hi - i'm trying to get my canon powershot a80 running under redhat9.0 with minimal success.

first, i just want to explain that i don't know alot about how linux works, so please correct me if i misuse terms..

i'm trying to install the newest versions of the libgphoto2 (2.1.4), gphoto2 (2.1.4) and eventually gtkam(0.1.10). previously, the libgphoto2(2.1.1) and gphoto(2.1.0-7) rpm packages were installed. apparently, those are the most updated versions of libgphoto and gphoto available as redhat compatible rpm packages. unfortunately, there was no powershot a80 support under libgphoto2(2.1.1). i ended up downloading the newer versions as tar files from gphoto.org ..

anyway, i don't know if there is a way to upgrade an rpm package with a tar file, so i just installed/compiled the libgphoto2(2.1.4) from source. i did likewise with gphoto2(2.1.4) and gtkam(0.1.10). however, both the newer versions of gphoto2 and gtkam appeared to be using the libraries from libgphoto2(2.1.1) - so no support for my camera..

i uninstalled all versions of libgphoto2, gphoto2 and gtkam and started from scratch reinstalling only the tar files. however, after installing libgphoto2(2.1.4) i get errors when trying to install gphoto2(2.1.4) - "failed dependencies: libgphoto2.so.2" .. so i slocate -u and then locate libgphoto.so.2 in /usr/lib/ .. the library appears to be there..

i read a thread somewhere about running ldconfig as root (it updates the library database, right?) i'm thinking that next time i'll install gphoto2(2.1.4)smoothly, since it will have discovered the allusive libgphoto2.so.2 .. ..still no luck..

so i reinstall the gphoto2(2.1.1) rpm since rpmfind.net assures me it contains libgphoto.so.2. . ok.. then i install gphoto2(2.1.4) - which obviously doesn't help because its still using the outdated libraries that don't support my camera..

should i be doing something else to get libgphoto2(2.1.4) working properly? i've been working on this (intermittently googling for answers) for 8+ hours with no luck.. what am i missing?

any help would be great - thanks
.otto

..okay i managed to fix some of the problem, i got gphoto2(2.1.4) to install without having to reinstall gphoto2(2.1.1)..

here's the solution:

when installing libgphoto2-2.1.4 i ran:

./configure --prefix=/usr --with-drivers=all

i found this post on sourceforge:

>>the problem is you installed to /usr/local/ and configure is
>>confusing it with the libgphoto stuff installed in /usr.

>>configure libgphoto2 with ./configure --prefix=/usr to overwrite
>>the system installation and you will ghet further.

..however, now that its all installed - i don't have any camera support!! i thought "--with-drivers=all" would do the trick.. but no..

output of: gphoto2 --list-cameras

Number of supported cameras: 0
Supported cameras:

i assumed the powershot a80 drivers (let alone any other drivers) would now be available with the newest version of libgphoto2 installed.. why does this not work?

.otto

Here you go, shiny new RH9 rpm's. Heh, I was working on this when I hit your post. Thought you might like them.

http://radiofreeomaha.net:8080/rpms/

-jb

hey -

thanks alot of the rpms! .. they installed rather smoothly.. all the drivers show up. beautiful..

are you at all familiar with gtkam? .. i installed it from source (gtkam-0.1.10) and it detcts my camera fine, but when i hit 'apply' i get some error messages "could not list folders in '/'" and "could not initialize camera." .. again, the camera is a usb, canon powershot a80.

actually, the camera initializes fine when i run it as root. however, i'd prefer to run gtkam as a normal user. how can i do this? any specific commands?

thanks sooOOoo much!

.otto

Yeah i can probably give you some help. I have a Powershot a70 that I have managed to get working.

Most of this is from: http://www.gphoto.org/doc/manual/permissions-usb.html

In short:

NOTE: The instructions initially say to do: but that didn't work for me on RH9 so I had to do it the other way.

Choose the right /etc/hotplug/usb/usbcam script for you. These are found in /usr/share/doc/gphoto2/. You have some choices. You will probably want either usbcam.group or usbcam.user. With the group file you create a group that should have access to the camera and then add all the users you want to allow to that group. In my setup I have used this one and left the group as the default (camera) and added my users to the camera group. With the user file you give access to just one user. You will need to modify either file to use the group/user you want. This file should be copied to /etc/hotplug/usb/usbcam (NOTE: usbcam is the file name you are actually doing a copy and name change here) and be made executable.

At this point things should work. If you went the group route you will need to logout and back in for the changes to take affect. You should be able to plug your camera in and turn it on (NOTE: it must be in picture view mode not picture taking mode). I suggest watching the messages file when you turn it on (tail -f /var/log/messages) to insure you don't see any errors. You should see it notice your camera and load it up.

You can then do:

Or alternately use gtkam or what have you.

The only issues I have had are:

1. If I hit a corrupt file the camera is no longer recognized.
2. After one use the camera is no longer recognized.

The solution to both problems seems to be a system reboot. This generally ticks me off but as of yet I haven't found a solution.

Sorry for being so long but I hope that helps.

-jb

excellent! gphoto2 and gtkam seems to work fine now for normal users in the 'camera' group..

thanks again for all the help!
i also appreciate your being explicit in your directions..

however, for others who may be trying to figure this out: my usbcam.group and usbcam.user config files are located in the directory /usr/share/doc/libgphoto2/linux-hotplug/

thanks again!
.o

I also have a PowerShot A70, which I just recently got working in RH9 (thanks in part to your helpful posts). However, I have had no trouble with the camera not being recognized after the first use. Each time I connect or re-connect the camera, I get a message along the lines of:

Mar 14 13:46:30 localhost kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:1d.3-2, assigned address 2

in /var/log/messages. Each time the camera is re-connected, the assigned address increases by 1. Then, I get something like this:

Mar 14 13:46:30 localhost kernel: usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0x4a9/0x3073) is not claimed by any active driver.
Mar 14 13:46:33 localhost /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Setup usbcam for USB product 4a9/3073/1
Mar 14 13:46:33 localhost /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Module setup usbcam for USB product 4a9/3073/1

Do you get some sort of error messages when you try to re-connect your camera?

This was the big stumbling block for me, until I clued in to doing a find | grep usbcam.group. I had almost forgotten about find...

I appears that the gPhoto documentation is a little unclear for this step.