ibmpc webcam under ubuntu using camorama

Let me start with that I don't have that web cam. That having been said, the following web-page has a whole host of trouble shooting steps, including the statement that the NetCamera and NetCamera Pro do not work.

http://www.linux-usb.org/ibmcam/

My first question would be: "What *exact* model camera do you have?"

(I've also emailed the fact that I've updated this page to fraterchaos)

I really can't say what model the camera is. I bought
it over 6 years ago, in 2000, and no longer have the
box or documentation.

What I do know is: it is a simple generic IBM PC
Camera. That is the name on it and the name by which
all drivers and software are listed, including the
windows install CD.

It is the cheapest IBM cam that was available in 2000.

That's really about all I can say concerning the
camera.

Thanks for taking an interest. If I can't get it to
work under ubuntu, I can still use it from windows...

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> Let me start with that I don't have that web cam.
> That having been said,
> the following web-page has a whole host of trouble
> shooting steps,
> including the statement that the NetCamera and
> NetCamera Pro do not
> work.
>
> http://www.linux-usb.org/ibmcam/
>
> My first question would be: "What *exact* model
> camera do you have?"
>
> (I've also emailed the fact that I've updated this
> page to fraterchaos)
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
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To determine which camera you have, you'll need to gather some information. The command to do this is:

   cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep Vendor

The steps to get some information are:
  1. Open a Terminal (in Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal)
  2. Unplug the camera and run the command.
  3. Plug the camera in and wait 10 seconds.
  4. Run the command again.

If Ubuntu detected your camera at all, the two outputs should be different. Paste the difference here and we may be able to determine what model camera you have.

here is the info you requested:

chaos@the-beast:~$ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep
Vendor
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0443 ProdID=002f Rev= 1.00
P: Vendor=0443 ProdID=002e Rev= 1.00
P: Vendor=045e ProdID=0040 Rev= 3.00
chaos@the-beast:~$ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices| grep
Vendor
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0545 ProdID=8080 Rev= 3.0a
P: Vendor=0443 ProdID=002f Rev= 1.00
P: Vendor=0443 ProdID=002e Rev= 1.00
P: Vendor=045e ProdID=0040 Rev= 3.00

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> To determine which camera you have, you'll need to
> gather some
> information. The command to do this is:
>
> cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep Vendor
>
> The steps to get some information are:
> 1. Open a Terminal (in Applications -> Accessories
> -> Terminal)
> 2. Unplug the camera and run the command.
> 3. Plug the camera in and wait 10 seconds.
> 4. Run the command again.
>
> If Ubuntu detected your camera at all, the two
> outputs should be
> different. Paste the difference here and we may be
> able to determine
> what model camera you have.
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
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From:
    http://www.linux-usb.org/ibmcam/

You have:
Model 2 KSX-X9903 0x0545 0x8080 3.0a Old, cheaper model Xirlink C-It

Information is contradictory, but when the camera is plugged in, run this command:

    sudo lsmod | grep ibmcam

If you get no output, then try this:

    sudo modprobe ibmcam

This should load the driver for your camera.

The lsmod command should now report a line and you should be able to see some information regarding your camera at the end of the output when you run the command:

    dmesg

If all of the above is true, then running this command should return some output:

    ls -l /dev/video*

Let me know...

Ok,

I ran the commands you said to run, all of them worked
fine except the modprobe, which displayed nothing.

The ls -l /dev/video* responded with:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2006-11-25 22:50
/dev/video -> video0
crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 0 2006-11-25 22:50
/dev/video0

However, the cam still isn't working, still gives the
same error, could not connect to /dev/video0

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> From:
> http://www.linux-usb.org/ibmcam/
>
> You have:
> Model 2 KSX-X9903 0x0545 0x8080 3.0a Old, cheaper
> model Xirlink C-It
>
> Information is contradictory, but when the camera is
> plugged in, run
> this command:
>
> sudo lsmod | grep ibmcam
>
> If you get no output, then try this:
>
> sudo modprobe ibmcam
>
> This should load the driver for your camera.
>
> The lsmod command should now report a line and you
> should be able to see
> some information regarding your camera at the end of
> the output when you
> run the command:
>
> dmesg
>
> If all of the above is true, then running this
> command should return
> some output:
>
> ls -l /dev/video*
>
> Let me know...
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
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When you say: "all of them worked fine except the modprobe, which displayed nothing", what information do the following two commands show:

  sudo lsmod | grep ibmcam
  dmesg | grep -C4 -i ibm

lsmod showed:
ibmcam 47724 0
usbvideo 27524 1 ibmcam
usbcore 130820 5
ibmcam,usbvideo,usbhid,uhci_hcd

dmesg showed:
10

____________________________________________________________________________________
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Ok, which groups are you a member of?

The command is:

   groups

If you cannot see the group called 'video' then issue this command:

    sudo adduser chaos video

Then logout and log back in again.

Check to see if you're now a member of the video group.

I ran 'groups' and it listed that I am already a
member of the group video

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> Ok, which groups are you a member of?
>
> The command is:
>
> groups
>
> If you cannot see the group called 'video' then
> issue this command:
>
> sudo adduser chaos video
>
> Then logout and log back in again.
>
> Check to see if you're now a member of the video
> group.
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
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Ok, so what does Camorama do now?

Getting the same error.

I could not log out and log back in because I am in
the middle of a download. (Unfortunately, its a
terribly LONG download)

I'll have to wait for the download to finish before I
can shut down and restart.

I'll let you know if it works after I'm able to
restart the computer, may not be until tomorrow.

Thanks

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> Ok, so what does Camorama do now?
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com

If you launch camorama from the command line do you get any output?

the only output is exactly the same, a dialog box (in
X) saying could not connect to /dev/video0

there was no output at all in the terminal window

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> If you launch camorama from the command line do you
> get any output?
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
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I would attempt to use a different tool, like xawtv to see if it gives any other messages.

Let me know how you go.

As I stated earlier, I'm in the middle of a huge
download right now. I want to try restarting the
computer to see if that helps, but I am afraid to stop
the download for fear it won't restart (its a
bitttorrent and I'm not exactly familiar with them so
I don't know how likely it would be to restart where
it left off)

Anyway, I didn't know Xawtv would work with a webcam,
I used to use it in Mandrake to view TV on my
computer, as it had a TV card at the time. This
computer doesn't have a slot I can put the TV card
into. If Camorama won't work, I may try some other
tool, but are you sure Xawtv will work? As far as I
know, it doesn't have any webcam capability (but I
admit I could be mistaken.)

Well, I think I'll give up for tonight, so if you
write back, I won't see it until tomorrow. I'll let
you know what happens when I finally finish the
download and can restart the comp.

Thanks much for all the help.

--- Onno Benschop <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Needs information
>
> Onno Benschop requested for more information:
> I would attempt to use a different tool, like xawtv
> to see if it gives
> any other messages.
>
> Let me know how you go.
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can
> either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following
> page:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com

User confirmed that the request is solved.

Alan,

Thank you for your help. Using Xawtv worked, and the
cam is up and running. Surprised me as the only
experience I had had before with Xawtv was using it to
run a TV tuner card...

As for my download, yes, I know that torrents are
'supposed' to resume, even after a reboot, but frankly
I don't trust it. I have had other apps (in windows,
not Linux) that said they could resume downloads, and
failed to do so, and when the download is over 700
megabytes, and you are on a wireless connection that
runs between 0 and about 30 Mbp/s, well, you don't
take unnecessary risks.

Anyway, Xawtv worked and I can use the cam in Linux
now, so thank you very much.

Also, I wasn't really trying to disparage Linux by
saying I wanted to reboot to see if that helped, it
was more that I felt perhaps the cam needed the reboot
to work, not Linux.

Thanks again for the assistance, it was a great help
to me.

--- Alan Pope <email address hidden>
wrote:

> Your support request #2601 on Ubuntu changed:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Alan Pope proposed the following answer:
> Ok, a few points.
>
> If you stop a bit torrent download (say for a
> reboot) - you can continue
> again later. It won't start from the beginning.
>
> If you choose to reboot it will likely mean that the
> driver you have
> loaded ( the modprobe line ) will not be re-loaded
> when you reboot, so
> you'll have to go back and do some of these steps
> again.
>
> Finally, rebooting almost never fixes things on
> Linux in the way it does
> on Windows. Usually there is some way to manipulate
> the system by
> stopping and starting individual programs or
> unloading and reloading
> various modules. There are very few problems that
> are "fixed" by a
> reboot.
>
> xawtv can take input from a webcam, or rather from
> /dev/video* and will
> just display it. Another good program to install is
> camstream.
>
>
_______________________________________________________________________
> If this answers your request, please go to the
> following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601/+confirm?answer_id=16
>
> If you still need support, you can reply to this
> email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
>
https://answers.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/2601
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com

Just a little note to thank both people who tried to answer my question, and to thank whoever runs this service.

Having used Linux-Mandrake in the past, and being a long time windows user, I can safely state that neither of those OS's had such great support services.

I really appreciate the support you have provided here. If this is any indication of the philosophy and attitude of the Ubuntu team, then Bravo! and thanks again. Also, I do believe I will continue using your fine product.

Same problem here with my A4tech camera.
xawtv only show black window, the messages from console:
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.20-16-generic)
can't open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
v4l-conf had some trouble, trying to continue anyway
v4l2: open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
v4l2: open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
v4l: open /dev/video0: No such file or directory
no video grabber device available
oddvar@Feisty:~$

Here are the two output
Before unplug
oddvar@Feisty:~$ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep Vendor
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0ac8 ProdID=303b Rev= 1.00
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=04b8 ProdID=010a Rev= 1.04
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=2821 ProdID=5002 Rev= 0.01
After unplug:
oddvar@Feisty:~$ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep Vendor
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=04b8 ProdID=010a Rev= 1.04
P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06
P: Vendor=2821 ProdID=5002 Rev= 0.01
oddvar@Feisty:~$

So what is the problem? My webcam used to function first time I installed Ubuntu Feisty (3 mnths ago)
but now only give black screen.
Anyone know why?