Webcam Installation

satsriakal · 11-21-2018, 04:08 PM

Hallo to everybody,

I'm trying to install the drivers of a webcam Hama (Microdia SN9C325), but I can't find those for Linux. (Notebook with Linux Mint 18).

Can you help me please?
Beppe

frankbell · 11-21-2018, 08:25 PM

You will not find them, at least not in the way you are looking for them, as discreet downloads.

Try testing the camera with Cheese. If that doesn't work, try guvcview. Both should be in the repos. Most webcams work with one or the other.

These articles should help:
https://www.linuxlinks.com/webcam/
https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Webcam-HOWTO/hardware.html

satsriakal · 11-22-2018, 02:12 AM

Thanks a lot Frankbell!
I verified that the webcam is working with Cheese.
Besides, I verified that it's not working with the software Skype since the software doesn't find it.
What should I do?
Best regards
Beppe

yancek · 11-22-2018, 07:15 AM

I don't use Skype but it is problematic on many Linux systems as Skype is owned by microsoft. You should check your repostiories for SkypeforLinux which might work or do an online search 'using skype on Mint/Ubuntu'.

hydrurga · 11-22-2018, 07:38 AM

Just a note that I am using Skype (8.34.0.78) in Mint 19 and my webcam is working fine.

I am using the version of Skype downloadable from Skype's repository and installed it in the following way (note that the software won't run on 32-bit systems).

Code:

apt install apt-transport-https

curl https://repo.skype.com/data/SKYPE-GPG-KEY | sudo apt-key add -

echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list

apt update

apt install skypeforlinux

satsriakal · 11-23-2018, 04:26 AM

I installed the new version of Skype, as you suggested me, but I can view just the embedded cam of the notebook, not the external USB cam. (Linux Mint 18 64bit)

hydrurga · 11-23-2018, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satsriakal

I installed the new version of Skype, as you suggested me, but I can view just the embedded cam of the notebook, not the external USB cam. (Linux Mint 18 64bit)

When, in Skype, you select Tools->Audio and Video Settings, to the right of the word "Camera" at the top, do you see a little down arrow that allows you to select the webcam you want to use?

frankbell · 11-23-2018, 08:16 PM

I use Skype (very rarely) to communicate with some family members when a phone call won't do. I recently had an experience in which my webcam (definitely Linux compatible--I got it from ThinkPenguin), which worked with Cheese, did not work with Skype for Linux in Debian Stretch. When I moved to Debian testing (which I had been planning to do all along), the webcam started working with skype.

That meant an upgrade to both the kernel version and to the Skype version. What precisely caused Skype video to start working I can't say, but maybe this anecdote will add some data to help shed light on OP's problem.