Linux Mint Forums

I have Skype installed with a Micro Innovations CM10401 webcam. I cannot get the camera to work with Skype. Skype calls my webcam "Generic Digital camera (/dev/video0), while in the Terminal it is recognized as "Bus 004 Device 002: ID 04fc:0561 Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd Flexcam 100". In the video setup in Skype nothing happens when I click the "test" button. I have found a driver "gspcav1-200071224.tar.gz" that says it is compatible with the Flexcam 100 but I do not know how to install or set this up.

Any ideas?

kbkatz1 wrote:I have Skype installed with a Micro Innovations CM10401 webcam. I cannot get the camera to work with Skype. Skype calls my webcam "Generic Digital camera (/dev/video0), while in the Terminal it is recognized as "Bus 004 Device 002: ID 04fc:0561 Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd Flexcam 100". In the video setup in Skype nothing happens when I click the "test" button. I have found a driver "gspcav1-200071224.tar.gz" that says it is compatible with the Flexcam 100 but I do not know how to install or set this up.

Any ideas?

Extract the archive and look for the instructions.

The READ ME file is not much help. This download is for many different webcam versions, so this leads me back to square one, where to start? Any ideas?

kbkatz1 wrote:The READ ME file is not much help. This download is for many different webcam versions, so this leads me back to square one, where to start? Any ideas?

I downloaded the drivers and the READ_AND_INSTALL file provides instructions in the "Compiling it" and "Trying a v4l app" sections. Follow the instructions. If you are unable to understand the instructions I would suggest buying a Linux compatable UVC Webcam. http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/

Easiest Fix: Installed "Video4Linux Control Panel (V4L2)", opened it up, go to Preview, Configure Preview, Change Application to use to Skype. Now to Launch Skype use V4L2 and "start preview". Works great.

I had the same problem.

v4l worked for me..... just close skype and re open for changes to take place.

@kbkatz - You mentioned, "Easiest Fix: Installed "Video4Linux Control Panel (V4L2)", opened it up, go to Preview, Configure Preview, Change Application to use to Skype. Now to Launch Skype use V4L2 and "start preview". Works great."

As you can see from my screenshot, I cannot find the v4l control panel... where can I find it? (Using Linux Mint 12)

Also, does it have to be so difficult to get Skype - which is in the repository by default - to work properly?

kbkatz1 wrote:Easiest Fix: Installed "Video4Linux Control Panel (V4L2)", opened it up, go to Preview, Configure Preview, Change Application to use to Skype. Now to Launch Skype use V4L2 and "start preview". Works great.

Hi, I found the control panel you mentioned... simply search for "v4l2ucp" instead of "v4l", but as you can see from the screenshot, this does NOT work for Skype in Linux Mint 12... the video is BLACK.

This *might* work~

1. Edit Skype binary -
sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/skype

2. Add the following lines in the blank text -
#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

3. Make it executable -
sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/skype

rykel98 wrote:This *might* work~

1. Edit Skype binary -
sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/skype

2. Add the following lines in the blank text -
#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

3. Make it executable -
sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/skype

Thank you so much, video works now in skype....is there a like or thanks button that I missed somewhere?

To: rykel98
Your instructions left me with real questions as to how to follow along.
As a long time Linux User - but not a programmer - I did not feel confident that I was doing what you said to do.
But what I did do WORKED. Problem (upside down video in skype) is fixed.
Thank you . Thank you. Thank you.
I've been trawling forums for half a day, in my stumbling ignorance and you've done for me in three lines, what others couldn't in page long disertations.

And thank you LM for a forum well enough organised that I could find my issue area.
A grateful noob, GriGri

I'm running Linux Mint 13 64-bit Cinnamon. The solution does not work for my ASUS UL30A. My video on Skype is still upsidedown. I know I fixed it once before, but I don't remember how I did it. But I did locate the libv4. When I try to preload it I get the following:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/local/bin/skype
ERROR: ld.so: object '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.

I have verified the path and it is correct. Any help would be welcomed! Thanks. Rick