Set up a Webcam with Linux

From Linuxintro
Revision as of 18:26, 8 October 2008 by imported>WikiSysop

You just want to see a video stream from your webcam to see it is working correctly, right? Then this article is for you.

What to buy

Buy the Logitech Quickcam messenger. Other webcams might work as well, but this article wants to give an exact description about one way that works. Use SUSE Linux 11. Other distributions might work as well.

What to call

Install gqcam

yast -i gqcam

call gqcam

gqcam

result:

/dev/video: No such file or directory

=> very poor! It does not even give a recommendation what to do. But here is it. Load the webcam driver

modprobe gspca

Start gqcam again. Now it works.

How to use it

  • to capture video streams, use the software streamer.
  • to do video conferences, use ekiga.
  • to watch your camera's input, use gqcam.

See also