Adding a USB cam to an existing system

Support and queries relating to all previous versions of ZoneMinder
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kentcoast
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:47 am

Adding a USB cam to an existing system

Post by kentcoast »

Hi Folks,

I have searched the forums (and Google) for an answer to this one - if it's there I've missed it, I apologise.

I've been using v1.23.3 on a ubuntu server (no GUI installed) for nearly a year now and so far so good (I've not upgraded yet on the simple principle of if it ain't broke, don't fix it...).

I'm running four cameras through a cheap chinese capture card - no problem \dev\video0 Ch0-3
The fifth cam is an Axis IP cam - no problem via IP address

I now want to add a usb camera. At this stage I'm beaten.

I'm a linux newbie, so I'm learning this as I go along - pls be gentle...

So, here are the details - lsusb first:

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:62e0 Microdia
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


And dmesg:
dmesg |grep usb
[ 4.157074] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 4.157141] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 4.157262] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 4.242540] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 4.351402] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 4.461400] usb usb3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[807479.720081] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[807479.893462] usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[807480.593967] input: USB 2.0 Camera as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-3/1-3:1.0/input/input5
[807480.598893] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[807480.737273] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio


And at that point, I'm lost. All the posts I can find on USB cameras seem to show them being on /dev/video0, but that's already in use on the capture card.

What do I use as source?

Many thanks

Perry
casey
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:38 pm

Re: Adding a USB cam to an existing system

Post by casey »

Bro,

Wondering whether your USB cam has got driver install properly ??

What version of ubuntu you are running btw ??

if you are on 8.04 or earlier, I suppose you would need gspca install for most of the Chinese made cam.

good luck !
kentcoast
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:47 am

Post by kentcoast »

Hi Casey,

That's about where I'm up to...

Ubuntu ver is 8.10 - I'm trying to install the gspca drivers but I'm getting compile issues.

I'll keep working on it

P
remembermyname2000
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:41 pm
Location: Atlanta GA

Post by remembermyname2000 »

i hope that i do not get too far off topic.
i've had the same issues with some of those chinese made ebay cams. they mostly show up as microdia in lsusb. BUT, i have managed to get them to work quite well under linux.

i started to pursue this when i purchased an asus x83v-b2 laptop that comes built in with a uvc webcam running ubuntu and came across http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/ . down at the bottom of the page, in the download section, the software source can be found at http://linuxtv.org/hg/~pinchartl/uvcvideo/ . in THAT page, you'll see a link on the left containing bz2, zip and gz. that is the source code needed.

once unzipped into a folder, i found that a couple of things are needed. since i was running ubuntu, i needed to apt-get build-essentials, kernel headers, kernel devel. then i ran 'make' in the folder. if that completes without error, then as root, run ' sudo make install clean'. then reboot. the cam comes up. what i had found out previously is that this source also contains the gspca drivers needed along with about a couple hundred or so modules. now, i've had as many as six webcams running on my asus! and now i'm having a difficult time finding one that doesn't work. :) however, i think this runs v4l2.

i've prevously set up a zoneminder 1.24.2 on centOS 5.4. to compile it there, yum install the kernel headers and kernel devel packages first. the compile went without error but here, i cannot still see the cams, or i'm not doing something right. has anyone gotten this far or had any luck? i could go back and do an ubuntu zm install and re-try there.

the only problem with using this driver is that it is not in the yum or apt lists and will not update when a new kernel is intro'd. at that point, the driver will have to be cleaned and recompiled again. but as far as ubuntu versions, i've been using this driver since edgy eft with no issues. it is best to check the site periodically as new versions come out all the time. milage may vary with distro used.
djieno
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 3:49 pm

What cams ?

Post by djieno »

Hi could you tell me what cam's (the ebay name) you've got working simultaneously ?

Trying to get few usb cams working too so far no luck with 2+ uvcvideo webcams.

Djieno
Amsterdam
remembermyname2000
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:41 pm
Location: Atlanta GA

Post by remembermyname2000 »

unfortunately, they we only listed as 'usb webcam' and they'll pop up in batches from china from time to time. other times they're a one of a kind.
what are the results from lsusb for the uvc camera's? and are those usb device numbers listed here?:

http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/#devices
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