I'm running an Orb server in a virtual machine on my media server which is running Fedora 10. I have to use Fedora 10 because I'm running the Amahi server.

So in Fedora 10, I've been trying to get webcam streaming - via the Orb server - working.

So far the best result I've had was by installing Parallels and creating a Windows 7 virtual machine. The VM has to be Windows because Orb isn't available for Linux.

In the VM I created with Parallels, I can assign the webcam ith no problem and actually see the video when I load the Logitech application.

But Orb can't stream the video. The remote PC displays an error about the device being use, bad codec, etc.

Orb does stream the video if I use a real Win7 computer, but the whole idea here is to save on electrical costs.

Any suggestions? Like maybe disconnecting the webcam from Fedora somehow?

Help or suggestions are appreciated.

Something I've been doing (running windows and other linux VMs under VM Server
on Slackware) is to unload the modules for the devices forcefully on the host
to give the VM sole access. Works well for external HDDs, Nokia cell-phones, ...


Cheers,
Tink

there's an interesting project for this:
usbip.sourceforge.com

That's what I was thinking, but more specifically, I don't know how to determine which (loaded) modules are used by the webcam in Fedora.

Post the output of lsmod ;}

Or you post the exact make and model of the cam, and hope someone
a) has the same thing or b) is keen to go through the kernel driver
docu to find its name for you.



Cheers,
Tink

Camera is a Logitech C-120

Here is lsmod output -

Module Size Used by
uvcvideo 62344 0
compat_ioctl32 16512 1 uvcvideo
videodev 40704 2 uvcvideo,compat_ioctl32
vmnet 48452 3
parport_pc 34200 0
vsock 30224 0
vmci 56456 1 vsock
vmmon 75696 0
snd_usb_audio 100480 0
snd_seq_dummy 11396 0
snd_seq_oss 39232 0
snd_seq_midi_event 14848 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 61968 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 52352 0
snd_mixer_oss 23168 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 85768 2 snd_usb_audio,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 30352 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 16656 1 snd_pcm
snd_usb_lib 24576 1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi 30848 1 snd_usb_lib
snd_seq_device 15380 4 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd_hwdep 16392 1 snd_usb_audio
v4l1_compat 21380 2 uvcvideo,videodev
snd 68984 12 snd_usb_audio,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_usb_ lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep
soundcore 14992 1 snd
fuse 60992 2
nfsd 253160 17
lockd 72160 1 nfsd
nfs_acl 11264 1 nfsd
auth_rpcgss 45968 1 nfsd
exportfs 12672 1 nfsd
sco 19204 2
bridge 56352 0
stp 10756 1 bridge
bnep 21888 2
l2cap 28672 3 bnep
bluetooth 60196 5 sco,bnep,l2cap
ppdev 15752 0
parport 42912 2 parport_pc,ppdev
ipt_MASQUERADE 11264 1
iptable_nat 13840 1
nf_nat 25496 2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat
tun 19716 1
sunrpc 191592 14 nfsd,lockd,nfs_acl,auth_rpcgss
ip6t_REJECT 12160 2
nf_conntrack_ipv6 22984 2
ip6table_filter 11136 1
ip6_tables 26128 1 ip6table_filter
ipv6 287912 82 ip6t_REJECT,nf_conntrack_ipv6
cpufreq_ondemand 15504 2
acpi_cpufreq 17552 0
freq_table 12928 2 cpufreq_ondemand,acpi_cpufreq
xfs 472304 1
dm_multipath 23832 0
vboxnetflt 94684 0
vboxdrv 1689724 2 vboxnetflt
uinput 16128 0
iTCO_wdt 20176 0
arcmsr 31744 1
iTCO_vendor_support 11652 1 iTCO_wdt
shpchp 38300 0
tg3 122372 0
joydev 19328 0
i2c_i801 17820 0
i2c_core 29216 1 i2c_i801
libphy 25600 1 tg3
pcspkr 11008 0
serio_raw 14084 0
ata_generic 13956 0
pata_acpi 13056 0

btw, Redhat's RHEV project supports USB redirection in the VDI variant of the system

Cool ...

Unload the three in red in descending order. If you know
for sure that you'll only ever want the VM to own the device,
add them to your module blacklist (most likely
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist).


Cheers,
Tink

Edit: P.S.: Next time please put the output of commands in code tags.
Makes it so much more readable.

That did the trick. Thanks! Sorry about not using the code thing.

Followup - killing the 3 modules allowed the Logitech application to see the video, prior to that it was locking up.

The Orb server however is still unable to get control of the camera.

The camera shows up in the virtual machine's guest-OS Windows7 device manager.

The Orb software can control a video camera on a real Wiondows7 box, what would be different about a virtual machine?