how to set up a webcam on Pidgin??

I have a webcam called CREATIVE. And I'm not sure how to set it up on pidgin. I heard other pidgin users using a webcam for ubuntu and it works. But I'm not sure how that works at all. So if you know any can you help me?? Step by step would be great. Just try giving me a easy directions. Because other people that has tried helping me with AIM download gave me complicated directions. I'm NOT that great of a computer genius. I like to learn how to deal with complicated stuff on computers step-by-step so i'd become a better person at computers helping others. I know alot about computers but not the complicated stuff.

Thanks.

I use Ubuntu and you will need a webcam driver for linux like v4l2 (video for linux 2). I would need what model is your Creative webcam so in that way I can foward link to you.

Ubuntu have Synapic Package Manager (software installer/uninstaller) that include v4l2 driver and also other driver. I can look through and to see if I can help you step by step. My Logitech Fusion webcam did work but it's showing black screen. I use Kopete (that's for KDE) and It did show pix but frozen.

Linux do have issue with webcams and developers are trying to work with webcam driver in a way it'll works seamlessly with linux. Several webcams works very well while others don't. It have to do with the webcam's internal hardware that are not compatible with linux.

If I had newer model webcam, it should work with linux well. There are some weblink that help you to install drivers if Ubuntu do not have it. It's basically copy and paste to Terminal run as "Root" user.

So Please give me Creative webcam's model so I can look into compatibily for linux

Catty

Yup, agree with catty here.
Give the model number. It should be somewhere on the camera or maybe on the box, manual.

Usually it is something like a few letters and some numbers.

Make sure we get the right one, cuz if its not the right one, will take some time to figure out.

naisho said:

Yup, agree with catty here.
Give the model number. It should be somewhere on the camera or maybe on the box, manual.

Usually it is something like a few letters and some numbers.

Make sure we get the right one, cuz if its not the right one, will take some time to figure out.

Click to expand...

okay, thanks. I'll check on the webcam first. I'm not sure where my dad put the manual at because he did something with it. Thanks!!

purplecatty said:

I use Ubuntu and you will need a webcam driver for linux like v4l2 (video for linux 2). I would need what model is your Creative webcam so in that way I can foward link to you.

Ubuntu have Synapic Package Manager (software installer/uninstaller) that include v4l2 driver and also other driver. I can look through and to see if I can help you step by step. My Logitech Fusion webcam did work but it's showing black screen. I use Kopete (that's for KDE) and It did show pix but frozen.

Linux do have issue with webcams and developers are trying to work with webcam driver in a way it'll works seamlessly with linux. Several webcams works very well while others don't. It have to do with the webcam's internal hardware that are not compatible with linux.

If I had newer model webcam, it should work with linux well. There are some weblink that help you to install drivers if Ubuntu do not have it. It's basically copy and paste to Terminal run as "Root" user.

So Please give me Creative webcam's model so I can look into compatibily for linux

Catty

Click to expand...

I found 2. but i'm not sure which is the right model number. I found them from on the webccam.
Model number :::::: S/N: k3vf0050459000731

the other one i'm not sure::: vf-0050

coolgirlspyer90 said:

vf-0050

Click to expand...

This is a model number for Creative webcam. Got what I found. It's 100% Linux compatible just bare luck!! Ubuntu user rated 5.0 out of 5.0.

Creative Labs VF-0050 (Webcams) - Ubuntu Linux Hardware Compatibility List

Why I did say "bare luck!!!"

http://www.ubuntuhcl.org/browse/search+creative-labs?manufacturer=74

and scroll halfway down to find your Creative model vf-0050 and look at rating while rest of them had little or none!!


Here's link from Ubuntu Forum, User say:

I used the process here:

EeeUser ASUS Eee PC Forum / Webcam not working in 8.04

1. sudo aptitude install subversion
2. svn co svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk linux-uvc
3. cd linux-uvc
4. sudo make
5. sudo make install
6. sudo modprobe -r uvcvideo
7. sudo mv /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko.original
8. sudo cp uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko
9. sudo modprobe uvcvideo

and it worked for me.

That's what this blogger say it works.

Use terminal in Ubuntu and copy and paste without 1. 2. 3. 4. numbers.. Be sure you log in as Root user. Type sudo -s .... once you got password, type password (I think same password you use when you log in Ubuntu desktop)

Catty

You got it there spydergirl. Might want to edit out the S/N just in case anyone plans to be up to no good.

VF-0050


Follow catty's instruction above in the terminal. If you don't know where that is, it is in Applications > accessories > terminal.

naisho said:

You got it there spydergirl. Might want to edit out the S/N just in case anyone plans to be up to no good.

VF-0050

Follow catty's instruction above in the terminal. If you don't know where that is, it is in Applications > accessories > terminal.

Click to expand...

oops! forgot to add that, Thanks Naisho!



Catty

so..then it will work?? YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But then what do i type in terminal??

I'm a bit confused in that..

oh wait ok so then....you just copy and paste:: 1. sudo aptitude install subversion
2. svn co svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk linux-uvc
3. cd linux-uvc
4. sudo make
5. sudo make install
6. sudo modprobe -r uvcvideo
7. sudo mv /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko.original
8. sudo cp uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/uvcvideo.ko
9. sudo modprobe uvcvideo

but with out the numbers in terminal??

I got it down in the terminal but i'm also trying to put my password in..but its not doing anything

it won't show you typing your password I think, it just shows it blank
like:
admin@localhost: []
*you entered password 123*
admin@localhost: []
*press enter*
THEN you get accepted in.

the password might be blank sometimes too, I think you could do that? just press enter.

naisho said:

it won't show you typing your password I think, it just shows it blank
like:
admin@localhost: []
*you entered password 123*
admin@localhost: []
*press enter*
THEN you get accepted in.

the password might be blank sometimes too, I think you could do that? just press enter.

Click to expand...

ooohh okay. I got it to work now. the whole process is done. Do I save it to what?

Nope as soon as you typed that last code:
The installation should have completed if there was no error process that you noticed.

Hmm, I just checked it out and it appears Pidgin doesn't support VoIP services nor webcam development. Let me look into it further.

naisho said:

Nope as soon as you typed that last code:

Code:

sudo modprobe uvcvideo

The installation should have completed if there was no error process that you noticed.

Hmm, I just checked it out and it appears Pidgin doesn't support VoIP services nor webcam development. Let me look into it further.

Click to expand...

Here's what I have on my terminal right now, but to be warned, its a long one My user laptop name is Jim( My dad's name)::

[sudo] password for jim:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libapr1{a} libaprutil1{a} libneon27-gnutls{a} libsvn1{a} subversion
The following packages will be REMOVED:
ffmpeg{u} imagemagick{u} kde-icons-oxygen{u} kdebase-runtime-data{u}
kdebase-runtime-data-common{u} kdelibs5-data{u} libaudio2{u}
libavdevice52{u} libblas3gf{u} libclucene0ldbl{u} libdc1394-22{u}
libgfortran3{u} libimlib2{u} liblapack3gf{u} libraptor1{u} librasqal0{u}
librdf0{u} libstreamanalyzer0{u} libstreams0{u} libswscale0{u}
libwmf-bin{u} linux-headers-2.6.27-7{u} linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic{u}
perlmagick{u} python-lxml{u} python-numpy{u} python-uniconvertor{u}
raptor-utils{u} redland-utils{u}
0 packages upgraded, 5 newly installed, 29 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 1373kB of archives. After unpacking 133MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] Y
Writing extended state information... Done
Get:1 Index of / intrepid/main libapr1 1.2.12-4 [109kB]
Get:2 Index of / intrepid/main libaprutil1 1.2.12+dfsg-7 [75.7kB]
Get:3 Index of / intrepid/main libneon27-gnutls 0.28.2-2build1 [114kB]
Get:4 Index of / intrepid/main libsvn1 1.5.1dfsg1-1ubuntu2 [734kB]
Get:5 Index of / intrepid/main subversion 1.5.1dfsg1-1ubuntu2 [340kB]
Fetched 1373kB in 3s (366kB/s)
(Reading database ... 123417 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing ffmpeg ...
Removing imagemagick ...
Removing kde-icons-oxygen ...
Removing kdebase-runtime-data ...
Removing kdebase-runtime-data-common ...
Removing kdelibs5-data ...
Removing libaudio2 ...
Removing libavdevice52 ...
Removing python-numpy ...
Removing liblapack3gf ...
Removing libblas3gf ...
Removing libstreamanalyzer0 ...
Removing libclucene0ldbl ...
Removing libdc1394-22 ...
Removing libgfortran3 ...
Removing libimlib2 ...
Removing redland-utils ...
Removing raptor-utils ...
Removing librdf0 ...
Removing librasqal0 ...
Removing libraptor1 ...
Removing libstreams0 ...
Removing libswscale0 ...
Removing libwmf-bin ...
Removing linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic ...
Removing linux-headers-2.6.27-7 ...
Removing perlmagick ...
Removing python-lxml ...
Removing python-uniconvertor ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for doc-base ...
Processing 1 removed doc-base file(s)...
Registering documents with scrollkeeper...
Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Selecting previously deselected package libapr1.
(Reading database ... 101547 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libapr1 (from .../libapr1_1.2.12-4_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libaprutil1.
Unpacking libaprutil1 (from .../libaprutil1_1.2.12+dfsg-7_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libneon27-gnutls.
Unpacking libneon27-gnutls (from .../libneon27-gnutls_0.28.2-2build1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libsvn1.
Unpacking libsvn1 (from .../libsvn1_1.5.1dfsg1-1ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package subversion.
Unpacking subversion (from .../subversion_1.5.1dfsg1-1ubuntu2_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libapr1 (1.2.12-4) ...

Setting up libaprutil1 (1.2.12+dfsg-7) ...

Setting up libneon27-gnutls (0.28.2-2build1) ...

Setting up libsvn1 (1.5.1dfsg1-1ubuntu2) ...

Setting up subversion (1.5.1dfsg1-1ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

We computer-literate can understand that jargon.
Yep your laptop seems like it done with recognizing your webcam.

The problem right now is.. bad news. I tried and tested personally on Pidgin to see if it had those options - apparently Pidgin doesn't support webcam-ing at all over IM. I double checked their site to confirm:

Pidgin said:

Voice and Video (Microphone and Webcam) Support (Not Implemented Yet)
Does Pidgin support webcams (video)? Does Pidgin support MSN video chat?

Not currently. It is planned. See below.

Does Pidgin support microphones (voice)?

Not currently. It is planned. See below.

When will voice and video be implemented?

We plan to implement these features eventually, but it is a daunting task. Not all of our developers care about these features, and because of that don't want to work on them. The time available to those developers who do want to work on these features is limited, and so any work on these features proceeds slowly.

We aim to have an abstracted, protocol-agnostic API for voice and video, which makes the task harder. Also adding to the difficulty is that now that we have a completely split core (libpurple) and UI (Pidgin and Finch), we refuse to take a step backward and violate this split. The protocol plugins can NOT have any code in them that is UI-dependent, or we break the libpurple/UI split. This imposes additional restrictions that make it a very painstaking process to implement voice and video correctly.

In short, we have no idea when this will happen. It could be tomorrow, or it could be in 2099. That's really the best answer we can give right now.

Some history and current status on voice and video should be collected at the ProgressReport page.

Click to expand...

So the problem now is to find a third party application that will support the webcaming conference... I personally have no experience in this, maybe catty might be able to name a program.

naisho said:

We computer-literate can understand that jargon.
Yep your laptop seems like it done with recognizing your webcam.

The problem right now is.. bad news. I tried and tested personally on Pidgin to see if it had those options - apparently Pidgin doesn't support webcam-ing at all over IM. I double checked their site to confirm:




So the problem now is to find a third party application that will support the webcaming conference... I personally have no experience in this, maybe catty might be able to name a program.

Click to expand...

oh jeeze...worst luck haha. I hope catty can help...CATTTYYY!!!!!!!!!

Did some digging, looks like only webcam+messenger supported in linux is Gyach (http://gyach.bc2va.org/http://gyachi.sourceforge.net/). The problem is that it's Yahoo Messenger only. Are you interested in using webcam in only that? Means that you can't use MSN and AIM on it.

But it's main O/S is linux, so you'll have to do a little maneuvering to get it working, just like Catty's last instructions.

naisho said:

Did some digging, looks like only webcam+messenger supported in linux is Gyach (http://gyach.bc2va.org/http://gyachi.sourceforge.net/). The problem is that it's Yahoo Messenger only. Are you interested in using webcam in only that? Means that you can't use MSN and AIM on it.

But it's main O/S is linux, so you'll have to do a little maneuvering to get it working, just like Catty's last instructions.

Click to expand...

I used to have yahoo but it didn't work very well on our computer or on our laptops for some reason.. But I have just downloaded kopete..and I tried creating my account but it keeps showing an error