hi. i got a USB logitech webcam quicam pro 3000. i am running woody 2.6.5, and i would like to make it work. could somebody tell me how?

Well, first check if it's in the Hardware Compatibility list here at LQ. In this case it's not listed, but when you get it working, then post it in the HCl!

Okay, did any drivers come with your camera? Are there any availible from the manufacturer's website? If so, install them, and make sure you have USB support enabled. If you installed from Knoppix, you probably do have USB.

Oh, and check out this website: http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/release.html

if i knew how to do it i would be more than happy to make a post in the LQ. also if i knew how to do that i would not ask over here! so could someone help me with my webacam?

Well, you are going to need video4linux in your kernel. You will also need a camera reader. Camstream comes to mind <http://www.smcc.demon.nl/camstream/>

I'm pretty sure that one uses the pwc kernel module, so if your software is not finding the camera try "modprobe pwc" as root. On my Orbit, things didn't go well until I installed the binary-only module pwcx which you can get here: http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/release.html

If you have software (gnomemeeting, camstream) and "modprobe pwc" doesn't get it working but does get it to make a different error message, I'd be happy to tell you what I know about making pwcx work. I used the 9.0 beta version on kernel 2.6.5 and had not too much trouble, but I had various difficulties with 2.4.25.

how can i found which software do i need? could you tell me please the required steps to do it? i run kernel 2.6.5 and i thing i compiled video4linux in the kernel. How do i check if i got?

Try zcat /proc/config.gz | grep VIDEO

your are looking for a y(or an M, denoting module).

Try that thing i posted above, camstream.

Either gnomemeeting or camstream should do for software. It depends what you want to do with the camera If you type "apt-cache search webcam", you'll get some more things that might or might not be of interest.

To test if the kernel is seeing your camera, try typing "cat /dev/video0" in a terminal. If things are good, it will spew a bunch of binary crap which you will want to hit ^C to stop. If they aren't, you'll get a message like "no such device" or similar. In the latter case, you don't have the right module(s) loaded.

If you used the debian make-kpkg thingy to build and install your kernel, or you got the kernel out of debian packages, you should have a /boot/config-`uname -r` file. (Or maybe there is .config left in your build directory.) Check that CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV is y or m, and that CONFIG_USB_PWC is y or m. If either is n, you're going to have to reconfigure your kernel. The modules for these are named videodev and pwc, so you can try "modprobe videodev" and/or "modprobe pwc" if one of those CONFIG_s is marked m ("module"). You probably do not have to modprobe videodev since the modprobe on pwc should load videodev automatically.

At any rate, once you have "cat /dev/video0" spewing garbage, stop it, then start camstream or gnomemeeting or any program which uses a webcam, and hopefully it will work.

Here is the output from the commands you have told me.
debian:~# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep VIDEO
zcat: /proc/config.gz: No such file or directory
debian:~#


debian:~# cat /dev/video0
VXSSSQXZXZ\XWLKE=@ABEFKKM@GD?HOJQRNOLOC=;@FHIMKE7;?CCDG9;?9>?<A??@G[d}????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????yZXTTVR[VX^[[TPJ>>>DDFJNMMKFCGGNMONRNPRI7=?AFNJRK<>B=;@;4=>84<>===:>DCV\q???????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????}{Y[WUTSVWZZ^ZYRM@>?AG@DHNN@CBIGOOQPRNPNL::<CHMIPM>@<499:;<;<;=:===A=;??<GUbt}?????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????~}|{XXZYWXX[[Y\\[SNDD?@AAJJJMIFEHKNOQPTMOLM9?<EIKJJD:=:87><<<;BEC;C<@?:8<:?@C?FTcj??????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????~}~~|Z[Z]ZWU\]_\_[ROB?A?BGDHONLBBJLLPOOQMSQO=B@FFIHD==;:8<=AC@>BGCA>=@=>;=A?<<;8=DMi?????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????~}~~z]Y]\VW[Z^^ZaWPPH;?AEEGIIPLBGIJLJORROUSS:@AEDIA<@<C<EA@DIDAGFEIBB=;<=@?7=;4;8>@BUz?????????????????????????? ?????????????????
debian:~#

on the last line i pressed control+c as you told as i was getting endless crap. now what do i do to make it work? rremember i am kinda new.

Not having /proc/config.gz is no big deal; it's just an option you didn't turn on in your kernel.

It looks like you have a device driver loaded for your camera so you should fire up camstream or gnomemeeting or any app that uses the camera and see if it works. To install one of those, do "apt-get install camstream" or "apt-get install gnomemeeting"

I wasent sure if you had config.gz. Its just somthing i usually build cause it is very usefull. You should be ready to go.

hi actually the camera works fine. i used the camstream. Unfortunately it works only when i am root, and not when i am ordinary user. any ideas?

Sure, type this as root "adduser yourusername video"

That adds yourusername to group video, which is the group which has access to /dev/video0

well i did as you have told me, and the user has been added to the group video. BUT when i open camstream there is no device to choose from! any clues?

Did you log out and log back into X? If not, try it.