# Webcam for Skype Setup -- major problems [SOLVED]

## don quixada

Hi, I'm trying to get a webcam set-up so I can get Skype to work. The webcam I am using is the Microsoft Lifecam VX-1000, the annoying thing is that I'm really only borrowing this webcam just so I can see if I can get Skype to work at all. I plan to buy a webcam of my own soon and it will likely be the Logitech 9000. 

I'm having nothing but problems with getting this set-up. I'm trying to use this guide but things don't seem to match-up between what's available in my kernel and the various software packages available. The kernel I'm using at the moment is 2.6.30-gentoo-r5, there is no Microsoft drivers in the kernel and it isn't clear which one I should be using. After hours of searching forums and the net, I think I've discovered that this webcam uses the Sonixj driver and after building it and plugging in the camera 'dmesg' seems to display some positive signs:

```
[23852.572036] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3

[23852.729098] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=00f7

[23852.729104] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0

[23852.729108] usb 4-1: Product: USB camera

[23852.729261] usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

[23852.731752] gspca: probing 045e:00f7

[23852.739162] sonixj: Sonix chip id: 11

[23852.745452] gspca: probe ok
```

However, that's pretty much how far I can get. I've installed the v4l packages but there seems to be an issue with v4l and v4l2. I'm still investigating, but basically the error when I run this command is:

```
# mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0 -fps 15

MPlayer SVN-r29796-4.3.4 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team

Playing tv://.

TV file format detected.

No such driver: v4l2

Exiting... (End of file)

```

When I try it without vl42 I get:

```
mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0 -fps 15 

MPlayer SVN-r29796-4.3.4 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team

Playing tv://.

TV file format detected.

Selected driver: v4l

 name: Video 4 Linux input

 author: Alex Beregszaszi

 comment: under development

=================================================================

 WARNING: YOU ARE USING V4L DEMUXER WITH V4L2 DRIVERS!!!

 As the V4L1 compatibility layer is broken, this may not work.

 If you encounter any problems, use driver=v4l2 instead.

 Bugreports on driver=v4l with v4l2 drivers will be ignored.

=================================================================

Selected device: USB camera

 Capabilites: capture 

 Device type: 1

 Supported sizes: 48x32 => 640x480

 Inputs: 1

  0: sonixj:  (tuner:0, norm:pal)

Using input 'sonixj'

Selected input hasn't got a tuner!

==========================================================================

Opening video decoder: [raw] RAW Uncompressed Video

Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied.

VO: [xv] 640x480 => 640x480 Planar YV12 

Selected video codec: [rawyv12] vfm: raw (RAW YV12)

==========================================================================

Audio: no sound

FPS forced to be 15.000  (ftime: 0.067).

Starting playback...

MPlayer interrupted by signal 11 in module: video_read_frame

- MPlayer crashed by bad usage of CPU/FPU/RAM.

  Recompile MPlayer with --enable-debug and make a 'gdb' backtrace and

  disassembly. Details in DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports_what.html#bugreports_crash.

- MPlayer crashed. This shouldn't happen.

  It can be a bug in the MPlayer code _or_ in your drivers _or_ in your

  gcc version. If you think it's MPlayer's fault, please read

  DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html and follow the instructions there. We can't and

  won't help unless you provide this information when reporting a possible bug.
```

So basically I don't seem to have vl42 and don't know how to install it. 

EDIT: If I run this command 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l:device=/dev/video0' I actually get something! But I'm still not sure how to get Skype working or anything useful for that matter. Any help would be extremely appreciated!

dqLast edited by don quixada on Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:35 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## DONAHUE

 *Quote:*   

>     Multimedia devices  ---> 
> 
> *** Multimedia core support *** 
> 
> <M> Video For Linux
> ...

 

does 

```
lsusb -v
```

 give any help?

BTW skype picked up my uvc driver equipped logitech webcams easily-get the camera installed-emerge skype-configure skype

Also BTW cheese has been a best choice for webcam testing for me.

----------

## i92guboj

When dealing with video4linux all that matters is what chip does your camera use. Setting skype has little or no mystery at all if your camera is working (emerge skype, start skype, enter your user name and your password, that's as complicated as it can get). So the real problem is setting up v4l. Please, provide the output of lsusb so we can see the pciID of your camera.

----------

## i92guboj

```
[23852.572036] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3

[23852.729098] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=00f7

[23852.729104] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0

[23852.729108] usb 4-1: Product: USB camera

[23852.729261] usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

[23852.731752] gspca: probing 045e:00f7

[23852.739162] sonixj: Sonix chip id: 11

[23852.745452] gspca: probe ok
```

Nevermind the lsusb output. The pci id of your card is already in this log. You can usually find if your card is supported by the kernel by going into the directory that contains the sources of your kernel and grepping for the ID on the documentation directory. Usually something like this:

```
cd /usr/src/$(uname -r)/Documentation/video4linux/

grep -R 045e:00f7 *
```

In this case this should return something similar to this:

```
gspca.txt:sonixj            045e:00f7       MicroSoft VX1000
```

You can then open gspca.txt in a text editor if you want to take a closer look. So, that driver should be right for your card. However, that's only one part of it. Your applications need support for v4l or v4l2. This message from mplayer:

```
# mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0 -fps 15

MPlayer SVN-r29796-4.3.4 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team

Playing tv://.

TV file format detected.

No such driver: v4l2

Exiting... (End of file)

```

Makes me think that you haven't compiled v4l2 support in mplayer. Be sure you enable the "v4l" and "v4l2" USE flags. Then use this command to recompile all the needed packages:

```
emerge -auDvN world
```

Finally, there's what I call the voodoo factor when dealing with usb cameras. I haven't gotten mine to work even when it's supposed to work perfectly with the pac207 driver. All I get is a lot of green noise. Some cameras will simply not work at the current state of things. Note as well that your test is a bit pointless. You are going to need to re-do all this work if you are buying a completely different camera. Getting this one working is not a guarantee that your new camera will work at all as you can infer from the rest of this post.

----------

## don quixada

 *i92guboj wrote:*   

> You can usually find if your card is supported by the kernel by going into the directory that contains the sources of your kernel and grepping for the ID on the documentation directory. Usually something like this:
> 
> ```
> cd /usr/src/$(uname -r)/Documentation/video4linux/
> 
> ...

 

It's too bad I couldn't find this info on the web as that's usually the first place I turn. The web was telling me to emerge packages that weren't in portage anymore etc. Anyway, it's partly my fault (surprise surprise!) since I had a typo in my make.conf and that's why the v4l2 driver wasn't building. Updating now...

Yeah, you're right, setting up one brand of camera to work and does not mean another will. But at least I'm learning how to do it (the hard way!).

I tried cheese before and I could emerge it, but it ended-up not working. I tried to re-build it and it couldn't build. I'll see how it fairs after fixing the v4l2 flag...

dq

----------

## don quixada

Ok, I can sort of get it to work in mplayer and cheese. The colours are all messed-up though-- they seem to be fine for a moment and then everything turns orange. The other thing is that cheese only works when I put 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libv4l/v4l2convert.so' in front of it. I can record videos using cheese but not any audio (the webcam has a built-in mic). I still can't get Skype to work with the video or the audio. Any tips here? Should I remove the 'v4l' from my make.conf and only leave in 'v4l2'?

dq

----------

## alligator421

For sound, put usb-audio in your ALSA_CARDS setup. If you use in-kernel alsa driver, same stuff, just opt-in adhoc option.

modprobe snd_usb_audio and there you go.

```

# emerge -pv alsa-driver

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

[ebuild   R   ] media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.22.1  USE="oss -debug" ALSA_CARDS="intel8x0 usb-audio -ad1816a -ad1848 ... blabla"

```

----------

## don quixada

I've built the appropriate kernel module and then loaded it but I can't seem to get the mic to work. I'm using gnome, maybe I don't have the right volume control settings? I think I've enabled it using alsamixer as well. Any other way of troubleshooting?

dq

----------

## don quixada

Ok so I got it to work. The simple fix was to try a Logitech! The moral of the story is: don't use a Microsoft webcam in Linux!

dq

----------

## genterminl

One other thing to remember is that for skype, in the LD_PRELOAD line, you probably have to use lib32 instead of lib64.  That was the trick for me with a Kodak DVC325 using the spca501 kernel module.

----------

## papapenguin

I've got video to work with my MS VX-3000 webcam, but no audio...

----------

