Linux Mint Forums

I can't use this webcam I just bought (Genius iLook 300) on Linux Mint 7. Programs like Cheese or Skype don't detect it although it does appear with lsusb command as "Pixart Imaging Inc.". No tutorials on Google have helped.

If you need more data, just ask. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The ID from lsusb would be very helpful - that's the one to search for

Well, here is more info:

I have no /dev/video0 (or any /dev/video* at all). When I connect it, its little green light turns on and dmesg shows it as
And it appears with lsusb command as
Thanks for any help!

Ouch
This is one of the IDs where you get all sorts of strange hits
I have to continue looking later and figure out how to get rid of the oddities

in the linux kernel 2.6.27, gspca drivers were introduced; so many current distros already contains drivers for most gspca-devices.

However, some applications still don't work very well together with the new drivers,

so a workaround is to preload a libv4l-compat library:

so for example, OpenSuse recommends ........... for using skype ..........

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

if you google search on

linux configure 093a:2628

which is your vendor/product ID for the webcam you get your own enquiries on mint, and ubuntu and then you get

http://www.linux.org.ru/view-message.jsp?msgid=3290795

which refers to the reference you were given for gspca: http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html

your webcam is not cited there but the reference above; (partly in greek!) quotes

# apt-get install libv4l-0

which is installed in mint I believe; (you can check through synaptic)

and then

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so

and then

# skype

which is very close to what OpenSuse recommends:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

what about trying the command above and see if it will work with cheese or skype:

in this recent posting

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=27154

I suggested one try to get onto the mailing list of gpsca and seek some help from those who are experts on gspca

Thank you for your replies!

I tried that page (that langua is russian) translating with Google. I followed the instructions there but I had no luck neither. My cam still doesn't work.

I'm tired of trying. I'll just wait until the new kernel drivers work normally. Thanks for all your help.

http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/#devices

if you really want to use a webcam, perhaps you try to source the cheapest on this list: folks seem willing to say "UVC just WORKS .........."

such brand names as logitech stand out:

pdc_2 wrote:http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/#devices
if you really want to use a webcam, perhaps you try to source the cheapest on this list: folks seem willing to say "UVC just WORKS .........."
such brand names as logitech stand out:

I've read in forums that there is an issue with Logitech webcams, that the video buffer overflows and the cam frezes, and eventually sound has the same problem too.
It seems to be a problem in the hardware itself (or i nthe firmware?), and apparently Logitech is aware of the problem and may implement fixes in future products.

Any other webcam brands that are recommended?

I own a NE878 which, acccording to forums, should work with a generic driver, but as a windows user who came over to Linux, I'm VERY disappointed that it's so hard to find info on this on the Mint website, so hard to implement an externally sourced driver in Linux if you're not a geek.

Fedora taunts wide webcam support... if this is all open-source, why is it so hard to port over such support? Do I have to install Fedora to get my webcam to work for the end-user that I am?

I own a NE878 which, acccording to forums, should work with a generic driver, but as a windows user who came over to Linux, I'm VERY disappointed that it's so hard to find info on this on the Mint website, so hard to implement an externally sourced driver in Linux if you're not a geek.

Fedora taunts wide webcam support... if this is all open-source, why is it so hard to port over such support?

There are several questions here
One is "why is it so hard to port over"
This is both the bad and the good of Linux - there are so many distros - and that's good but it also means that resources are spread out, almost misused In this case Mint (Ubuntu/Debian) and Fedora does not use the same package format

I'm VERY disappointed that it's so hard to find info on this on the Mint website

Sorry but we can't have info on every possible piece of hardware - and nor does Windows or Apple
Webcams is one of a few remaining areas where support is not all that good

so hard to implement an externally sourced driver in Linux if you're not a geek.

It can be piece of cake or not - it depends on the developer of the driver
I agree that it is a bit hard - it should be simpler, compiling should be made much easier
I guess the heritage from the geeks that developed Linux lingers on ...