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Portal/IDB/logo_portal.png Webcams on Debian



Kernel Support

Kernel Configuration

If you're using a stock kernel, everything should be okay. If you're building your own, make sure that the following kernel features are enabled:

 Device Drivers
  Multimedia support
   Video For Linux
   Enable Video For Linux API 1 compatible layer
   Video capture adapters

Assuming the webcam is a USB device:

    V4L USB devices

Now select the driver for your device. If it's a GSPCA device:

     GSPCA based webcams

and select the appropriate driver.

The simplest method to determine the appropriate driver is probably to first install a kernel that has everything enabled, and check the dmesg output to see which driver picks up the device.

Older Kernels

Kernels earlier than Linux 2.6.27 (e.g. Lenny) don't have gspca integrated into the main kernel tree, and it must be installed separately:

As root:

 # aptitude install gspca-modules-2.6-`uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,'` && modprobe gspca

Ov51x

This driver is not yet in the mainline kernel.

Some resources:

As root:

 # aptitude install module-assisstant ov51x-jpeg-source
 # m-a a-i ov51x-jpeg

Userspace support

In addition to the kernel support discussed above, one of the following userspace components may be necessary for the proper functioning of your webcam:

EasyCam

?EasyCam is a utility to automate webcam installation:

Applications

Video

More applications are listed here.

Sound

Sometimes, webcams include a microphone inside. Check input level with a mixer:

Individual camera / chipset resources