StraitShoot
Who Loves Ya Baby? - Theo Kojak
Premium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
| Acer 4520 Webcam settings..bouncing around distro to distro
Hello...
I've been bouncing around from distro to distro.. 3 of them I like ...
1. Ubuntu 9.10
2. Mandriva with Gnome
and 3. Opensuse..
Non of them work out of the box with my webcam, the built in webcam on my laptop, "Suyin" model - Acer Laptop 4520...
What do I have to do to get it working? The "Cheese" program either doesn't work, doesn't record, or only shows a multi colored "TV" screen..
Can you guys help me? I posted twice on Ubuntu's forums; I think they're overwhelmed...
Thanks
jim
--
I'm proud to be a troublemaker! America was founded by "troublemakers"!
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StraitShoot
Who Loves Ya Baby? - Theo Kojak
Premium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
1 edit | Here's what I get when I open Cheese...
and it won't let me do anything...
Kopete seems to work, however... |
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dohnut
@look.ca
| reply to StraitShoot
That particular model may require libv4l.
In order to get my Logitech Quickcam to work with current kernels, I have to preload libv4l to get it working.
Here's what I have to use in order to get Skype working with my cam.
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
Try using that command with whatever program you're using and see if it works.
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dohnut
@look.ca
| reply to StraitShoot
Looking over my post in the light of day I noticed a few omissions which might clarify it for you.
First of all, make certain that you have libv4l installed on your system. If not, then install it.
Secondly, this command should get cheese working for you. Try running it from a terminal.
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so cheese
Thirdly, this is a command line solution for OpenSuSE 11.1. On whichever distro you're currently using, libv4l might be installed somewhere else, so make sure you know where the v4l1compat.so file is before you attempt this.
I am almost certain that this is your problem. Until about a year ago, the libv4l was included in webcam driver modules for each particular make and chipset type. Since then, however, the kernel authors have moved webcam support directly into the kernel and therefore some camera chipsets no longer have the decompression routines they require in order to display a proper image. libv4l is a kludge which attempts to fix this for those cameras, including my own Logitech Quickcam Deluxes.
I'm guessing your acer note uses the same or a similar chipset.
I have since installed cheese on my system and tried the command above and it works flawlessly. Without the preload, I get the same color bar gibberish as you posted earlier.
Hope this helps... |
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StraitShoot
Who Loves Ya Baby? - Theo Kojak
Premium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA | Thanks.. I am going to reinstall Ubuntu and try it again later on. I really like the way Ubuntu works.. but I may stick with Opensuse.. LOL |
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Lurkarooski
@verizon.net
| reply to StraitShoot
I have an old Logitech Quickcam Web that's been hooked up and unused for years. Ubuntu 9.10 was the first distro that found it and got it working with absolutely no input from me. I do have libv4l-0 installed, but it must have come with one Ubuntu or other (I've used the Upgrade tab in Synaptic for the last several versions), because I never had to search for it. No idea if or how that might apply to your Acer, just thought I'd mention it.
Good luck. |
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StraitShoot
Who Loves Ya Baby? - Theo Kojak
Premium
join:2003-02-08
Clinton, MA
| reply to dohnut
said by dohnut :
Secondly, this command should get cheese working for you. Try running it from a terminal.
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so cheese
Thanks.. I tried it (The lib4l file was in the same directory as Ubuntu... I couldn't get it to work.. When I ran that command I got a black screen on Cheese..
Oh, well.. I'll try anything else you can suggest..
Thanks,
Jim
--
I'm proud to be a troublemaker! America was founded by "troublemakers"!
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dohnut
@look.ca | You said the cam works with Kopete? If it's not a v4l problem I really can't think of anything else to try atm... Sorry... |
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dohnut
@look.ca
| reply to StraitShoot
Here's a few other programs you might want to try. Some of these will; work with certain cameras and others with different models.
luvcview
camorama
kamoso
gqcam
One of these might work for your camera where other programs won't. |
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dohnut
@look.ca | reply to StraitShoot
P.S. Try them all with and without the preload argument to see if any of them work... |
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dohnut
@look.ca | reply to StraitShoot
Just a bump. Wondering if you solved your problem yet or not? |
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