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Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001c-qcam - Connectix Color QuickCam video4linux kernel driver
2
3Copyright (C) 1999 Dave Forrest <drf5n@virginia.edu>
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -03004 released under GNU GPL.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07005
61999-12-08 Dave Forrest, written with kernel version 2.2.12 in mind
7
8
9Table of Contents
10
111.0 Introduction
122.0 Compilation, Installation, and Configuration
133.0 Troubleshooting
144.0 Future Work / current work arounds
159.0 Sample Program, v4lgrab
1610.0 Other Information
17
18
191.0 Introduction
20
Mhayk Whandson575f9af2009-07-28 11:53:20 -030021 The file ../../drivers/media/video/c-qcam.c is a device driver for
22the Logitech (nee Connectix) parallel port interface color CCD camera.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070023This is a fairly inexpensive device for capturing images. Logitech
24does not currently provide information for developers, but many people
25have engineered several solutions for non-Microsoft use of the Color
26Quickcam.
27
281.1 Motivation
29
30 I spent a number of hours trying to get my camera to work, and I
31hope this document saves you some time. My camera will not work with
32the 2.2.13 kernel as distributed, but with a few patches to the
33module, I was able to grab some frames. See 4.0, Future Work.
34
35
36
372.0 Compilation, Installation, and Configuration
38
39 The c-qcam depends on parallel port support, video4linux, and the
40Color Quickcam. It is also nice to have the parallel port readback
41support enabled. I enabled these as modules during the kernel
42configuration. The appropriate flags are:
43
44 CONFIG_PRINTER M for lp.o, parport.o parport_pc.o modules
45 CONFIG_PNP_PARPORT M for autoprobe.o IEEE1284 readback module
46 CONFIG_PRINTER_READBACK M for parport_probe.o IEEE1284 readback module
47 CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV M for videodev.o video4linux module
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -030048 CONFIG_VIDEO_CQCAM M for c-qcam.o Color Quickcam module
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070049
50 With these flags, the kernel should compile and install the modules.
51To record and monitor the compilation, I use:
52
53 (make zlilo ; \
54 make modules; \
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -030055 make modules_install ;
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070056 depmod -a ) &>log &
57 less log # then a capital 'F' to watch the progress
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -030058
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070059But that is my personal preference.
60
612.2 Configuration
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -030062
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070063 The configuration requires module configuration and device
64configuration. I like kmod or kerneld process with the
65/etc/modprobe.conf file so the modules can automatically load/unload as
66they are used. The video devices could already exist, be generated
67using MAKEDEV, or need to be created. The following sections detail
68these procedures.
69
70
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300712.1 Module Configuration
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070072
73 Using modules requires a bit of work to install and pass the
74parameters. Understand that entries in /etc/modprobe.conf of:
75
76 alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
77 options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=none
78 alias char-major-81 videodev
79 alias char-major-81-0 c-qcam
80
81will cause the kmod/modprobe to do certain things. If you are
82using kmod, then a request for a 'char-major-81-0' will cause
83the 'c-qcam' module to load. If you have other video sources with
84modules, you might want to assign the different minor numbers to
85different modules.
86
872.2 Device Configuration
88
89 At this point, we need to ensure that the device files exist.
90Video4linux used the /dev/video* files, and we want to attach the
91Quickcam to one of these.
92
93 ls -lad /dev/video* # should produce a list of the video devices
94
95If the video devices do not exist, you can create them with:
96
97 su
98 cd /dev
99 for ii in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ; do
100 mknod video$ii c 81 $ii # char-major-81-[0-16]
101 chown root.root video$ii # owned by root
102 chmod 600 video$ii # read/writable by root only
103 done
104
105 Lots of people connect video0 to video and bttv, but you might want
106your c-qcam to mean something more:
107
108 ln -s video0 c-qcam # make /dev/c-qcam a working file
109 ln -s c-qcam video # make /dev/c-qcam your default video source
110
111 But these are conveniences. The important part is to make the proper
112special character files with the right major and minor numbers. All
113of the special device files are listed in ../devices.txt. If you
114would like the c-qcam readable by non-root users, you will need to
115change the permissions.
116
1173.0 Troubleshooting
118
119 If the sample program below, v4lgrab, gives you output then
120everything is working.
121
122 v4lgrab | wc # should give you a count of characters
123
124 Otherwise, you have some problem.
125
126 The c-qcam is IEEE1284 compatible, so if you are using the proc file
127system (CONFIG_PROC_FS), the parallel printer support
128(CONFIG_PRINTER), the IEEE 1284 system,(CONFIG_PRINTER_READBACK), you
129should be able to read some identification from your quickcam with
130
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300131 modprobe -v parport
132 modprobe -v parport_probe
133 cat /proc/parport/PORTNUMBER/autoprobe
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700134Returns:
135 CLASS:MEDIA;
136 MODEL:Color QuickCam 2.0;
137 MANUFACTURER:Connectix;
138
139 A good response to this indicates that your color quickcam is alive
140and well. A common problem is that the current driver does not
141reliably detect a c-qcam, even though one is attached. In this case,
142
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300143 modprobe -v c-qcam
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700144or
145 insmod -v c-qcam
146
147 Returns a message saying "Device or resource busy" Development is
148currently underway, but a workaround is to patch the module to skip
149the detection code and attach to a defined port. Check the
150video4linux mailing list and archive for more current information.
151
1523.1 Checklist:
153
154 Can you get an image?
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300155 v4lgrab >qcam.ppm ; wc qcam.ppm ; xv qcam.ppm
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700156
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300157 Is a working c-qcam connected to the port?
158 grep ^ /proc/parport/?/autoprobe
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700159
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300160 Do the /dev/video* files exist?
161 ls -lad /dev/video
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700162
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300163 Is the c-qcam module loaded?
164 modprobe -v c-qcam ; lsmod
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700165
166 Does the camera work with alternate programs? cqcam, etc?
167
168
169
170
1714.0 Future Work / current workarounds
172
173 It is hoped that this section will soon become obsolete, but if it
174isn't, you might try patching the c-qcam module to add a parport=xxx
175option as in the bw-qcam module so you can specify the parallel port:
176
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300177 insmod -v c-qcam parport=0
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700178
179And bypass the detection code, see ../../drivers/char/c-qcam.c and
180look for the 'qc_detect' code and call.
181
182 Note that there is work in progress to change the video4linux API,
183this work is documented at the video4linux2 site listed below.
184
185
Mauro Carvalho Chehab48773e62006-03-25 09:21:43 -03001869.0 --- A sample program using v4lgrabber,
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700187
Randy Dunlapa22f1cb2006-05-26 10:32:13 -0300188v4lgrab is a simple image grabber that will copy a frame from the
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700189first video device, /dev/video0 to standard output in portable pixmap
Randy Dunlapa22f1cb2006-05-26 10:32:13 -0300190format (.ppm) To produce .jpg output, you can use it like this:
191'v4lgrab | convert - c-qcam.jpg'
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700192
193
19410.0 --- Other Information
195
196Use the ../../Maintainers file, particularly the VIDEO FOR LINUX and PARALLEL
197PORT SUPPORT sections
198
199The video4linux page:
Mauro Carvalho Chehab43db48d2007-01-09 11:20:59 -0300200 http://linuxtv.org
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700201
Mauro Carvalho Chehab43db48d2007-01-09 11:20:59 -0300202The V4L2 API spec:
203 http://v4l2spec.bytesex.org/
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700204
205Some web pages about the quickcams:
Justin P. Mattock0ea6e612010-07-23 20:51:24 -0700206 http://www.pingouin-land.com/howto/QuickCam-HOWTO.html
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700207
208 http://www.crynwr.com/qcpc/ QuickCam Third-Party Drivers
209 http://www.crynwr.com/qcpc/re.html Some Reverse Engineering
Justin P. Mattock0ea6e612010-07-23 20:51:24 -0700210 http://www.wirelesscouch.net/software/gqcam/ v4l client
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700211 http://phobos.illtel.denver.co.us/pub/qcread/ doesn't use v4l
212 ftp://ftp.cs.unm.edu/pub/chris/quickcam/ Has lots of drivers
213 http://www.cs.duke.edu/~reynolds/quickcam/ Has lots of information
214
215