Hi folks,

I have been using Linux for about six days now - so green, the plants are jealous.

I was a long-term Windows user, and this laptop was on Win7.

To the problem:
Acer Aspire 5930 - Intel Core 2 Duo P8400.
Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon.
There is an integrated webcam, but in Linux it only shows still images unless I select 1280x720, and then I get 10 (9/1) fps. No other resolutions work.

lsusb gives a device ID number - 0c45:6300 - Microdia PC Microscope (it isn't).
lshw gives 'Sonix Technology'.
Another command in Terminal (I forget what) showed me the driver in use is 'uvcvideo'

I had a saved readout of my Pc from before the change, when it used to be Windows.
The camera is listed, and the VID:PID is 064e:a117 - different number.
ideasonboard.org/uvc shows this to be an Acer HD Crystal Eye webcam (Suyin), and supported.

I wonder if the O/S has misidentified the device somehow. If I can change the ID to the right one, could that make the O/S use the right driver settings?

Thanks.

Must be common on Acer. Same webcam I have on my Acer notebook. What software are you using with it and what exactly do you want to do? Some links below on webcam use and software below:

http://www.linuxintro.org/wiki/Set_u...cam_with_Linux

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam

I always put a piece of PVC electrical tape over the webcam and mic.. That way hackers can't remotely activate it and spy on me, record what they see, and then publish it online.

^ lol, i think the goal is to get the device WORKING.

We are too funny sometimes.
</tinfoil_hat>

Props to the Origianl Poster ("OP" for the new person)
for finding lsusb

may be another tool to run.
It's got good stuff.

Carry on.

Hi folks,

Thanks for your replies.

Yancek: I am wanting it for Skype conversations. I have tried Skype, Cheese, guvcview and the qt v4l2 test util - all show the same issue. According to a couple of sites, uvcview supports this particular cam, but while I know it's definitely this camera, the O/S thinks it's something else.

Awesome & Ondoho: I don't do online banking, and to be honest, I reckon our images will have been recorded long before we started to think of this as a security issue.
Besides, what with the faraday cage and the secure hardline, I just didn't have money left for tape...

Habitual: Thanks. lspci did not appear to show me anything about the camera, just the bus controllers.

:chuckle:

on topic:
i think it is possible to force the device name. i just don't know how.
what have your searches revealed?
maybe the kernel driver can be configured manually?

this looks promising

The id of the device maybe inaccurate or just not accurately published.

Who oversees that? Not Microsoft. Hardware companies just make things that work with the most used. or popular o/s. I don't see that they are disobliged to give accurate information about it.

Fred.

I don't know whether this applies here, but I have observed that Linux does not necessarily identify devices by brand name. For example, Dell brand wireless card might show in Linux as a Broadcom device, because it is OEMed to Dell by Broadcom and contains a Broadom chipset.

(Note: I do not know that Dell wireless cards are OEMed by Broadcom; that is just an example.)

Just a thought.

Hi folks.
Excuse the delay - I'm off work, it's summer, it's sunny, the beach is an art gallery.

Ondoho: I have found this:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4...o-device-match
'Dynamic USB Device ID'
There is a file called 'new_id', but I can't edit it, and running the command in Terminal seems to provoke nothing.

Fred Caro: the device ID I want to use looks like it's for the right thing (and this ID worked with W*ndows), and the device ID the O/S is using is completely the wrong thing.

frankbell: I had noticed lshw reports 'Sonix Technology' which would be the chipset, and that lsusb perhaps reports the device name based on the PID:VID.

I've never before heard of problem like this. What lsusb shows is really irrelevant, it has its own database, which is not used by kernel to identify devices. OTOH, I still cannot think of any reason of this misidentification, apart from some sort of filesystem corruption. But then again, you said the UVC driver is loaded ... so the correct driver is loaded after all.

Building on what Emerson said, I've always found dmesg much more useful than lsusb in trying to identify devices.

Hi folks.

Does the uvcvideo driver work differently based on the PID:VID?
My thinking is that if the driver is given the right device ID, then it chooses the right settings.

Or do I have that completely wrong?

I will take a look with dmesg.

Thanks.

I have used UVC webcams before and generally have had no issues with them, but I don't use webcams frequently. I can't answer your question, but perhaps you can learn more at the UVC site; they seem to have made extensive documentation available:
http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/

I'd upgrade the kernel, if kernel gets the USB ID wrong then it definitely is a kernel issue.