Need Help with detecting Kodak EasyShare LS743 on Slackware
 

I've been trying to get my Kodak EasyShare LS743 digital camera to work with Slackware and, so far there has been no joy in Slackville. Currently I'm running Slackware 11.0 with Freerock Gnome 2.16.1 (frg-unstable) installed, Although I usually run KDE-3.5.4 and just have Freerock installed for a few Gnome applications I need. Previously I was running Slackware 10.2 with Freerock with 2.14.x. I have tried to get this camera to work on several different Slackware computers but always get about the same results - I can't get it to work. I suspect it has something to do with udev, but don't really have a clue.

However, it works fine with previous and current Ubuntu and Kubuntu.

It has a USB connection

When I plug it in, in /var/log/messages I usually see something like:

Nov 12 12:53:33 sabaki kernel: usb 1-3: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 4
Nov 12 12:53:33 sabaki kernel: usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

# lsusb shows:

lsusb
Bus 3 Device 1: ID 0000:0000
Bus 2 Device 1: ID 0000:0000
Bus 1 Device 7: ID 040a:0565 Kodak Co. CX4210
Bus 1 Device 3: ID 046d:c50d Logitech, Inc.
Bus 1 Device 1: ID 0000:0000

# cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

...

T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=02 Cnt=02 Dev#= 6 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=040a ProdID=0565 Rev= 1.00
S: Manufacturer=Eastman Kodak Company
S: Product=KODAK EasyShare LS743 Zoom Digital Camera
S: SerialNumber=KCTDA43124481
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 2mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=06(still) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=(none)
E: Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=82(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 8 Ivl=16ms

I have made executable rc.udev. rc.hal, and even rc.hotplug in /etc/rc.d.

I'd like to get this camera to work with digikam and have digikam-0.9.0_beta3-i486-1asz and digikamimageplugins-0.9.0_beta3-i486-1asz from linuxpackages.net and have installed all needed dependencies have have no broken dependencies that I can find.

I also have tried gtkam and I currently have libgphoto2-2.2.1-i486-2frg and gtkam-0.1.13-i486-2frg and no broken dependencies.

Both digikam or gtkam programs seem to work fine except they just fail to find the camera, although it is listed. I've tried a wide variety of 'plugging the camera in first' plugging it in and then unplugging it and replugging it in, etc. I've tried both with and without the camera's docking station - (which makes no difference on Ubuntu - it always works fine with Ubuntu).

I've tried custom compiling gphoto, gtkam, etc. and I've watched error messages from the command line and used gdb to try to get some useful information.

For instance, with the camera plugged in and turned on, when I run gtkam -d I get:

...

gphoto2-filesystem: Internally appending folder /...
gphoto2-port: Creating new device...
gphoto2-port-info-list: Looking for path 'usb:' (6 entries available)...
gphoto2-port-info-list: Getting info of entry 1 (6 available)...
gphoto2-camera: Setting port info for port 'Universal Serial Bus' at 'usb:'...
gphoto2-port: Setting timeout to 5000 millisecond(s)...
gphoto2-port: Setting settings...
gphoto2-camera: Setting abilities ('Kodak LS743')...
gphoto2-camera: Listing folders in '/'...
gphoto2-camera: Initializing camera...
gphoto2-port: Could not find USB device (vendor 0x40a, product 0x565). Make sure this device is connected to the computer.
context: An error occurred in the io-library ('Bad parameters'): Could not find USB device (vendor 0x40a, product 0x565). Make sure this device is connected to the computer.

With digikam I get a pop-up message that says:

"Failed to auto-detect camera; please make sure it is connected properly and is turned on. Would you like to try again?"

I have been using Slackware for many years (since 1998) and am not real thrilled with the idea of switching to Ubuntu. Any help appreciated!


Chuck

I'm assuming you're using a 2.6 kernel with slackware 11. My kodak easyshare (CX7310) works fine with libgphoto and gphoto2 installed, but that's using hotplug with the 2.4 kernel. I think the issue is with udev. There is a thread ( recently posted) which offers some help with this. Look further down this page for the thread "udev in slack-11 with digikam".

Ok, this is some progress. I looked at the thread you mentioned, "udev in slack-11 with digikam", and I created a /etc/udev/rules.d/camera.rules file with '/usr/lib/libgphoto2/print-camera-list udev-rules > camera.rules'
and now I can access the camera, but only as root.

The suggestions in that thread don't give me enough information to get it to work as a user. I tried editing the camera.rules file as suggested but that didn't work. It is not clear or obvious to me how that should work. I tried editing the line pertaining to my camera to be
SYSFS{idVendor}=="040a", SYSFS{idProduct}=="0565", MODE="660", GROUP="video", SYMLINK+="camera"

I have no idea what the suggested SYMLINK+="camera" line is supposed to do. The referenced thread doesn't say.

I also tried
SYSFS{idVendor}=="040a", SYSFS{idProduct}=="0565", MODE="660", GROUP="video", RUN+="/etc/hotplug/usb/usbcam"

but that didn't work either.

It is obviously a permissions problem now, but how in the world do I give the users permission? I also tried adding a 'camera' group but that didn't help either. I am a member of both the 'camera' and the 'video' groups.

This is just my opinion but it seems setting up rules and permissions in udev is so completely obfuscated and so poorly documented and user unfriendly I'd say it is apparently just so some developers can protect their priesthood! This is the kind of thing that gives Slackware and Linux a bad name. Sorry for the rant, but I've spent hours and hours trying to get this silly camera to work under Slackware, even though it works on Ubuntu. I've googled and searched threads and forums and looked at web sites and documentation until I'm cross-eyed! This is not so good.

Any help with how to set up permissions with this device would be greatly appreciated. If and when I get it to work, I'll document the steps and, hopefully, help other users to get their similar devices to work.


Best -

Chuck