I am attempting to install a Logitech QuickCam STX on a Ubuntu 8.04 distro (kernal 2.6.24-23-generic). I have seen numerous posts claiming this webcam works righ out of th ebox on this distro. I should be so lucky... The Logitech QuickCam STX i am attempting to use does not work.

lsusb gives this information:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:08d7 Logitech, Inc.
idVendor 0x046d Logitech, Inc.
idProduct 0x08d7

so it appears that my system is recognizing the webcam.

dmesg gives this information:
[ 13.507128] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 13.507171] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 13.543103] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 13.659012] USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v3.0
[ 13.659597] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[ 13.659880] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 13.659922] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 13.659933] hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 13.763179] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.4: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[ 13.763400] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 13.763442] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 13.763453] hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 14.038743] usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 14.226488] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 32.247220] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-2.6.24/debian/build/build-generic/media/gspcav1/gspca_core.c: USB GSPCA camera found.(ZC3XX)
[ 32.877667] usbcore: registered new interface driver gspca
[ 32.877677] /build/buildd/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-2.6.24/debian/build/build-generic/media/gspcav1/gspca_core.c: gspca driver 01.00.20 registered
[ 32.899973] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

so it appears that the usb ports are there and that gspca is loaded.

When I attempt to run xawtv]I get the following messages:
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/i686 (2.6.24-23-generic)
xinerama 0: 1280x1024+0+0
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

I have also tried cheese and Skype which also do not work but did not appear to give any useful information as to why not. By the way, the same webcam works perfectly on my XP system.

I need help with the next steps to debug this problem - any suggestions? Has anyone else had the same or similar problem? If so what was your solution?

Any help at all will be greatly appreciated.

Problem resolved: the /dev/video0 file really was missing. Added it with following commands:

mknod /dev/video0 c 81 0
chmod 666 /dev/video0
chgrp video /dev/video0
ln -s /dev/video0 /dev/video

Once this was done the webcam worked with xawtv, cheese and Skype.

Score 1 for the newbee; 0 for the support team.