l apps do you have installed ? Do you have libv4l ? libv4l-32bit (if using a 64-bit PC) ? libv4l2 ? … etc ? … One way to check is to run in a terminal (as a regular user):
rpm -qa '*v4l*'
If after having installed various v4l apps, it still does not work with aMSN and kopte, how about trying some apps OTHER than just aMSN and kopete (although those ARE good apps for testing). Perhaps try wxcam, packaged by the packman packagers.
Here are the libv4l packages I have:
libv4l2-0-0.6.4-6.1.i586
libv4l1-0-0.6.4-6.1.i586
libv4l-0.6.4-6.1.i586
libv4lconvert0-0.6.4-6.1.i586
When I try to l launch wxcam I get:
Cannot open /dev/video0.
Please check if your system has the correct driver for your webcam, or change the webcam device in settings->preferences.
But when I go in the Settings to change the device I don’t get other options.
In addition to those, I also have v4l-conf, v4l-tools, and libpt-plugins-v4l2, but I suspect the extras I have should not be necessary.
I also do not see “pm” in the version number of any of those rpms, suggesting you do not have packman packaged versions installed. I recommend you replace those with Packman packaged versions.
Do you have your webcam plugged in when boot? Have you tried a reboot since obtaining that error ?
I removed these packages and I added those from PackMan:
ibv4l-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586.rpm
libv4l1-0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586.rpm
libv4l2-0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586.rpm
libv4lconvert0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586.rpm
But I don’t understand why only one has the ‘pm’ part. I manually uninstalled each of them in Yast first. Is it normal? I can’t see from what repository packages are in the Software Manager but I manually installed each of these packages from the PackMan site.
After I rebooted aMSN had disappeared but I reinstalled it without more success. I also tested again with wxCam.
Yes the webcam is plugged in and I can still see it when I run lsusb. Could it be a mapping problem? What setting or program has the responsibility to map the USB device to /dev/video0?
Its not ‘just’ the ‘pm’ part. LOOK at the version numbers.
For example, packman package is libv4l2-0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586.rpm but you installed libv4l2-0-0.6.4-6.1.i586. Note that 0-0.6.4-1 is NOT the same as 0.6.4-6.1.
It appears to me you are simply selecting the application and allowing YaST to install the version with the highest number and also not install the packman packaged version.
I’m also thinking you have more than just this problem. If you can not update to packman packaged versions with something basic such as v4l, what problems exist elsewhere?
How can I help? Do you need guidance on how to use YaST to upload a specific rpm version, as opposed to another version?
I cleaned up my repositories and I could install the correct versions:
> rpm -qa ‘v4l’
libv4l-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586
libv4lconvert0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586
libv4l2-0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586
libv4l1-0-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586
libv4l-devel-0.6.4-1.pm.5.1.i586
I reinstalled amsn and wxcam and it still doesn’t work after rebooting.
I also tried to install these drivers again but I still get the “The following packages could not be installed webcam-gspca2” message in Yast. How can I see what goes wrong when installing these drivers?
How about running the following from a terminal, one at a time, and try to configure the webcam, and post here any error message, making it clear what error message you get with which app:
aMSN
kopete
wxcam
Please also advise WHAT version of those applications you are using?
For example, on my openSUSE-11.2 PC I have these versions:
kopete-4.3.5-0.1.2.x86_64
libmsn0_1-3.9.97-5.1.x86_64
amsn-0.98.3-1.pm.2.7.x86_64
libmsn0_1-3.9.97-5.1.x86_64
amsn-0.98.3-1.pm.2.7.x86_64
Edit - my experience is webcams whose hardware requires that they use the “gspaca” driver are not as well supported as webcams that use the ‘uvc’.
I was trying to install these drivers because this guide is linking drivers from this website but only for version 11.2. When I saw this directory for 11.3 I thought the page was not updated for 11.3. So I wanted to install HCL-GSPCA2.ymp since my Creative Instant webcam is not UVC compliant (not listed here) as recommended on the guide.
When running aMSN I get no output on the terminal and the audio and video assistant says “No webcam were found”. I was not able to launch Kopete from the command line but when I go to configure the video settings there are no options for the video device to select. When I launch wxcam I still get “Cannot open /dev/video0.
Please check if your system has the correct driver for your webcam, or change the webcam device in settings->preferences.”.
This is the versions I use:
kopete-4.4.4-1.4.i586
libmsn0_3-4.1-2.9.i586
amsn-0.98.3-1.pm.2.5.i586
wxcam-1.0.6-0.pm.4.15.i586
I think I will get a webcam that is UVC compliant. I absolutely need my webcam since I work oversea and there is no way I will switch on another distribution. Despite the few problems I still have to fix I absolutely love openSUSE. The look and the ergonomy is far better than any OS I have seen before.
Webcams are inexpensive, so IMHO one is better purchasing an inexpensive uvc compliant webcam that is supported in Linux, than spending time trying to configure a webcam that is marginally supported, or not supported at all.
Logitech have MANY webcams that are UVC compliant.
I ended up purchasing a very expensive high quality Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 (046d:0821) uvc / linux compatible webcam (I documented that here: Window shopping for hi-tech items – its hard to stay up to date ) but unless one has the money to burn and a VERY fast computer (such as a Core i7 or a quad core PC) I don’t recommend that specific model to everyone.
Instead one can get many excellent Linux compatible UVC webcams from Logitech - just research FIRST before buying, or in some cases Logitech even have on the side of the WEB cam packaging that the Webcam is UVC compliant and Linux compatible.
And for Logitech webcams here is a logitech page: Webcams where you can see that the very inexpensive Logitech C200 is reported in the review pages to work with Linux. It is also listed in the UVC compliance page.
I understand and appreciate your sentiment here. A few weeks ago I was in Canada, and I replaced my 84+ year old mother’s Intel Pro webcam (a gsvca webcam that was NOT reliable under Linux) with a a very old Phillips webcam (that I’ve been using for years) where that specific Phillips webcam has excellent support under Linux.
In turn in Europe I have a UVC compliant webcam that works EXCELLENT under Linux.
And I broke down and installed Skype on both my mother’s PC (in Canada) and my PC (in Europe) and a couple of times per week my mother and I have a video conference/chat with Skype. We can put each other’s image full screen and its tremendous for chatting, almost like one is sitting across the table from each other.
My 84+ year old mother is not getting any younger, and I can’t afford to visit Canada more than once/year, and hence it is absolutely wonderful to have these regular twice weekly video conference/chat sessions with her. It really helps to make up for the distance, and I look forward tremendously to these video-chat sessions.
So yes, I appreciate fully your overseas comment, and the absolute NEED to get the webcam working.