I've tried three different webcams with linux a GE easycam ,Micro Innovations webcam basic and the playstation eyetoy
the only one that worked out of the box with my distro ,which is Ubuntu ,was the MI webcam basic
i think they are about 20 usd at walmart
http://www.mic-innovations.com/mi/details.cfm?id=IC50C
the ge easy cam i was able to get working by compiling new drivers for it but a day later it stopped working,im still puzzled about this.