I have a Microdia SN9C201 USB2 webcam, which for the last year has been collecting dust in it's box as I was using SUSE 10.1 and had no great luck.
Having upgraded to SUSE 11.0 I am again investigating the prospects of pushing this device into useful service. Drivers for Microdia were available from the standard recommended repositories and with the installation came a patched kernel - pe or xen.
I rebooted to invoke the changed kernel:
My box is AMD Sempron 2200+ with 1G memory with a new 80GB PATA disk drive, originally built four years ago as a low-end if-this-can-do-it-anything-can box.
Code:
OS:Linux 2.6.25.18-0.2-xen i686
Current user: ian@linux-cefw
System:openSUSE 11.0 (i586)
KDE:3.5.9 "release 49.1"
The Linux 2.6.35.18_0.2-pe i686 kernel also supports the camera and works in the same way, but I noticed the screen flicker approx every four seconds 'during and after' running “Camorama”, which appears not to happen with the xen kernel. No real testing done though as my real problem is with the error I am about to describe:
Launching camorama from a Shell Konsole screen returns errors:
Code:
Yast reports:
camorama 0.19-0 pm2
camorama -V
causes a segmentation fault, but other than wanting to know the installed version this isn't an issue that I am concerned about. Yast provided me with the info.
Code:
camorama -D
VIDIOCGCAP
device name = microdia
device type = 1
can use mmap()
# of channels = 1
# of audio devices = 0
max width = 640
max height = 480
min width = 80
min height = 60
VIDIOCGWIN
x = 0
y = 0
width = 640
height = 480
chromakey = 0
flags = -1223365648
VIDIOCGWIN
x = 0
y = 0
width = 320
height = 240
chromakey = 0
flags = 0
VIDIOCGPICT:
bright = 32512
hue = 65535
colour = 0
contrast = 32512
whiteness = 13056
colour depth = 24
YUV 4:2:0 Planar
VIDIOCGMBUF
mb.size = 10485760
mb.frames = 2
mb.offset = 5242880
update_tooltip called
tip - acap on
** Message: SET PIC
** Message: SET PIC
** Message: SET PIC
** Message: SET PIC
add autocap - 35 - timeout_interval =
update_tooltip called
tip - acap on
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
(camorama:5618): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_entry_set_text: assertion `text != NULL' failed
time = 1227573349
filename = (null)-1227573349.png
create dir: : Bad address
and
Code:
Error (camorama) [popup]
could not create directory '(null)'.
Code:
dmesg extract:
usb 2-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
usb 2-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0c45, idProduct=6242
usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
usb 2-2: Product: USB20 Camera
Linux video capture interface: v2.00
microdia: Microdia USB2.0 webcam driver startup
microdia: Microdia USB2.0 Webcam - Product ID 6242.
microdia: Release: 0100
microdia: Number of interfaces : 1
microdia: Microdia USB2.0 Camera is now controlling video device /dev/video0
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb_microdia_driver
microdia: v0.0.0 : Microdia USB Video Camera
Changing resolution to 640 by 480
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth1 OUT= MAC= SRC=192.168.1.4 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=64 T
The camera is seen to work convincingly well in the Camorama program window, but, presumably because of the error, attempting to click on the taskbar's “
File”, “
Edit”, “
View” and “
Help” options is ineffective, as is clicking on the “Show Adjustments” and “Take Picture” buttons.
The impression I get is that a directory is being looked for that appears not to be defined. My question, because I don't appear to be able to do it through the program interface, is “How can I specify a directory”? Is there a parameter file that I can edit to influence the proceedings?
Interestingly, this camera has in the past been a bit of a problem so some of the detail above may be of assistance to others who haven't been less than successful previously.
Thanks for reading this far. I'm hoping that YOU might have an answer or satisfactory workaround that you are willing to share.
