[TriLUG] 3rd question of the day: Linux webcams

[Josh Vickery]

I don't know about better than 640x480 but I setup a creative usb
webcam on debian using instructions from:

http://www.aboutdebian.com/webcam.htm

Those instructions are really long.  I plugged in the webcam and
hotplug loaded the ov511 kernel module, so I was able to skip right to
the part that starts with:

apt-get install webcam

I did this on two different computers, one with a 2.6 and one with a
2.4 kernel (both Debian Sarge), no problems on either end.  This
webcam maxed out at 640x480 though.

If you want something really hi-res, you might have better luck using
something like a HD camcorder, but I imagine that would be quite
expensive, and you would have to grab the stream over firewire, since
I don't think there are any consumer level frame grabber cards that
can capture analog video at high resolutions.

Josh

On 7/7/05, Shane O'Donnell <shaneodonnell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Be careful.  If you get the resolution too high, it might be difficult
> to pump those files in a timely fashion over Bluetooth from your
> helmet to your Linux-based fanny pack computer ("butt-top"?).
> 
> Also, are you trying to do still pics or video?  If you're doing
> movies, good luck, because even at 15 fps, there aren't many options
> and the compute power you'll need on a mobile setup will be
> significant.  Still pics?  Lots of options.
> 
> And if you're trying to do a USB over Bluetooth with a dongle, keep in
> mind that Bluetooth's maximum throughput is just over 700Kbps,
> significantly throttling USB 2.0.
> 
> And remember, that butt-top computer of yours, if you ramp up the
> processing capability, will get hot quick--especially if you're
> wearing nothing else, as you previously mentioned was your desire.
> 
> Best of luck,
> 
> Shane O.
> 
> On 7/7/05, Greg Brown <gwbrown1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Is anyone out there in linux-land using a USB webcam that offers
> > greater then 640x480 resolution?  I would like 1020x768 and I would
> > like to know if you are, or have, actually used this camera before
> > (the problem I keep running into is many of the "linux supported"
> > cameras really aren't - they might get 120x160 resolution, but that
> > requires holding on hand up while salting the earth, dancing in a
> > circle, and praying to Ganish (it's also not likely to not work after
> > "the next" kernel upgrade).  No thank you.
> >
> > I'm looking for plug-n-play.  Something I can just point vgrabbj,
> > webcam-m, or whatever to and merrily snap photos.  Server is running
> > Debian Sarge.
> >
> > Greg
> > --
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> 
> --
> Shane O.
> ========
> Shane O'Donnell
> shaneodonnell at gmail.com
> ====================
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