USB webcam does not work. Please help

[Josato]

Hi, I am pretty much a noob to linux, so bear with me. I have tried as hard as possible to get zoneminder to work and the forums are my last port of call (I even asked my neighbour who also uses zoneminder). When the whole system is complete I will make a suitable donation.

I installed zm on kubuntu 11.04 via sudo apt-get and proceeded to get apache2 up and running. I now run

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sudo  etc/init.d/apache2 start
sudo  etc/init.d/zoneminder start

all is well.
On my localhost I try to add a new monitor. I have three webcams I am trying, my laptop integrated webcam, an AVEO webcam(?) and a sonix-technology webcam. I fill in the add-new monitor in accordance with the wiki, and put either /dev/video0 or 1 or 2 respectively. However, I have never had anything but a broken link on firefox 4.0.1 or a black square, no timestamp on reconq 0.7.0.
xawtv works for all, and I am able to take pictures.

looking at just video1 for now, so not my laptop integrated webcam:

running xawtv gives the following:

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xawtv -c /dev/video1
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/x86_64 (2.6.38-8-generic)
xinerama 0: 1280x800+0+0
/dev/video1 [v4l2]: no overlay support
v4l-conf had some trouble, trying to continue anyway
Warning: Cannot convert string "-*-ledfixed-medium-r-*--39-*-*-*-c-*-*-*" to type FontStruct
ioctl: VIDIOC_G_STD(std=0x1b3a110 [PAL_I,PAL_M,NTSC_M_JP,?,SECAM_B,SECAM_D,SECAM_K,SECAM_K1,?ATSC_8_VSB,ATSC_16_VSB]): Invalid argument
ioctl: VIDIOC_S_STD(std=0x0 []): Invalid argument

Then

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zmu -d /dev/video1 -q -v
Video Device: /dev/video1
General Capabilities
  Driver: uvcvideo
  Card: USB2.0 Camera
  Bus: usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.1
  Version: 1.0.0
  Type: 0x4000001
    Supports video capture (X)
    Does not support video output
    Does not support frame buffer overlay
    Does not support VBI capture
    Does not support VBI output
    Does not support sliced VBI capture
    Does not support sliced VBI output
    Does not support video output overlay
    Does not have tuner
    Does not have audio in and/or out
    Does not have radio
    Does not support read/write i/o (X)
    Does not support async i/o
    Supports streaming i/o (X)
    Standards:
  Formats:
    YUV 4:2:2 (YUYV) (YUYV)
Crop Capabilities
  Bounds: 320 x 240
  Default: 320 x 240
  Current: Cropping is not supported
Inputs: 1
  Input 0
    Name: Camera 1
    Type: Camera
    Audioset: 00000000
    Standards: 0x0
    Power on  (X)
    Signal detected  (X)
    Colour Signal detected 
    Horizontal Lock detected 

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xawtv -hwscan
This is xawtv-3.95.dfsg.1, running on Linux/x86_64 (2.6.38-8-generic)
looking for available devices
port 77-92
    type : Xvideo, image scaler
    name : Intel(R) Textured Video

/dev/video0: OK                         [ -device /dev/video0 ]
    type : v4l2
    name : Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_2M
    flags:  capture  

/dev/video1: OK                         [ -device /dev/video1 ]
    type : v4l2
    name : USB2.0 Camera
    flags:  capture  

/dev/video2: OK                         [ -device /dev/video2 ]
    type : v4l2
    name : USB 2.0 Camera
    flags:  capture  

The source is /dev/video1 (0) in the console.

I am just testing zoneminder at the moment and intend to run a dedicated machine that will also control other aspects of my house like heating and lighting, so the distro I use in the end can be different. Is there a distro more suited or with incredibly easy steps? I am also going to buy proper analog CCTV cameras that zoneminder will be able to use at that time.

Thank you

[Josato]

Also, the 'probe' gave me this error:

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Can't parse command output 'd:/dev/video0|D:uvcvideo|C:Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_2M|B:usb-0000:00:1a.0-1.4|V:1.0.0|T:0x4000001|S|F:YUYV/MJPG|B:320x240|I:1|i0:Camera 1|i0T:Camera|i0S:0|i0SP:1|i0SS:1|i0SC:1|i0HP:1'

[Josato]

Ok, the neighbour fixed it, I needed to install xaw, which i did via

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sudo apt-get install horae

which was the Athena library (?), which had the library in it (?)