Extending webcam distance
 

I've been trying to move a usb webcam up to 25 feet away from the computer. (Gonna be a Critter Cam if I can ever get it there) I can't get either repeater usb cables to work, or a cat5 extension.

I understand that at least the cat5 extension would need a driver. In one particular case I'm trying to use an AirLink 101 USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapter that uses (for Windows) a driver AX88772. My understanding is that this driver is supported by the Linux usbnet.c driver. I did a modeprobe usbnet, but is there anything else I need to do to reference the driver upon plugging in a webcam or something? I don't understand how it ties together.

Likewise, is there some kind of driver issue that would keep me from being able to use usb repeater cables. One should be able to daisy several of them together. I can't get a cam to come up if I use just one. Cam works fine without any attempt to extend the distance.

I'm running Mandriva 2006, 2.6.12-22mdk kernel.

I'm over my head here. (where I usually am)

I have used usb repeater cables with quickcam webcams in the past and the system sees the repeater cables a usb hub.
What does dmesg say when you plug in the repeater ?
can you borrow someone elses camera to try ?

I'll have to wait until I get home to check. I currently have 3 Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX cams (USB 2.0) connected (only two of them are actually live -- ftping to my web site) and for the longer distance (Critter cam) I ended up getting a D-Link DCS-900 ip cam.

You can check the cams out at http://www.netrocam.com. Two of the 3 cams under menu item Rich's place are operational, and the 1 under Critter Cam. I seem to have a software (could be hardware I guess) difficulty when trying to operate all three USB cams at the same time. I'll get home and find that the system had rebooted itself.

I would still like to extend one of the USB cams. Will post after a test.

Hmmmm. Interesting. When I plug in the repeater dmesg shows:

usb 3-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
hub 3-2:1.0: USB hub found
hub 3-2:1.0: 4 ports detected

(The above was when plugging into the front of the system which has 4 ports on two controllers on the motherboard.)

When I plug the cam into the repeater dmesg shows:

usb 3-2.1: new full speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
/var/lib/dkms/spca5xx/0.57.11-0.1.20060mdk/build/drivers/usb/spca5xx.c: USB SPCA5XX camera found. Logitech QC Communicate STX
/var/lib/dkms/spca5xx/0.57.11-0.1.20060mdk/build/drivers/usb/spca5xx.c: [spca5xx_probe:8251] Camera type JPEG
/var/lib/dkms/spca5xx/0.57.11-0.1.20060mdk/build/drivers/usb/zc3xx.h: [zc3xx_config:520] Find Sensor HV7131R(c)
/var/lib/dkms/spca5xx/0.57.11-0.1.20060mdk/build/drivers/usb/spca5xx.c: [spca5xx_getcapability:2188] maxw 640 maxh 480 minw 176 minh 144
usbcore: registered new driver audio
drivers/usb/class/audio.c: v1.0.0:USB Audio Class driver

So, it seems it is seen. However, an application such as camstream doesn't see it. Could this be an application issue? I'm not sure what else to try to use, to see if the cam can actually be accessed. Any suggestons?

At the moment, camstream is operating my two other usb webcams. It just never sees any cam plugged into the repeater.

(BTW, the other two cams are plugged into a pci card which has 5 usb 2.0 controllers for 5 usb 2.0 ports)

Still can't find a way to access the cam with any application when using the usb extender.

In camstream the cam will not appear in the list to be selected.

In canorama, if one attempts to select the cam, dmesg shows the following:

/var/lib/dkms/spca5xx/0.57.11-0.1.20060mdk/build/drivers/usb/spca5xx.c: init isoc: usb_submit_urb(0) ret -38
/var/lib/dkms/spca5xx/0.57.11-0.1.20060mdk/build/drivers/usb/spca5xx.c: [spca5xx_open:3883] DEALLOC error on init_Isoc

Odd thing is that the cam's light stays lit. The other two connected usb cams (without extender) are only lit when they are accessed by an application, such as camstream. The cam on the extender stays lit after boot.

Any ideas?

spca5xx people said me it's power problem.......

i can use my mouse usb if my webcam is connected.....

These webcams do not have external power. Power is supplied through the usb port itself. I wonder if that could have something to do with it.

I guess the bottom line iine is that at least for me, usb extenders don't work -- at least not for webcams.