SN9C20x USB 2.0 Webcam Driver
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This driver is essentially a fork of the Syntek Webcam drivers for Linux
by Nicolas Vivien, specifically to accomodate SN9C20x chipset based Webcams.
The driver currently supports the latest version of Video For Linux i.e
V4L2. V4L1 is deprecated, and applications like Camorama that use only V4L1 will
only work with libv4l ("v4l1compat.so").
This driver currently supports Skype v2.x, Ekiga v2.x & even aMSN
Warning :
The SN9C20x USB 2.0 Webcam Driver for SN9C20x chipset based Webcams is
currently under development. Using this driver can result in damage and data
loss to your system. Use this driver only if you know what you are doing.
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Table of contents :
1. Requirements
1.1 Kernel module
1.2 Documentation
1.3 Decoder
2. Available Packages
3. Compilation
3.1 Kernel module
3.2 Documentation
4. Testing
5. Installation
6. Usage
7. Status of project
8. Documentation & References
9. Contact
10. Licence
11. Disclaimer
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1. Requirements
1.1 Kernel module
To compile the driver you need :
Kernel 2.6.22 or higher
Kernel headers
make
gcc
1.2 Documentation
To compile the documentation you need :
doxygen
graphviz
1.3 Decoder
Most video applications do not support the image encoding SN9C20x-based
webcams offer. Such applications need to have the image stream converted
for them. This can be done using "libv4l", which is pre-loaded between the
application and the video resource and translates the image stream into a
usable format.
Most distributions offer precompiled packages. If yours does not, the
sources are available here :
http://freshmeat.net/projects/libv4l/
Consult libv4l's README for usage details.
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2. Available Packages
There are packages for various distributions available here :
http://repo.or.cz/w/pkgmicrodia.git
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3. Compilation
3.1 Kernel module
To build the kernel module ("driver") :
$ make
(This will create the kernel object file called "sn9c20x.ko".)
3.2 Documentation
To build the documentation :
$ make doc
$ make cleandoc
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4. Testing
To load the driver, follow these steps (as root) :
# modprobe videodev
# modprobe compat-ioctl32 // Only required for 64-bit Linux OS
# make insmod
Note: Most applications require libv4l for image format decoding (see "1.3
Decoder"). Consult libv4l documentation for full usage details. Here is an
example for a common usage :
$ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so mplayer tv:// -tv \
driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:fps=25:device=/dev/video0 -vo xv
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5. Installation
$ strip -g sn9c20x.ko
And as root :
# cp sn9c20x.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/media/video/usbvideo/
# depmod -a
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6. Usage
We recommend using v4l2ucp to adjust and improve image quality.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/v4l2ucp/
We are also developing our own GUI, available here :
http://repo.or.cz/r/guimicrodia.git
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7. Status
The kernel module is currently under active development.
The full list of supported webcams can be found here :
http://groups.google.com/group/microdia/web/project-status
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8. Contact
To request support, please contact us on Microdia Mailing List :
https://groups.google.com/group/microdia/
microdia@googlegroups.com
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9. More Documentation & References
All documentation and references for microdia webcam driver can be found at
http://groups.google.com/group/microdia/web
Latest version of this driver is usually available at the following location
http://repo.or.cz/w/microdia.git
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10. Licence
SN9C20x USB 2.0 Webcam Driver is distributed under the GPL licence version 2
or later (GPLv2+).
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11. Disclaimer
The "microdia" project has no connection to "MICRODIA Ltd." or "Sonix
Technology Co., Ltd.". They are not responsible for anything we do or our
driver does and we are not responsible for their actions or their hardware.