Boy, do I love my new eeePC!!!
As a Linux newbie I love experimenting shamelessly with the software, since I can so easily get back to factory settings.

However, there are only so many 'restores' before I will ask for help. The problem is that my 4G 'surf' model has no integrated webcam and I can not make the usb webcam (Microsoft Lifecam VX-1000) work. This camera does work just fine on the Dell on which I run Fedora 8, but on the Eee-Xandros all my attempts failed.

My last (most promising? yet futile attempt was to get from the
'debian main repositories' 'gspca' (sudo apt-get install gspca*), which may have failed because when it tried to install 'linux-images' I aborted the process, thinking that might mess with my system.

That is all I can tell, except at the end of this post are the usb-related outputs from "sudo dmesg" (with the camera plugged in, I presume that is usb port2. And bdw, there are only two outside ports, not 5).

Could anybody please suggest some software to install to get the camera going? (Please be verbose about the whats and hows, this is not an experienced user, at all.)

Thanks.
dmesg:
"[ 38.521270] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 38.521318] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 38.521360] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 38.526491] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 38.526503] drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
[ 38.604274] USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v3.0
[ 38.605202] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKH] enabled at IRQ 3
[ 38.605210] PCI: setting IRQ 3 as level-triggered
[ 38.605218] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1d.0[A] -> Link [LNKH] -> GSI 3 (leve
l, low) -> IRQ 3
[ 38.605240] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1d.0 to 64
[ 38.605248] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: UHCI Host Controller
[ 38.605816] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus numbe
r 1
[ 38.605860] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: irq 3, io base 0x0000e400
[ 38.606091] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 38.606149] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 38.606163] hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 38.711290] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1d.1[B] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 7 (leve
l, low) -> IRQ 7
[ 38.711313] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1d.1 to 64
[ 38.711322] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: UHCI Host Controller
[ 38.711364] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus numbe
r 2
[ 38.711402] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: irq 7, io base 0x0000e480
[ 38.711599] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 38.711650] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 38.711664] hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 38.821222] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1d.2[C] -> Link [LNKC] -> GSI 10 (lev
el, low) -> IRQ 10
[ 38.821246] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1d.2 to 64
[ 38.821255] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: UHCI Host Controller
[ 38.821310] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus numbe
r 3
[ 38.821350] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: irq 10, io base 0x0000e800
[ 38.821537] usb usb3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 38.821595] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 38.821608] hub 3-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 31.560000] Time: acpi_pm clocksource has been installed.
[ 31.630000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1d.3[D] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 5 (leve
l, low) -> IRQ 5
[ 31.630000] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1d.3 to 64
[ 31.630000] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3: UHCI Host Controller
[ 31.630000] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3: new USB bus registered, assigned bus numbe
r 4
[ 31.630000] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3: irq 5, io base 0x0000e880
[ 31.630000] usb usb4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 31.630000] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 31.630000] hub 4-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 31.880000] Clocksource tsc unstable (delta = -107265517 ns)
[ 31.910000] usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 32.080000] usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 32.210000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1d.7[A] -> Link [LNKH] -> GSI 3 (leve
l, low) -> IRQ 3
[ 32.210000] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1d.7 to 64
[ 32.210000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: EHCI Host Controller
[ 32.220000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus numbe
r 5
[ 32.220000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: debug port 1
[ 32.220000] PCI: cache line size of 32 is not supported by device 0000:00:1d.
7
[ 32.220000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: irq 3, io mem 0xf7eb7c00
[ 32.220000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00, driver 10 Dec
2004
[ 32.230000] usb usb5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 32.230000] hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 32.230000] hub 5-0:1.0: 8 ports detected
[ 32.400000] Atheros(R) L2 Ethernet Network Driver - version 1.0.40.4
[ 32.400000] Copyright (c) 2007 Atheros Corporation.
[ 32.400000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 11 (lev
el, low) -> IRQ 11
[ 32.400000] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:03:00.0 to 64
[ 32.620000] usb 5-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[ 32.770000] usb 5-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 32.770000] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 2
[ 32.770000] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual
[ 32.980000] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 32.980000] scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 32.980000] usb-storage: device found at 2
[ 32.980000] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 32.980000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 32.980000] USB Mass Storage support registered."

and a little further down:


"[ 75.880000] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 76.040000] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 76.280000] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[ 99.040000] Doing delayed copyup of a read-write file on a read-only branch."

I know this is not a direct answer to your question, but as a fellow Eee owner, I can tell you that your best course of action is to install a more capable distribution like Ubuntu onto the Eee and forget about fighting with Xandros. The included OS is very simplistic, and you are going to run into problems any time you want to do something that isn't supported in the base install.

Using something like Ubuntu, you will have a completely unhindered experience on the machine, and won't have all these issues when adding more hardware or software.

That said of course, installing another distribution on the Eee is not exactly fool proof. There are some things you need to watch out for, but it is all well documented, so if you can follow the guides online you will have no problems.

I managed to compile the gspca module for the eeepc using the kernel that asus made available on the downloads site.

The compiled kernel module can be found on the URL:

(I can only show the URL in the next post - new user)

And in order to install you must run the followind commands (just copied it from the gscpa_build scrit):

I have a VX-1000, too, and it worked, although the image is terrible. I hope you are luckier with yours. (tell us your experience!)

The URL for the compiled kernel module is:

http://www.das.ufsc.br/~erdtmann/arquivos/gspca.ko

Hi, erdtmann,

your compiled module gspca.ko worked well with my Qcam Communicator , Skype-2.0.58.27 on eeepc 2G Surf.
the image is enough for me.
Thanks!

hy
can you please help me to install my lifecam vx1000 on fedora 8?

Hello,

I also have an eee pc (a 4g surf), and am trying to get an external webcam running on it. I've had my eee pc for a couple months now, and absolutely love it! However, I'm completely new to linux, so something that seems like it should be simple is really difficult for me.

I downloaded the gspca.ko file, but am not sure where I should put the file before running the sudo commands. I tried them out just to see what would happen; everything seems ok until I get to the 4th one (where the install actually happens), and it tells me that the file does not exist. I tried pasting gspca.ko into 'lib/modules', but got a message saying that I didn't have authority to do so.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Sorry if this is a stupid question; as I mentioned above, I'm new to Linux, but am trying to learn!

Thanks in advance

You can save it on your home dir (which usually is /home/user). Usually, firefox sends file to the Documents folder (or something like that), so you only have to move it (or download it) to /home/user.

When you open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T, the default initial folder is /home/user, which you can confer using the command "pwd". You can navigate throught folders using the "cd <folder>" and "cd .." commands (just like old DOS).

If you saved the file on your home dir, you can open a term and run every command listed above, and everything should be allright. You errors persisted, please copy (select with left mouse button) and paste (with click on middle button) the contents of the terminal so we can help you more.

I have no experience in fedora myself, but the generic steps are:

1) download gspcav1 webcam device drivers source code from: http://mxhaard.free.fr/download.html

2) make sure you have gcc, kernel-headers, build-essential needed to compile the module

3) run the build command that comes with the package (I think the name is build_gspca) on a terminal

4) plug your camera and test (with camorama or skype or wathever)

There are additional steps for make the light ajustment a little better, I am still testing it, and I can tell you how to use it after these primary steps are accomplished.

If you have problems in these steps, let me know.

Mathias

Thank you for help ,with your steps i finally installed
thanks again

Thanks so much for your help; I'll try it tomorrow and will let you know how it goes! =)

Hello,

I tried it again with the file in /home/user. Everything seemed to go okay; there were no errors so I think it installed. But my webcam still does not work I am using a Microsoft Lifecam VX-3000, and Skype v. 2.0.0.27. On my 4g surf I am using xandros with the advanced desktop.

I was hoping it would work with a VX3000, but maybe not?? If you know of anything else I can try, I'd really appreciate your assistance!

thanks

Never mind my last post - it works!! I restarted my eeepc, and that seemed to do the trick. Thanks so much for your help, I've been looking for a way to get a webcam working forever! =)

Good news! Please let me now what do you think about the image quality of this camera/driver on GNU/linux, in comparison of what you usually get with M$-Windows.

My vx1000 on linux is not par to the M$-Windows image quality...

I have a webcam it shows microdia when I do a lsusb command.
It works well except the brightness is a little bit low.

thanks for the compiled module