Old digicam works as storage not as webcam

ottavio · 03-03-2012, 07:52 AM

Hello, I have an oldish el-cheapo I.T. WORKS DSC551. It's a very bad camera and it doesn't even perform well on WIndow$ but I decided I wanted to play with it and mount it on my Slackware-current 32 bit.

When I set the camera in storage mode, the device is recognized well and is mountable:

Code:

dmesg
[ 2716.141426] scsi8 : usb-storage 5-2:1.0
[ 2717.156075] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     DZ558    Digital Camera   USB  PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 2717.158084] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[ 2717.161073] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] 1990656 512-byte logical blocks: (1.01 GB/972 MiB)
[ 2717.166051] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 2717.166057] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 06 00 00
[ 2717.171053] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[ 2717.171058] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2717.191051] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[ 2717.191058] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2717.199106]  sdc: sdc1
[ 2717.230056] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[ 2717.230062] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2717.230068] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

But when I set it up in webcam mode, it is recognized like this:

Code:

[ 2884.515026] usb 5-2: new full-speed USB device number 7 using uhci_hcd
[ 2884.669037] usb 5-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0d64, idProduct=0338
[ 2884.669045] usb 5-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2884.669049] usb 5-2: Product: Digital Still Camera 
[ 2884.669052] usb 5-2: Manufacturer: DZ358
[ 2884.669055] usb 5-2: SerialNumber: DSC0000000001

but it is not recogized by Flash and Java based chats in Firefox. I don't have any other graphical applications as I only want to use it with web based chats. I have also tried with Firefox started as root but to no avail.

This is the snippet from lsusb -v:

Code:

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0457:0151 Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. Super Flash 1GB / GXT  64MB Flash Drive
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0457 Silicon Integrated Systems Corp.
  idProduct          0x0151 Super Flash 1GB / GXT  64MB Flash Drive
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           0 
  iProduct                2 USB Mass Storage Device
  iSerial                 3 000000000013F1
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           39
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower               98mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk (Zip)
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

Bus 005 Device 007: ID 0d64:0338 DXG Technology Corp. 
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0d64 DXG Technology Corp.
  idProduct          0x0338 
  bcdDevice            0.00
  iManufacturer           1 
  iProduct                2 
  iSerial                 3 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           39
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0xc0
      Self Powered
    MaxPower                0mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass         0 (Defined at Interface level)
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Status:     0x0550
  (Bus Powered)
  Debug Mode

Thank you for your help

animeresistance · 03-03-2012, 02:30 PM

dunno if this helps ... hmm ... does kopete recognizes it? mean you tried to use it with kopete ?

em21701 · 03-07-2012, 07:16 AM

Your problem might be that it is being seen as a digital still camera. It may not be streaming video out, or because the Kernel believes it is a still camera it is not looking for a video stream. I'm not sure how to fix the problem, but hopefully this gives you a new direction to look.

Martinus2u · 03-07-2012, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottavio

but it is not recogized by Flash and Java based chats in Firefox.

not sure if it's related, but my ordinary webcam (which IS recognized by all local applications) cannot be used from flash. I've once read it has been designed like that on purpose by Adobe.

Btw, do you have /dev/video* devices when the camera is plugged in? Maybe you need additional kernel drivers or modules.

ottavio · 03-08-2012, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by em21701

Your problem might be that it is being seen as a digital still camera.

This cheap camera has a switch so that you can use the camera as either storage or webcam. When I select storage there's no problem. When I select webcam mode, as you can see from the lsusb -v posted above, it is recognized by the system but not by applications.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinus2u

not sure if it's related, but my ordinary webcam (which IS recognized by all local applications) cannot be used from flash. I've once read it has been designed like that on purpose by Adobe.

Yes, I've read about that, but rebooting on Windows XP (with guest account rights) I can see my camera in the flash window.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinus2u

Btw, do you have /dev/video* devices when the camera is plugged in? Maybe you need additional kernel drivers or modules.

No, I haven't and this is probably the clue. As there's no native Linux drivers for this camera which other modules should be whitelisted and from which location?

When I have more money I'll buy a decent camera, now my finances are so so and I have to make do with what I have.