On Sat, 05 Jan 2008 12:02:56 -0500, Maurice Batey wrote:

> On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:16:52 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:
>> See if camstream will allow you to configure the webcam

> Anywhere else to go?!

Don't know if these support v4l2, but the only other applications I've tried, that
allow you to set the brightness, etc, are camorama, kopete,and xawtv.

I know that some applications will keep the camera settings, setup by a prior
application, while others will reset the camera, based on that applications defaults.
xsane may work, but fails with my v4l (1) webcam. Unfortunately, that's all trial and
error, and I didn't keep notes on which do what.

See http://www.quickcamteam.net/software.../v4l2-software for other programs,
that should work.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:47:24 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> camorama

This was the only one that seemed to do what I was looking for,
but it simply reports "Cannot connect to /dev/video0".

As things are - judging by the test picture Skype shows - the
webcam settings seem OK, so perhaps they can just stay as they
are.

One problem - unexpected - is that on some bootups the
webcam is OK with Skype, and at other times it does not display
a picture.
In the latter case, if I reboot, the Skype test pic is OK.

I find this unpredictability difficult to understand.
(Unless it is because the webcam needs to be plugged in at boot
up. Mmm; need to check that...)

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On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 11:08:57 -0500, Maurice Batey wrote:

> One problem - unexpected - is that on some bootups the
> webcam is OK with Skype, and at other times it does not display
> a picture.
> In the latter case, if I reboot, the Skype test pic is OK.

That would concern me, quite a bit. The most likely cause I can think of,
would be a power supply, that can't handle the load, on initial powerup.

Does it seem to make a difference, if it's a cold boot, or warm re-boot?

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:33:22 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> That would concern me, quite a bit. The most likely cause I
can think of,
> would be a power supply, that can't handle the load, on initial
powerup.
>
> Does it seem to make a difference, if it's a cold boot, or warm
re-boot?

At the start of daily PC use, by the time I boot Mandriva, the
system has warmed up, as I fiddle a bit with Windows XP
things before the real stuff!

Yesterday when I then booted Mandriva, then plugged the (USB)
webcam in;Skype test picture was 'all blue'. Rebooted with webcam
still plugged in: Skype showed live picture.

Today I booted Mdv with the webcam *already plugged in*. Same
result: Skype test pic is all blue. Rebooted: Skype test pic is
live picture.

I don't really see how the situation could be due to a power
problem, though.

Neither can I even begin to guess what the actual cause is...

Can anyone suggest an explanation of this behaviour, please?

(I nearly said 'erratic behaviour', but it's not, it's simply
"1st boot: No live picture; reboot: Get live picture" - whether
the webcam was plugged or not for the 1st boot.)

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On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:21:48 -0500, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Today I booted Mdv with the webcam *already plugged in*. Same
> result: Skype test pic is all blue. Rebooted: Skype test pic is
> live picture.
> I don't really see how the situation could be due to a power
> problem, though.

Devices such as diskdrives, fans, etc. use the most power, during
spinup, as happens during a cold boot.

Each usb device may draw power from the usb host adaptor.

A system may be exceeding the power supplies capacity on a cold boot,
but not be exceeding it on a reboot.

The power supply may be ok, but simply not powerfull enough for
the number of devices connected to it, or it may be on the way out.

Try disconnecting anything you can, such as printers, cd/dvd player,
etc., and see if that makes a difference.

If it does, consider upgrading the power supply.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:23:30 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> A system may be exceeding the power supplies capacity on a cold boot,
> but not be exceeding it on a reboot.

But - as I said earlier - this situation is not involved with
a cold boot at all. (System well warmed up by Mdv boot.)


> Try disconnecting anything you can, such as printers, cd/dvd
> player, etc., and see if that makes a difference.

OK - will try that, nevertheless..

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On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:23:30 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> A system may be exceeding the power supplies capacity on a cold boot,
> but not be exceeding it on a reboot.

The one thing that persuades me that it's not a power problem
is that - on the same machine, with the same devices plugged in
- the webcam always behaves impeccably under WindowsXP.

It's only when booting Mdv2008.0PP that the inconsistent
behaviour occurs.

Today, for a change - after using WinXP for a while (checking
webcam OK), when Mdv was booted, this time the Skype test showed
a live picture. (But after popping back into WinXP for a few
minutes, on rebooting, Skype showed a blue 'test' screen...)

However, when Skype shows the blue screen, it also switches the
webcam's indicator light on, and I can do an audio test call. So
the webcam *is* hooked into Mdv, it's just that the video side
is in some kind of 'off' state, arbitrarily, it seems.
In the absence of any other clues, I am going to assume that
all this is due to some bug in the Skype beta.

By the way, is the webcam supposed to be hot-pluggable, or does
it have to be plugged in at bootup?

(I ask because I tried unplugging and replugging it during the
Mdv session, but it would not come to life again (i.e. Skype
test did not turn on its indicator light.))

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On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:46:56 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> When you unplug/re-plug the usb connector, check the contents of
/var/log/syslog, to see if the usd device is being recognized,

After plugging it in just now:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Jan 10 17:03:06 localhost kernel: usb 5-8: new high speed USB
device using ehci_hcd and address 5
Jan 10 17:03:06 localhost kernel: usb 5-8: configuration #1
chosen from 1 choice
Jan 10 17:03:06 localhost kernel: uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device
(046d:0992)
Jan 10 17:03:07 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new
interface driver snd-usb-audio
Jan 10 17:03:42 localhost kernel: uvcvideo: Button event (1).
Jan 10 17:03:44 localhost kernel: uvcvideo: Button event (0).
--------------------------------------------------------------

So hot-plugging did work. And when I then fired up Skype, it
did indeed show a live test picture!

Well I'm damned. I did this very same exercise several times
the other day and Skype always failed to trigger the camera's
light, indeed appeared to ignore the presence of the camera!

Anyway, apart from all that, I did have a successful full Skype
video call earlier this week, and it all worked fine.
The only drawback is that the Linux Skype doesn't show a check
thumbnail of one's own picture, and I have no means of altering
the webcam's configuration.

Many thanks for your input; much appreciated, Dave...

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On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:14:15 -0500, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Well I'm damned. I did this very same exercise several times
> the other day and Skype always failed to trigger the camera's
> light, indeed appeared to ignore the presence of the camera!

Could be a poor physical connection. Have you tried cleaning the
usb socket/plug?

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:33:24 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> Have you tried cleaning the usb socket/plug?

No. Will do that, and use a different, little-used socket.

(What's the recommended way of cleaning USB plugs/sockets?)

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On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:33:00 -0500, Maurice Batey wrote:

> (What's the recommended way of cleaning USB plugs/sockets?)

Compressed air.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:53:01 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> Compressed air.

OK - will make a note of that! Thanks.

But as I said before, if there is no problem with the webcam
under Windows XP, it follows that there's no connector
problem and so there should not be with Linux...

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