[ale] Linux Webcam (for Skype)

[David A. De Graaf]

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 04:23:18PM -0400, Doug McNash wrote:
> 
> What webcam works well with Skype on Linux?
> (Prefurably not LogiTech)

By far the cheapest one is "6 LED USB Digital Web Camera Webcam +
Microphone for Laptop Notebook PC for Live Chat Video" from
www.hdeshop.com, for $7.50.  It is working perfectly with Skype here.
The LEDs light up if you block the sensor aperture on the top of the
camera, but don't seem to achieve much illumination, and are pretty
much useless.  The built-in microphone is perfectly satisfactory for
Skype use.  The mounting clamp doesn't work on the top of my flat screen
monitor, but some double-sided foam mounting tape fixed it.

There's an amazing number of Logitech webcams; some work perfectly,
others not at all.

Last Christmas I bought bunch of "Logitech Quickcam 3000 for
Business" for family members for $25.56 each from buy.com.
These also work perfectly with Fedora 12 and Skype.

I've had a "Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX" webcam that wouldn't work
with Fedora.  But now it does, with Fedora 12.

The builtin camera on my Asus N10J netbook previously produced upside
down pictures, but now is working perfectly.  It requires some
trickery, because skype doesn't adhere to standards.  I use a wrapper
script, /usr/local/bin/skype, which says:

  export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so
  /usr/bin/skype

This forces skype to use that library.

The secret to making all these cameras work in Fedora 12 is to install
the libv4l package, which includes /usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so.
It's magic.  They all just work.

This library relies on a builtin database of vendor:model codes as seen
in 'lsusb'.  For each known camera it makes appropriate adjustments.
My son has an apparently identical ASUS N10J netbook, but his camera ID
is different, and his pictures remained upside down until a recent update.

-- 
	David A. De Graaf    DATIX, Inc.    Hendersonville, NC
	dad at datix.us         www.datix.us