Logitech QuickCam Messenger

reddog1 · 04-04-2006, 02:03 AM

Code:

rich@linux:~> rpm -q v4l-conf
v4l-conf-3.94-7
rich@linux:~> rpm -q v4l-tools
v4l-tools-3.94-7
rich@linux:~> rpm -q xawtv
xawtv-3.94-7

v4l-tools was not installed, so i grabbed that up. I also installed v4l2, i figured it couldnt hurt. Xawtv seems to be giving me a problem. when i start it up, the screen goes full and black, the only way i found out of it is ctrl+alt+backspace. I need to figure that one out. (windows habits are hard to break

Still searching...........

Thank you again for your help!!

bretts5964 · 04-04-2006, 09:35 AM

Hmmm... Truly puzzling. Seems like all the bases are covered, except possibly the kernel. Perhaps the smp kernel doesn't use the same modules settings as the default kernel, and something's missing there. You could check a few things in the kernel. You'll need the matching kernel-sources:

Code:

rpm -q kernel-source

Then configure the kernel sources to copy the running kernel's configuration, and navigate around the kernel menus looking for a few things.

Code:

cd /usr/src/linux
make clean
make cloneconfig
make menuconfig

Look for v4l and usb and pwc to be enabled as modules <M> next to each item. This won't change anything, as long as you don't save when exiting.

Code:

Device Drivers  ---> Multimedia devices  ---> <M> Video For Linux
Device Drivers  ---> Multimedia devices  ---> Video For Linux  ---> (<M> for all Video Adapters)
Device Drivers  ---> USB support  ---> <M>   USB Philips Cameras
Device Drivers  ---> USB support  ---> <M>   USB Audio support
Processor type and features  ---> [ ] Symmetric multi-processing support

Or it could very well be that you need a single CPU kernel to make things behave. Migrating the kernel is not my area of expertise, but you could take the drastic step of reinstalling everything. If you go into your hardware BIOS setup, there should be a way to disable hyperthreading, so it looks like a single CPU. Then SUSE should only try to install the default kernel. That's my guess.

I did notice something else. This output:

Code:

  Attached to: #57 (Hub)

Is your camera plugged into a hub? Sometimes moving it to a direct USB port helps. That is, a powered port, usually on the back of the PC. Something to try...

<edit>

Just remembered something. With my camera, it had a black video output when the quickcam module loaded during a reboot. Not sure if this applies to the pwc driver. This was fixable by manually reloading:

Code:

rmmod pwc
modprobe pwc

Something else to try...

reddog1 · 04-04-2006, 04:49 PM

ok, here we go

Code:

rich@linux:~> rpm -q kernel-source
kernel-source-2.6.13-15.8

i ran:

cd /usr/src/linux
make clean
make cloneconfig
make menuconfig

very cool btw !!

all were enabled as <M> modules, with the exception of "USB Audio Support". So i thought i'd take my chances and enable that as a module also. This what i had for processor type and features:

Quote:

Processor type and features --->[*] Symmetric multi-processing support

, and i also noticed this:

Quote:

[*] SMT (hyperthreading) scheduler support

I guess the kernel sees it as dual processor, we knew that already

Also, the camera is plugged into a direct usb port, even windows wouldnt run it when i tried using a usb hub.

the driver is active and does load as modprobe pwc. So i guess i have a decision to make, scarifice a little processing power for a cam i use maybe once a week, or just continue on as-is. Perhaps when i learn a bit more about (linux) what i seem to have jumped into head first, i wll again try get the cam workin, of course with some solicitation

hmm, sounds as if i made my mind up already...lol

Brett, thank you very much for your time, effort and support. If the cam isnt workin at least i gained some knowledge in the form a few new commands, and or tips and tricks. Thanks again !!

Red

bretts5964 · 04-04-2006, 07:04 PM

No problem. It's been fun. Did you ever try installing the Saillard.org src.rpm? That's still an option, however unlikely it may be to work.

Actually, I only meant that you should temporarily disable the hyperthreading while doing the SUSE install over again. You could turn it on again for the benefit of other unnamed operating systems that may have crept onto your PC.

reddog1 · 04-04-2006, 11:11 PM

howdy!

i have not tried the rpm package from saillard.org, but i tend to agree with you that it may not work.

However, i do think i am going to try the re-install of suse, with HT disabled, ill post back how that turns out !!

Quote:

other unnamed operating systems that may have crept onto your PC.

^^^^^^^^^^^ Thats funny

, ya know, this is my first attempt at any distro of linux, and i have only been using it for about 8 or 9 days. I have already reformatted once to devote more room to SUSE, Also i consider myself a "power user" of that "other" os, hmm funny its only been fired up maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 8 or 9 days.........lol.

I'll post back after the re-install !!

reddog1 · 04-05-2006, 11:47 AM

bahh...lol, even with the HT disabled during install, and actually remained disabled for now.

Code:

@linux:~> uname -r
2.6.13-15.8-smp

xawtv will take a snapshot, and send it to the home folder, but the image is a grey screen.

so it appears, that even while HT is disabled, the install still detects the capabilties of the processor, and installs the appropriate kernel. (does that sound right from this newb...lol)?

i also gave the rpm from saillard.org a shot, but the build was un-successfull. Stuck again...lol

bretts5964 · 04-05-2006, 01:00 PM

Concerning the kernel choice that SUSE makes during install... Perhaps you could search the forums for an answer, or post a new question. That's really a separate topic. It might be possible to install the default kernel in addition to the smp, and make a selection during boot at the grub menu. Not sure. Also, it's still only a guess that using a single CPU kernel will have any effect whatsoever on your camera.

About the Saillard pwc module. Usually during an unsuccessful build, (for any source RPM), it will say something about a library not found or missing source, or something like that. If you look at the last 30 or so lines of the compile, it should give you a clue about what package is not available for the compile to finish. Install the missing package, and try again...lather, rinse, repeat.

anubis26 · 04-22-2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bretts5964

Just got back from some serious googling, and found a workable, if not perfect solution. Get the qc-usb-messenger driver packaged specifically for SUSE 10.0 here:

http://raoulrpm.youm.org/SuSE_10.0/Q...uSE10.i586.rpm

This works with the latest SUSE kernel (single CPU only), and must be forced to install over the top of /lib/modules/2.6.13-15.8-default/modules.* files, which can be rebuilt with "depmod -a". Install with these commands:

Code:

rpm -Uvh qc-usb-messenger-1.1-modules-2.6.13-15.8-default-SuSE10.i586.rpm --force
depmod -a

Now download the QuickcamAutostart package from here:
http://raoulrpm.youm.org/SuSE_10.0/Q...rt-1.02.tar.gz

Unpack it, then install with this command:

Code:

./install

Apparently, adding the quickcam module to the usual SUSE module startup (in the /etc/sysconfig/kernel file) happens too early in the boot sequence. This QuickcamAutostart utility will wait until KDE starts before loading it. I got my camera to work with Gqcam, kdetv and XawTV.

My output from the command: "dmesg | grep quickcam"

Code:

quickcam: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
quickcam [19.646665]: ----------LOADING QUICKCAM MODULE------------
quickcam [19.646675]: struct quickcam size: 4028
quickcam: QuickCam USB camera found (driver version QuickCam Messenger/Communicate USB $Date: 2004/12/30 10:00:00 $)
quickcam: Kernel:2.6.13-15.8-default bus:1 class:FF subclass:FF vendor:046D product:08F5
quickcam [19.646739]: poisoning qc in qc_usb_init
quickcam [19.994089]: E00A contains 08F5
quickcam: Sensor VV6450 detected
quickcam [20.171968]: Quickcam snapshot button registered on usb-0000:00:04.2-1/input0
quickcam: Registered device: /dev/video0
usbcore: registered new driver quickcam

Brett

P.S. Some users have had success with the "spca5xx" driver on this site:

Details for: Logitech Quickcam Communicate STX
http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdev.php?id=3503

SPCA5xx RPM Download
http://raoulrpm.youm.org/SuSE_10.0/S...15.8-.i586.rpm

However, I couldn't get it to work with my camera. If you have a slightly different camera model, it might be worth a try.

Here is an alternative link since that one doesn't work for me:
http://home.tiscali.be/raoul.linux/downloadSuSE10.0.htm

bretts5964 · 04-22-2006, 04:42 PM

Anubis!

The mortals here thank you for the link to ascension...

Quote:

Originally Posted by anubis26

Here is an alternative link since that one doesn't work for me:
http://home.tiscali.be/raoul.linux/downloadSuSE10.0.htm

That RPM works of course, but it's kind of a kludge since the QuickcamAutostart package makes you sign in with a root password even while using a normal user ID. Probably not an option for people who don't know the root password, and a pain for anyone else.

Anyway, instead of using the QuickcamAutostart package, try this command after installing the qc-usb-messenger RPM:

Code:

/sbin/depmod -a -F /boot/System.map-2.6.13-15.8-default 2.6.13-15.8-default >/dev/null 2>&1 || true

Substitute your kernel version above instead of "2.6.13-15.8-default" if different. It should match your system's output from "uname -r" command.

That might work, but if it doesn't, I'm working on writing a qc-usb-messenger RPM that does everything automagically. It's working, but I'm not sure where or how to distribute it. It's humbly named: km_qc-usb-messenger-1.2-1_2.6.13_15.8_default.hawkeye.suse100.i586.rpm

Brett

<EDIT>

Forgot to mention this: If you use the qc-usb-messenger RPM from Raoul, and run the depmod command, then you SHOULD also edit your /etc/sysconfig/kernel file, and add the "quickcam" module name to the MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT variable. Then on reboot, the driver will always be ready and active.

bretts5964 · 05-20-2006, 05:04 AM

I quote myself...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bretts5964

That might work, but if it doesn't, I'm working on writing a qc-usb-messenger RPM that does everything automagically. It's working, but I'm not sure where or how to distribute it. It's humbly named: km_qc-usb-messenger-1.2-1_2.6.13_15.8_default.hawkeye.suse100.i586.rpm

Okay, I tried to contact the qc-usb-messenger author to see if he'd publish my RPM package, but after some time I have gotten no response, so here it is. Surely someone out there has some online storage where this can be distributed, but in the mean time these build instructions will have to do...

Building an RPM is not a beginner task, but then again it's not really too hard either with a little effort. My instructions will cover only SUSE, but people with other distros can probably get some hints here also. Yes, this RPM spec is designed to build packages for Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE & Mandrake Linux. Again, I have only tested on SUSE.

Firstly, you'll need to install the sources for your kernel, and the basic development tools necessary for compiling, building & packaging. SUSE has an option in YaST to select these with one check box, but that's for you to figure out. After you're done with this, then do the following:

0. Login as root. (Yes, I know that's BAAAD. Yeah, yeah. You know the risks.)

1. Download the source tarball for qc-usb-messenger from here: http://home.mag.cx/messenger/source/...ger-1.2.tar.gz

2. Copy the downloaded file to here: /usr/src/packages/SOURCES

3. Select everything in the code text box below, and copy it all to your clipboard.

Code:

#
# Small RPM spec to build the module for the Logitech Quickcam Messenger
# & Communicate USB webcam driver
#
# To force a kernel version (because you are building in a chroot for example),
# or your are not running this kernel use:
#  --define 'kernel_version 2.6.9-mykernel'

# norootforbuild

%define qc_version	1.2
%define rpm_release	1
%define rpm_packager	hawkeye

# You can force the kernel  with --define kernel_version
%{!?kernel_version: %{expand: %%define kernel_version %(uname -r)}}

%define is_fc		%(test -e /etc/fedora-release && echo 1 || echo 0)
%define is_rh		%(test -e /etc/redhat-release && echo 1 || echo 0)
%define is_suse		%(test -e /etc/SuSE-release && echo 1 || echo 0)
%define is_mdk		%(test -e /etc/mandrake-release && echo 1 || echo 0)

%define distro		unknown
%define distro_version	0
%define distro_name	"Unknown Distribution. Please report this to the author."
%define distro_kernel	kernel-%{kernel_version}

%if %is_rh
%define distro		rh
%define distro_version	%(grep VERSION /etc/redhat-release|cut -f3 -d" "|tr -d '.')
%define distro_name	Red Hat Linux
%define distro_kernel	kernel-%{kernel_version}
%define distro_filename	kernel-module-qc-usb-messenger
%endif

# Put fedora after redhat, because fedora-release package contains both files
%if %is_fc
%define distro		fc
%define distro_version	%(grep VERSION /etc/fedora-release|cut -f3 -d" "|tr -d '.')
%define distro_name	Fedora Core
%define distro_kernel	kernel-%{kernel_version}
%define distro_filename	kernel-module-qc-usb-messenger
%endif

%if %is_suse
%define distro		suse
%define distro_version	%(grep VERSION /etc/SuSE-release|cut -f3 -d" "|tr -d '.')
%define distro_name	SuSe Linux
%define distro_kernel	kernel-%{kernel_version}
%define distro_filename	km_qc-usb-messenger
%endif

# Put mandrake after redhat, because mandrake-release package contains both 
# /etc/mandrake-release and /etc/redhat-release
%if %is_mdk
%define distro		mdk
%define distro_version	%(grep VERSION /etc/mandrake-release|cut -f3 -d" "|tr -d '.')
%define distro_name	Mandrake Linux
%define distro_kernel	kernel-%{kernel_version}
%define distro_filename	dkms-qc-usb-messenger
%endif

%define kernel_distro_version	%(echo %{distro}%{distro_version}-%{kernel_version} | tr -s - _)
%define kernel_filename		%(uname -r | sed s,-,_,g)
%define rpm_distro_release	%{rpm_release}_%{kernel_filename}.%{rpm_packager}.%{distro}%{distro_version}

Summary:		Logitech Quickcam Messenger & Communicate USB webcam driver
Name:			qc-usb-messenger
Version:		%{qc_version}
Release:		%{rpm_release}.%{rpm_packager}
Source0:		qc-usb-messenger-%{version}.tar.gz
URL:			http://home.mag.cx/messenger/source/qc-usb-messenger-%{version}.tar.gz
Group:			System Environnement/Kernel
Packager:		Brett Smith <hawkeye@example.com>
License:		GPL
BuildRoot:		%{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-root
BuildRequires:		kernel, gcc
Requires:		/sbin/depmod, %{distro_kernel}

%description
GPL Logitech Quickcam Messenger & Communicate USB webcam driver.

%package -n %{distro_filename}
Release: %{rpm_distro_release}
Summary: Logitech Quickcam Messenger & Communicate USB webcam driver
Group: System Environnement/Kernel

%description -n %{distro_filename}
GPL Logitech Quickcam Messenger & Communicate USB webcam driver for kernel %{kernel_version}.

This package currently supports the following webcams:
 * Logitech Quickcam Messenger (0x046D, 0x08F0) & (0x046D, 0x08F6)
 * Logitech Quickcam Communicate (0x046D, 0x08F5)

%prep
%setup -q

%build
make all

%install
rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
install -d $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/lib/modules/%{kernel_version}/misc
install -m 644 -c quickcam.ko $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/lib/modules/%{kernel_version}/misc
install -d $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/local/bin
install -m 755 -c qcset $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/usr/local/bin

%clean
rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT

%files -n %{distro_filename}
%defattr(-,root,root)
/lib/modules/%{kernel_version}/
/usr/local/bin

%doc _CHANGES_MESSENGER _README_MESSENGER APPLICATIONS COPYING CREDITS FAQ QCM qcweb-info.txt README README.qce TODO

%post -n %{distro_filename}
/sbin/depmod -a -F /boot/System.map-%{kernel_version} %{kernel_version} >/dev/null 2>&1 || true

%postun -n %{distro_filename}
/sbin/depmod -a -F /boot/System.map-%{kernel_version} %{kernel_version} >/dev/null 2>&1 || true

%changelog
* Sat Apr 08 2006 - Brett Smith <hawkeye@example.com> 1.2-1
- new upstream version

* Wed Mar 29 2006 - Brett Smith <hawkeye@example.com> 1.1-1
- new package qc-usb-messenger for Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE & Mandrake Linux

4. Create an empty text file named "qc-usb-messenger.spec" and paste the clipboard contents into it, (be sure to add an extra blank line at the end because the forum stripped out the trailing carriage returns), and save the file.

5. Copy the new file to here: /usr/src/packages/SPECS

6. Open a shell console and change to this directory: /usr/src/packages

7. Run this command: rpmbuild -ba SPECS/qc-usb-messenger.spec --nodeps

8. This will build the RPM for your specific Linux distro, release, and kernel version. Since the naming conventions differ between Linux distros, the output names of the resulting RPM's will be different. For example, on SUSE 10.0 the file will be named: km_qc-usb-messenger-1.2-1_2.6.13_15.8_default.hawkeye.suse100.i586.rpm

9. When it finishes building, look for the binary package here: /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i586

10. Look for the source package (qc-usb-messenger-1.2-1.hawkeye.src.rpm) here: /usr/src/packages/SRPMS

11. (It's one louder) Install the binary RPM with: rpm -Uvh blah-blah.blah.blah.i586.rpm

12. Start the "quickcam" module, and add it to your list of modules to auto-start. (This is specific to your particular distro; see previous posts in this thread).

That's it!

Enjoy,
Brett

P.S. Credit goes to Luc Saillard for his pwc.spec file http://saillard.org/linux/pwc/ upon which the qc-usb-messenger.spec is based, (pwc supports slightly different models of Philips and Logitech cameras).