Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | c-qcam - Connectix Color QuickCam video4linux kernel driver |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Copyright (C) 1999 Dave Forrest <drf5n@virginia.edu> |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 4 | released under GNU GPL. |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 5 | |
| 6 | 1999-12-08 Dave Forrest, written with kernel version 2.2.12 in mind |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Table of Contents |
| 10 | |
| 11 | 1.0 Introduction |
| 12 | 2.0 Compilation, Installation, and Configuration |
| 13 | 3.0 Troubleshooting |
| 14 | 4.0 Future Work / current work arounds |
| 15 | 9.0 Sample Program, v4lgrab |
| 16 | 10.0 Other Information |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 19 | 1.0 Introduction |
| 20 | |
Mhayk Whandson | 575f9af | 2009-07-28 11:53:20 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | The file ../../drivers/media/video/c-qcam.c is a device driver for |
| 22 | the Logitech (nee Connectix) parallel port interface color CCD camera. |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 23 | This is a fairly inexpensive device for capturing images. Logitech |
| 24 | does not currently provide information for developers, but many people |
| 25 | have engineered several solutions for non-Microsoft use of the Color |
| 26 | Quickcam. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | 1.1 Motivation |
| 29 | |
| 30 | I spent a number of hours trying to get my camera to work, and I |
| 31 | hope this document saves you some time. My camera will not work with |
| 32 | the 2.2.13 kernel as distributed, but with a few patches to the |
| 33 | module, I was able to grab some frames. See 4.0, Future Work. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | |
| 36 | |
| 37 | 2.0 Compilation, Installation, and Configuration |
| 38 | |
| 39 | The c-qcam depends on parallel port support, video4linux, and the |
| 40 | Color Quickcam. It is also nice to have the parallel port readback |
| 41 | support enabled. I enabled these as modules during the kernel |
| 42 | configuration. 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 Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 48 | CONFIG_VIDEO_CQCAM M for c-qcam.o Color Quickcam module |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 49 | |
| 50 | With these flags, the kernel should compile and install the modules. |
| 51 | To record and monitor the compilation, I use: |
| 52 | |
| 53 | (make zlilo ; \ |
| 54 | make modules; \ |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 55 | make modules_install ; |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 56 | depmod -a ) &>log & |
| 57 | less log # then a capital 'F' to watch the progress |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 58 | |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 59 | But that is my personal preference. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | 2.2 Configuration |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | The configuration requires module configuration and device |
Lucas De Marchi | 970e248 | 2012-03-30 13:37:16 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 64 | configuration. The following sections detail these procedures. |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 65 | |
| 66 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 67 | 2.1 Module Configuration |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 68 | |
| 69 | Using modules requires a bit of work to install and pass the |
Lucas De Marchi | 970e248 | 2012-03-30 13:37:16 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 70 | parameters. Understand that entries in /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf of: |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 71 | |
| 72 | alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc |
| 73 | options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=none |
| 74 | alias char-major-81 videodev |
| 75 | alias char-major-81-0 c-qcam |
| 76 | |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 77 | 2.2 Device Configuration |
| 78 | |
| 79 | At this point, we need to ensure that the device files exist. |
| 80 | Video4linux used the /dev/video* files, and we want to attach the |
| 81 | Quickcam to one of these. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | ls -lad /dev/video* # should produce a list of the video devices |
| 84 | |
| 85 | If the video devices do not exist, you can create them with: |
| 86 | |
| 87 | su |
| 88 | cd /dev |
| 89 | for ii in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ; do |
| 90 | mknod video$ii c 81 $ii # char-major-81-[0-16] |
| 91 | chown root.root video$ii # owned by root |
| 92 | chmod 600 video$ii # read/writable by root only |
| 93 | done |
| 94 | |
| 95 | Lots of people connect video0 to video and bttv, but you might want |
| 96 | your c-qcam to mean something more: |
| 97 | |
| 98 | ln -s video0 c-qcam # make /dev/c-qcam a working file |
| 99 | ln -s c-qcam video # make /dev/c-qcam your default video source |
| 100 | |
| 101 | But these are conveniences. The important part is to make the proper |
| 102 | special character files with the right major and minor numbers. All |
| 103 | of the special device files are listed in ../devices.txt. If you |
| 104 | would like the c-qcam readable by non-root users, you will need to |
| 105 | change the permissions. |
| 106 | |
| 107 | 3.0 Troubleshooting |
| 108 | |
| 109 | If the sample program below, v4lgrab, gives you output then |
| 110 | everything is working. |
| 111 | |
| 112 | v4lgrab | wc # should give you a count of characters |
| 113 | |
| 114 | Otherwise, you have some problem. |
| 115 | |
| 116 | The c-qcam is IEEE1284 compatible, so if you are using the proc file |
| 117 | system (CONFIG_PROC_FS), the parallel printer support |
| 118 | (CONFIG_PRINTER), the IEEE 1284 system,(CONFIG_PRINTER_READBACK), you |
| 119 | should be able to read some identification from your quickcam with |
| 120 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 121 | modprobe -v parport |
| 122 | modprobe -v parport_probe |
| 123 | cat /proc/parport/PORTNUMBER/autoprobe |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 124 | Returns: |
| 125 | CLASS:MEDIA; |
| 126 | MODEL:Color QuickCam 2.0; |
| 127 | MANUFACTURER:Connectix; |
| 128 | |
| 129 | A good response to this indicates that your color quickcam is alive |
| 130 | and well. A common problem is that the current driver does not |
| 131 | reliably detect a c-qcam, even though one is attached. In this case, |
| 132 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 133 | modprobe -v c-qcam |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 134 | or |
| 135 | insmod -v c-qcam |
| 136 | |
| 137 | Returns a message saying "Device or resource busy" Development is |
| 138 | currently underway, but a workaround is to patch the module to skip |
| 139 | the detection code and attach to a defined port. Check the |
| 140 | video4linux mailing list and archive for more current information. |
| 141 | |
| 142 | 3.1 Checklist: |
| 143 | |
| 144 | Can you get an image? |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 145 | v4lgrab >qcam.ppm ; wc qcam.ppm ; xv qcam.ppm |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 146 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 147 | Is a working c-qcam connected to the port? |
| 148 | grep ^ /proc/parport/?/autoprobe |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 149 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 150 | Do the /dev/video* files exist? |
| 151 | ls -lad /dev/video |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 152 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 153 | Is the c-qcam module loaded? |
| 154 | modprobe -v c-qcam ; lsmod |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 155 | |
| 156 | Does the camera work with alternate programs? cqcam, etc? |
| 157 | |
| 158 | |
| 159 | |
| 160 | |
| 161 | 4.0 Future Work / current workarounds |
| 162 | |
| 163 | It is hoped that this section will soon become obsolete, but if it |
| 164 | isn't, you might try patching the c-qcam module to add a parport=xxx |
| 165 | option as in the bw-qcam module so you can specify the parallel port: |
| 166 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 167 | insmod -v c-qcam parport=0 |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 168 | |
| 169 | And bypass the detection code, see ../../drivers/char/c-qcam.c and |
| 170 | look for the 'qc_detect' code and call. |
| 171 | |
| 172 | Note that there is work in progress to change the video4linux API, |
| 173 | this work is documented at the video4linux2 site listed below. |
| 174 | |
| 175 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 48773e6 | 2006-03-25 09:21:43 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 176 | 9.0 --- A sample program using v4lgrabber, |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 177 | |
Randy Dunlap | a22f1cb | 2006-05-26 10:32:13 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 178 | v4lgrab is a simple image grabber that will copy a frame from the |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 179 | first video device, /dev/video0 to standard output in portable pixmap |
Randy Dunlap | a22f1cb | 2006-05-26 10:32:13 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 180 | format (.ppm) To produce .jpg output, you can use it like this: |
| 181 | 'v4lgrab | convert - c-qcam.jpg' |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 182 | |
| 183 | |
| 184 | 10.0 --- Other Information |
| 185 | |
| 186 | Use the ../../Maintainers file, particularly the VIDEO FOR LINUX and PARALLEL |
| 187 | PORT SUPPORT sections |
| 188 | |
| 189 | The video4linux page: |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 43db48d | 2007-01-09 11:20:59 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 190 | http://linuxtv.org |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 191 | |
Mauro Carvalho Chehab | 43db48d | 2007-01-09 11:20:59 -0300 | [diff] [blame] | 192 | The V4L2 API spec: |
| 193 | http://v4l2spec.bytesex.org/ |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 194 | |
| 195 | Some web pages about the quickcams: |
Justin P. Mattock | 0ea6e61 | 2010-07-23 20:51:24 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 196 | http://www.pingouin-land.com/howto/QuickCam-HOWTO.html |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 197 | |
| 198 | http://www.crynwr.com/qcpc/ QuickCam Third-Party Drivers |
| 199 | http://www.crynwr.com/qcpc/re.html Some Reverse Engineering |
Justin P. Mattock | 0ea6e61 | 2010-07-23 20:51:24 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 200 | http://www.wirelesscouch.net/software/gqcam/ v4l client |
Linus Torvalds | 1da177e | 2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 201 | http://phobos.illtel.denver.co.us/pub/qcread/ doesn't use v4l |
| 202 | ftp://ftp.cs.unm.edu/pub/chris/quickcam/ Has lots of drivers |
| 203 | http://www.cs.duke.edu/~reynolds/quickcam/ Has lots of information |
| 204 | |
| 205 | |