[SOLVED] Web Cam: GearHead Model WC735i - Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450) Z-Star Microelectr

DBabo · 03-07-2011, 09:36 PM

//
//
// Please note that i was not able to get the original camera to work . instead in the post #15 i documented steps to how to get Winbook WB-7142 (04f2:a143) to work under Centos 5.5.
//
//

Hello,
i cave in and bought a webcam GearHead Model WC735i. To my surprise Centos5.2 (2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.centos.plus) identified it:

Code:

Mar  6 20:51:50 server kernel: usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
Mar  6 20:51:50 server kernel: usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Mar  6 20:51:51 server kernel: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
Mar  6 20:51:51 server kernel: uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450)
Mar  6 20:51:51 server kernel: input: Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) as /class/input/input3
Mar  6 20:51:51 server kernel: usbcore: registered new driver uvcvideo
Mar  6 20:51:51 server kernel: USB Video Class driver (v0.1.0)

and i was able to get video from it without an issue by pointing to the /dev/video device.

But i can't get it to record a sound.
I have other questions regarding the things i see in the log here, but for now i just need to get the sound working.
I also checked http://mxhaard.free.fr/, but it's ( 3450 ) is not on the list.
Please advise.

Code:

// recoding
mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o webcam.avi              
<skip>
Pos:35907.9s 868405f ( 0%) 24.18fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.000 [644:0]
3 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:35908.1s 868406f ( 0%) 24.18fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.000 [644:0]
4 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:35908.2s 868407f ( 0%) 24.18fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.000 [644:0]
3 duplicate frame(s)!
<skip>
Pos:35875.2s 868171f ( 0%) 24.20fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.000 [645:0]
Error reading audio: Input/output error
3 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:35875.3s 868172f ( 0%) 24.20fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.000 [645:0]


// playback

mplayer ./webcam.avi
MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing ./webcam.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
AVI: ODML: Building ODML index (1 superindexchunks).
AVI: No audio stream found -> no sound.
VIDEO:  [FMP4]  640x480  24bpp  30.000 fps  644.4 kbps (78.7 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 Software: MEncoder VERSION
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 640x480 => 640x480 Planar YV12
V:12822.6 384679/384679  5%  0%  0.0% 0 0
Exiting... (Quit)

I tried a few options with no much success:

Code:

mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/dsp1 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame

mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/dsp1 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o webcam.avi

mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/dsp -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o webcam.avi

mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/audio -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o webcam.avi

Code:

lsusb -v

Bus 001 Device 008: ID 0ac8:3450 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. 
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceSubClass         2 ?
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0ac8 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp.
  idProduct          0x3450 
  bcdDevice            9.00
  iManufacturer           1 Vimicro
  iProduct                2 Vimicro USB Camera (Altair)
  iSerial                 0 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength          393
    bNumInterfaces          2
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
    MaxPower              100mA
    UNRECOGNIZED:  08 0b 00 02 0e 03 00 02
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Video Control
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              2 Vimicro USB Camera (Altair)
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x000a  1x 10 bytes
        bInterval               5
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0080  1x 128 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       2
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       3
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 0 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       4
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0b00  2x 768 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       5
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0c00  2x 0 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       6
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x1380  3x 896 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       7
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass        14 Video
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Video Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            5
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Asynchronous
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x1400  3x 0 bytes
        bInterval               1
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceSubClass         2 ?
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1

Code:

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
uvcvideo               53833  0 
compat_ioctl32          5569  1 uvcvideo
videodev               25793  1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat            16069  2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_common            24385  2 uvcvideo,videodev
ip_nat_ftp              7361  0 
autofs4                29253  3 
sunrpc                146685  1 
ipv6                  270433  22 
xfrm_nalgo             13381  1 ipv6
crypto_api             12609  1 xfrm_nalgo
ip_conntrack_ftp       11569  1 ip_nat_ftp
ipt_owner               6081  1 
ipt_ULOG               11717  3 
xt_tcpudp               7105  32 
xt_state                6209  37 
xt_multiport            7233  2 
iptable_filter          7105  1 
iptable_nat            11077  0 
ip_nat                 21101  2 ip_nat_ftp,iptable_nat
ip_conntrack           53281  5 ip_nat_ftp,ip_conntrack_ftp,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_nat
nfnetlink              10713  2 ip_nat,ip_conntrack
iptable_mangle          6849  0 
iptable_raw             6209  0 
ip_tables              17029  4 iptable_filter,iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_raw
x_tables               17349  7 ipt_owner,ipt_ULOG,xt_tcpudp,xt_state,xt_multiport,iptable_nat,ip_tables
cpufreq_ondemand       12493  1 
powernow_k8            23009  0 
dm_multipath           25421  0 
scsi_dh                12097  1 dm_multipath
video                  21193  0 
backlight              10049  1 video
sbs                    18533  0 
power_meter            16461  0 
i2c_ec                  9025  1 sbs
dell_wmi                8401  0 
wmi                    12137  1 dell_wmi
button                 10705  0 
battery                13637  0 
asus_acpi              19289  0 
ac                      9157  0 
lp                     15849  0 
floppy                 57125  0 
pata_amd               15941  0 
sg                     36573  0 
snd_intel8x0           35421  1 
snd_ac97_codec         93025  1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus                6337  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_dummy           7877  0 
snd_seq_oss            32577  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     11073  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                49585  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
forcedeth              54997  0 
pcspkr                  7105  0 
snd_seq_device         11725  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
usblp                  16833  0 
nvidia               9337504  28 
snd_pcm_oss            42817  0 
snd_mixer_oss          19009  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                72133  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
k8_edac                18693  0 
edac_mc                26257  1 k8_edac
k8temp                  9537  0 
hwmon                   7365  2 power_meter,k8temp
snd_timer              24516  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    55749  11 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
i2c_nforce2            10945  0 
soundcore              11553  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         14281  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
ohci1394               35717  0 
i2c_core               24001  3 i2c_ec,nvidia,i2c_nforce2
ieee1394              293625  1 ohci1394
parport_pc             29157  1 
ide_cd                 40161  0 
parport                37513  2 lp,parport_pc
cdrom                  36577  1 ide_cd
serio_raw              10693  0 
dm_raid45              67145  0 
dm_message              6977  1 dm_raid45
dm_region_hash         15681  1 dm_raid45
dm_mem_cache            9537  1 dm_raid45
dm_snapshot            23141  0 
dm_zero                 6209  0 
dm_mirror              24393  0 
dm_log                 14657  3 dm_raid45,dm_region_hash,dm_mirror
dm_mod                 63225  17 dm_multipath,dm_raid45,dm_snapshot,dm_zero,dm_mirror,dm_log
usb_storage            80673  0 
sata_nv                28361  4 
pata_acpi               9665  0 
ata_generic            10565  0 
libata                157317  4 pata_amd,sata_nv,pata_acpi,ata_generic
sd_mod                 25281  6 
scsi_mod              141973  5 scsi_dh,sg,usb_storage,libata,sd_mod
ext3                  125513  4 
jbd                    57321  1 ext3
uhci_hcd               25421  0 
ohci_hcd               25065  0 
ehci_hcd               33869  0

DBabo · 03-09-2011, 11:24 AM

hmmm, is it possible that i need to load spca5xx module ?

DBabo · 03-09-2011, 11:08 PM

Code:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [ICH            ]: NFORCE - Intel ICH
                      Intel ICH with ALC850 at irq 11
$

so it doesn't see it...

DBabo · 03-12-2011, 12:56 PM

it was suggested to insert snd_usb_audio module.
did it - nothing changed...

DBabo · 03-18-2011, 11:56 PM

I was able to put some more hours towards this annoyance.
I went a purchased a few more cameras 0 WinBook WB-7142, Quick 1.3 MP WebCam with night vision ( by GearHead) and Microsoft LifeCamVX-6000 v1.0.
I loaded snd_usb_audio:

Code:

lsmod | more
Module                  Size  Used by
uvcvideo               53833  0
compat_ioctl32          5569  1 uvcvideo
videodev               25793  1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat            16069  2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_common            24385  2 uvcvideo,videodev
snd_usb_audio          77761  0
snd_usb_lib            19137  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            26561  1 snd_usb_lib
snd_hwdep              12869  1 snd_usb_audio

As of right now i'm playing ( and referring here ) to WinBook.
first - i can get the video without an issue from that camera using mplayer command (see above).
The trouble with sound :

Code:

cat /proc/asound/card
cat: /proc/asound/card: No such file or directory
[root@server ~]# cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [ICH            ]: NFORCE - Intel ICH
                      Intel ICH with ALC850 at irq 11
 1 [Camera         ]: USB-Audio - USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera
                        USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera at usb-0000:00:0b.1-3, high speed

cat /proc/asound/devices
  2:        : timer
  3:        : sequencer
  4: [ 0- 2]: digital audio playback
  5: [ 0- 1]: digital audio capture
  6: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
  7: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
  8: [ 0]   : control
  9: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture
 10: [ 1]   : control

-- PC was booted ~8:30 pm..
And at the same time :

Code:

ls -l /dev/mixer*
crw------- 1 az audio 14,  0 Mar 18 08:35 /dev/mixer
crw------- 1 az root  14, 16 Mar 18 23:33 /dev/mixer1
[root@server bin]# ls -l /dev/audio*
crw------- 1 az audio 14,  4 Mar 18 08:35 /dev/audio
crw------- 1 az root  14, 20 Mar 18 23:33 /dev/audio1

based on above i concluded that i have alsa controlled device 1 and i should read from port( or whatever it's called ) 0 :

Code:

  9: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture

and:

Code:

mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0
MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing tv://.
TV file format detected.
Selected driver: v4l2
 name: Video 4 Linux 2 input
 author: Martin Olschewski <olschewski@zpr.uni-koeln.de>
 comment: first try, more to come ;-)
v4l2: your device driver does not support VIDIOC_G_STD ioctl, VIDIOC_G_PARM was used instead.
Selected device: USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera
 Capabilites:  video capture  streaming
 supported norms:
 inputs: 0 = Camera 1;
 Current input: 0
 Current format: YUYV
v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument
v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument
v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument
tv.c: norm_from_string(pal): Bogus norm parameter, setting default.
v4l2: ioctl enum norm failed: Invalid argument
Error: Cannot set norm!
Selected input hasn't got a tuner!
v4l2: ioctl set mute failed: Invalid argument
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [raw] RAW Uncompressed Video
Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied.
VO: [xv] 1280x960 => 1280x960 Packed YUY2
Selected video codec: [rawyuy2] vfm: raw (RAW YUY2)
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
v4l2: ioctl set mute failed: Invalid argument
v4l2: 18 frames successfully processed, 38 frames dropped.

Exiting... (Quit)

I still remember the embarrassment I felt after spending ridiculous amount of time, trying to enable the sound in xwindow. And the key was - to start the KMIX. Now i'm very aware of the existence of this little evil app.
So i clicked on it - but i'm afraid that KMIX options are beyond my understanding (at least now, at 1am in the morning) - is light green means the option is on? what if the dark read is clicked ?? I'm totally confused with KMIx plus it seemed to point to Intel ICH card, not to USB one.

EDDY1 · 03-19-2011, 12:59 AM

uvcvideo module
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...79&postcount=4
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...nux/+bug/56171
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...nux/+bug/56171

DBabo · 03-19-2011, 08:44 AM

eddy, thank you for posting the info about vx6000.

EDDY1 · 03-19-2011, 03:03 PM

You did read the whole thing it's supposed to be fix with solution.

DBabo · 03-19-2011, 03:34 PM

Hmm, my understanding is that's the fix for ms camera only. Am I wrong?

EDDY1 · 03-22-2011, 07:03 AM

Post #16 and also explained at launchpad link at the end.

DBabo · 03-22-2011, 09:05 AM

recap : guy had trouble with VX-6000 (PCI ID 045E:00F4) which were not recognized by usb subsystem.
Solution: he compiled the sn9c20x.ko ( from repo.or.cz/r/microdia.git" for 2.6.28-8 kernel.

But i'm trying to get the gearhead models and/or winbook to work.

Do you think this driver (sn9c20x.ko) can help ?

alizard · 03-27-2011, 06:25 AM

I found that site initially when doing a search on the output of lsusb realting to my video device. After reading what was here, I decided to try something else.

lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0ac8:3450 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp.

Oddly enough, my unit with that ID is configured as a video microscope. I'd seen references to uvcvideo, and did a quick look using:
aptitude search uvc

on the basis that just because it would make sense to have uvcvideo installed by default in our respective distros doesn't mean that it is.

I assume the rpm based distros have an equivalent command for repository search.

This is what I installed:

sudo aptitude install luvcview guvcview uvccapture

if you do this from a netbook or laptop with built-in webcam, you'll have to select the video device, and you'll need to use guvcview because luvcview doesn't allow choice of video sources. I think the uvccapture and the dependencies it picked up was the critical part.

So my video microscope (really a webcam using fixed focus 10x magnifying optics.) went from not working to working with multiple apps, it's open in the kopete video config window right now.

for more information, go to http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/

That is the project dealing with the increasing number of UVC spec USB video devices coming out. Their project works with v4l2 (NOT v4l) but is not part of it.

So just because a UVC video device isn't listed on the v4l2 site is no cause for alarm now that you know where you should be looking. Long list of UVC devices supported at the URL.

This might solve the audio problem as well.

Good luck.

DBabo · 03-27-2011, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alizard

<skip>
for more information, go to http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/

Good luck.

Alizard, thank you for the link. the site above is pointing to linuxTV project. I didn't look into why they spawned it. Outside of this this is what i've been trying to do - i'm trying to compile the l4v2 drivers. And because i have centos it is not going as smooth as i hoped for.

But thank you for sharing your positive experience - a some light @ the end of the tunnel ..

alizard · 03-27-2011, 06:02 PM

(Fedora Core) to Debian-based distros over driver issues 3 or so years ago. I had a new motherboard for which there were *no* rpm-based video drivers and the source builds just weren't working out.

While IMO, what the best server distro is is arguable, if one is an end user whose immediate concern is keeping a desktop workstation going with maximum uptime and a minimum of hassle, I see no downside to Debian-based distros. Other than the three miserable days it took me to switch from Fedora to Debian. Apt-get works a lot better for me better than yum ever did, or even setting up apt-get to run in Fedora.

I now run Kubuntu 10.10.

Note that there are tarballs available at the uvcvideo site I pointed you at, though they probably won't help if you don't have v4l2 running first.

DBabo · 04-06-2011, 10:36 PM

I spent some completely inappropriate amount of time trying things from recompiling the v4l and patching the source code of drives to rebooting the poor pc zillion times. anyway, enough of b%ing.

Here are the results of my work:
1. I'm sure i was able to produce video ( post 1),but now, using the same model, just physically different unit, i can't reproduce my own results. in other words - for GearHead Model WC735i - Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450) product i have inconclusive results for Centos.
2. I was able to get the WinBook WB-7142 (04f2:a143) to work.
3. I didn't try to get MS cam to work, but according to EDDY1 ( post #6 ) that should be working too.

Everything below this line concerns only Winbook camera (04f2:a143).
1. I run Centos 5.5

Code:

Linux server.home 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.centos.plus #1 SMP Thu Sep 30 19:27:35 EDT 2010 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

2. lspci ( only relevant portion)

Code:

00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:10.2 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 AC97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT215 [GeForce GT 240] (rev a2)
02:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
03:09.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems V.92 56K WinModem (rev 03)

3. lsusb:

Code:

lsusb ( after camera was plugged in)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 04f2:a143 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04f9:000d Brother Industries, Ltd HL-1440 Laser Printer
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:c018 Logitech, Inc. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 058f:9360 Alcor Micro Corp. 8-in-1 Media Card Reader
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 413c:2003 Dell Computer Corp. Keyboard

4. and the log is :

Code:

Apr  6 23:27:23 server kernel: usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
Apr  6 23:27:23 server kernel: usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: 6:3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: usbcore: registered new driver snd-usb-audio
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera (04f2:a143)
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: input: USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera as /class/input/input3
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: usbcore: registered new driver uvcvideo
Apr  6 23:27:24 server kernel: USB Video Class driver (v0.1.0)

Make sure that ehci picked up your camera or you will "enjoy" jerky self with quite some delay. Note that the camera is recognized as UVC - sort of important...

5. installed kernels:

Code:

rpm -qa kernel*
kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.centos.plus
kernel-2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.centos.plus
kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.centos.plus

1. i plugged the cam in and got the results ( see above). Camera didn't produce any exciting behviour once been attached to the source of energy - it didn't jump, didn't sign, didn't even lit it's "ears" with the special green light of excitement. Oh well...
2. as a regular user :

Code:

mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0:alsa:forceaudio:adevice=hw.1,0 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts fast:preset=standard -o webcam.avi

and this is where the fun begun for me.
first, i had no clue what the params in bold were. In other words - i had to learn how ALSA works (from user's perspective) and how to get ALSA and then later mencoder to record from the 2nd sound card.
Before i could get the sound to be recorded i had to :

Code:

cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [ICH            ]: NFORCE - Intel ICH
                      Intel ICH with ALC850 at irq 11
 1 [Camera         ]: USB-Audio - USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera
                        USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera at usb-0000:00:0b.1-3, high speed
alsamixer -c 1

<tab> to "Capture" and increase the volume to 100.
also check that snd_usb_audio is loaded ( lsmod is your friend)

now let's go back to the options in bold above:
alsa:forceaudio:adevice=hw.1,0 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts fastreset=standard
here you say - for audio input use alsa system; i don't care what you (v4l) know about device, but you will do what i say; use card 1 ( second card) with port 0. For video output use lavc codec, for audio output use mp3lame. and i selected to use "standard" option for all other (mp3lame) parameters and found it working pretty well.

As you can see -it's easy once you know how to get it to work. But the path for me was way too long.
hope this long and boring thread will be helpful to somebody.
// Off to virtual drinking party (cuba libre rocks) with my friend on another side of the globe.
cheers!