UVC Webcams

From openSUSE

USB Video Class (UVC) web cams require the uvcvideo kernel driver. This driver has been included in linux-2.6.27 (openSUSE11.1/SLE11); for older kernels you need the uvcvideo-kmp-* package, which has been included openSuSE 11.0 or can be received from the openSUSE BuildService project home:garloff:Webcam. To check if your web cam is supported visit Linux UVC driver and tools.

Driver Installation

Open YaST.
Go to Software Repositories and register the OBS Buildservice repository

Version:

Factory

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/garloff:/Webcam/openSUSE_Factory/

Version:

11.1

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/garloff:/Webcam/openSUSE_11.1/

Version:

11.0

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/garloff:/Webcam/openSUSE_11.0/

Version:

10.3

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/garloff:/Webcam/openSUSE_10.3/

Version:

SLE10SP2

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/garloff:/Webcam/SLE_10/

Go to the package manager 'Software Management' in YaST and select the just registered Webcam repository (or search for 'uvc').
Install 'uvcdynctrl' and 'luvcview' and -- for SUSE versions older than openSUSE 11.1 'uvcvideo-kmp-default' (or '-xen' or whatever kernel flavor you use).
Optionally edit /etc/uvc-defaults to set your driver's defaults.
Unplug your USB camera (if it was plugged before) and replug it. No reboot is required as was erroneously stated here before -- if you can't unplug (internally connected), you can manually 'modprobe uvcvideo' or reboot.)

Test your webcam

Use luvcview to test the webcam and try out some settings. You can also try different resolutions, frame rates, use luvcview -h to get a list of options.

Alternatively, start Kopete and go to Settings -> Configure -> Devices to check if your webcam works.

Changing webcam controls

The command line utility uvcdynctrl can be used to access all controls of your camera, such as e.b. Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, White Balance, Gain, Sharpness, Exposure, Focus, Pan/Tilt. Use uvcdynctrl -c to get a list of supported controls.