Installation
This driver need the usb/parallel and videodev support on a V2.4.x
kernel (look the modules tree in this section).
Early versions of the Linux kernel are not supported.
This document describe how to install the QuickCam VC driver from version 1.0.6.
The driver is distribuited as a kernel patch; so you must be able to
patch, configure and compile the linux kernel.
Consider to use a linux vanilla kernel from www.kernel.org.
Any other commercialized version of the kernel (Mandrake, RedHat, Suse, etc) are
not currently considered and supported; it will be when asked.
After the kernel patch, during configuration, you must select the support for
USB and/or Parallel. In the Video4Linux section select your QuickCam VC model.
I suggest to compile that supports as modules.
If you find problems on modules look in the Documentation directory
of the kernel sources tree.
After booting the new kernel you are ready to load the quickcam module with
"modprobe qcamvc".
The driver is organized with an communication indipendent module (qcamvc)
and two low level modules (usb-qcamvc and pp-qcamvc) that connect the
first module to the cams through the Parport or the USB.
Run a video4linux client like gqcam and try to grab an image file.
Modules Tree
Module Configuration
Using modules requires a bit of work to install and pass the
parameters. Read the $kernel_dir/Documentation/modules.txt, and
understand that entries in /etc/modules.conf of:
alias char-major-81 videodev
alias char-major-81-0 qcamvc
If you are using kmod or kerneld, then a request for a 'char-major-81-0'
will cause the 'qcamvc' module to load. If you have other video sources with
modules, you might want to assign the different minor numbers to
different modules.
Devices Configuration
Video4linux use the /dev/video* files, and the driver need one per camera.
ls -lad /dev/video* # produce a list of the video devices
If the video devices do not exist, you can create them with this shell script:
su
cd /dev
for ii in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ; do
mknod video$ii c 81 $ii # char-major-81-[0-16]
chown root.root video$ii # owned by root
chmod 600 video$ii # read/writable by root only
done
The important part is to make the proper special character files
with the right major and minor numbers. All of the special device
files are listed in ../devices.txt. If you would like the quickcam
usable by non-root users, you will need to change the permissions.
In this package you find the script "make_devices" that automatically
create the device files.
