Webcam support: Genius Slim 311R ?

tothzp · 02-11-2009, 04:24 PM

Hi,

I'm looking for Linux support for the Genius Slim 311R USB 1.1 infrared webcam with built-in microphone.

lsusb says:

Code:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0458:704b KYE Systems Corp. (Mouse Systems)

dmesg says:

Code:

usb 1-6: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 4
usb 1-6: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
ALSA sound/usb/usbaudio.c:2816: 4:2:1: add audio endpoint 0x84
ALSA sound/usb/usbmixer.c:988: [2] FU [Mic Capture Switch] ch = 1, val = 0/1/1
ALSA sound/usb/usbmixer.c:988: [2] FU [Mic Capture Volume] ch = 1, val = 0/6144/256
ALSA sound/usb/usbmixer.c:988: [2] FU [Auto Gain Control] ch = 1, val = 0/1/1

(i.e. only the mic is recognized)

lshw says:

Code:

           *-usb
                description: Audio device
                product: USB camera
                vendor: KYE Systems Corp. (Mouse Systems)
                physical id: 6
                bus info: usb@1:6
                version: 1.01
                capabilities: usb-1.10 audio-control
                configuration: driver=snd-usb-audio maxpower=500mA speed=12.0MB/s

The distro is Debian etch, with compiled 2.6.26.2 kernel.
Video4Linux is compiled into my kernel as follows:

zcat /proc/config.gz | grep -i v4l

Code:

CONFIG_VIDEO_V4L2_COMMON=m
CONFIG_VIDEO_ALLOW_V4L1=y
CONFIG_VIDEO_V4L1_COMPAT=y
CONFIG_VIDEO_V4L2=m
CONFIG_VIDEO_V4L1=m
CONFIG_V4L_USB_DRIVERS=y

Did anyone manage to get it working ?
Any info e.g. about the chipset ?

/Cheers.

jdkaye · 02-12-2009, 05:09 AM

Hi tothzp,
A small amount of googling produced this site where you can download a linux driver for the webcam.
http://www.downloadrealm.com/downloa...19&aff.subid=2
A quick visit to the manufacturer's website ought to tell you about the chipset.
cheers,
jdk

tothzp · 02-13-2009, 05:59 AM

Thanks. It seems that I had bad luck cause I googled on it before without success. (Neither did I find it on any Linux HCL site.)

Nevertheless the page you recommend is a pay-for-download site... so if you have another hint, pls. let me know.
I really wonder how you found that with google, as I still can't

jdkaye · 02-13-2009, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tothzp

Thanks. It seems that I had bad luck cause I googled on it before without success. (Neither did I find it on any Linux HCL site.)

Nevertheless the page you recommend is a pay-for-download site... so if you have another hint, pls. let me know.
I really wonder how you found that with google, as I still can't

If I recall correctly I just pasted the name of the webcam and linux in the search window. I used "google" in the loose sense since I actually use ask.com rather than google for my searching. As I said in my first post, you could try the manufacturer's website. Most of them provide drivers you can download for free.
cheers,
jdk

tothzp · 02-16-2009, 05:30 AM

I think I've found some clue at last.
Genius is not offering any Linux driver, but I downloaded the Mac OS X one they have as a dmg image and mounted it as HFS+ partition:

Code:

mount -t hfsplus -o loop,ro,umask=0 Slim311R_OSX_1.0.dmg a/

Then I copied out the [Un]Install subdirs and there I found some clues on the webcam chipset, e.g. in the postflight script:

Code:

qtComponent="Sonix SN9C201 WebCam.component"

Now, a search for Sonix SN9C201 produces hits, e.g. on
linux-projects.org like this generic SN9Cxxx driver.

If I have some time to try it, I'll report here if it works...

(PS: I'm pretty suspicious about the pay site. I'm not sure they really offer a driver, but one has to pay before even trying to search. And of course, paying for a Linux driver would be really lame

) )

tothzp · 03-16-2009, 05:49 AM

Just for the record:

At last, I managed to get some help on hup.hu. With that, it turned out that the camera is a Sonix SN9C105 with an OVR_7660 sensor.

I found a branch-off from the old GSPCA code that could be modified to get it working at a basic level.

To make things more complicated, the kernel USB video interface has changed from 2.6.25 to 2.6.27, so I had to rewrite a couple of things.

I made a patch on it, it's here.
(Use wget to get it, for some reasons angelfire doesn't allow links from other pages and returns 404.)

TODO:

currently the module symbol version check fails so the sonix module has to be force loaded with modprobe -f sonix.
And it doesn't switch on the infra leds, so I must look into that.
(interestingly, when I tried the sn9c102 module, it did.)
I did the modifications for the new kernel interface (2.6.28.7) only in the gspca_core and sonix targets.

Yury_T · 04-16-2009, 12:45 AM

Any new developments with that? With recent kernel pack (2.6.29.1-smp) for slackware-current I modify gspca kernel driver's source (adding the PCI IDs), and module compiles, and loads, and makes video0 entry in /dev... However, no cam app I tried is able to work with that. Should I recompile cam apps, or is there something else I'm missing?

Yury_T · 04-19-2009, 04:14 PM

I mean, camera's LED is showing "turned on", and something is even coming from it, but it looks like a garbage -- green squares in skype, undefinable garbage in camstream. New xawtv shows "can't grab display".

tothzp · 06-05-2009, 04:33 AM

Hi,

Sorry, I didn't try it on the 2.6.29.
Will do so if have some time for that and report back.

Yury_T · 06-06-2009, 05:48 AM

I've taken one of the branch-offs (mgspcav1-01.00.20-3_patched_geniusslim311r-2.6.28.7) and patched it for the 2.6.29. The resulting module actually loads but coredumps on the camera plugging in, because of one of the secondary data pointers being NULL.