LinuxQuestions.org - Drivers for Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Communicate STX

The USB Video Camera is this year's version of wifi networks as far as Linux is concerned. What I mean by that is that "web cams" can be difficult to configure in Linux, just as wifi NICs have been in the past. You have chosen a good distribution in this regard. PCLinuxOS 2009 seems to be pretty good at supporting UVC devices. I've gotten a couple of web cams to work in PCLinuxOS.

The first thing that you need is the Video 4 Linux v2 software. Then you will need a driver that works specifically with your web cam. This might be the generic UVC driver or you may need to find one made for you camera. Lastly you will need an application to display the picture and sound from the camera.

The drivers may be available in the PCLinuxOS package manager repository. I'd try to install Video 4 Linux v2 and the UVC software from Synaptic Package Manager. Then restart the computer. Then connect the camera if it is not built into the computer. Then look at the dmesg messages to see if Linux has detected and configured your camera.

If that goes smoothly then you will need to find an application to display the signal from the camera. I've tried several and I don't like any of them. I've had the least trouble with xawtv. The udev manager should have mapped your camera into Linux as /dev/video0 if it is the only video device. Look in /dev to see if there is a video0 device. If that exists then tell xawtv to use the signal from that device.

I'll stop here because these instructions may work the first time through. If you have trouble then post back with a description of what you have done and the results. Be sure to include system messages from dmesg and /var/log/messages. Let us know if the camera's power light turns on when you start xawtv. That is a quick test as to whether the driver is able to use your camera. If the power light does not light up then the driver is not able to control your camera.