USB webcams and video conferencing on Solaris
OpenSolaris build 56 (released in January, 2007), USB video class
driver usbvc(7D) is integrated into Solaris. That is, if a user plug a
USB webcam that compliant to USB video class spec from usb.org, then
the webcam will plug and play on Solaris. More details see the "Heads-up".
In OpenSolaris build 63 (released in April, 2007), Ekiga video plugin
is also integrated. It is a video conferencing application, supporting
H323 and SIP protocol. Solaris users can enjoy video conference on
Solaris if they have a USB webcam and a audio speaker/microphone.
While I was developing usbvc driver, a JDS team was working on Ekiga
video plugin. There are a lot of cases need be tested for the driver
and Ekiga application. Ekiga is the first user of the driver,
therefore, several problems are discovered when they run together. We
are lucky that we had a very good communication channel, so all the
bugs/issues were solved in a very efficient way. Before I integrate the
driver to Solaris source tree, Ekiga's video plugin can already work
very well on usbvc driver.
The most frequently asked question is, which webcams can be supported
by usbvc driver? Theoretically, all USB webcams that compliant to USB
video class spec can be supported. In practice, the following webcams
are tested, their video capture functions work well. Users are
encouraged to report problems if they have chances to use any other
webcams that compliant to the spec. The following list is last updated at Nov. 26, 2007. Please note that some devices have the same names but different IDs.
Device Name Vendor ID, Product ID
Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000 046d,08c5
Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000 046d,08ce
Logitech Quickcam Fusion 046d,08ca
Logitech Quickcam Orbit MP 046d,08cc
Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks 046d,08cb
Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks 046d,0991
Logitech Quickcam Ultra Vision 046d,08c9
Logitech Quickcam Deluxe for notebooks 046d,09c1
Logitech Quickcam Communicate Deluxe 046d,0992
Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 046d,0990
The following ones are reported to work. Thanks people for reporting this. Last updated at Apr. 9, 2008
Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks 046d,8c3
Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF 046d,994
Issues can be reported to driver-discuss@opensolaris.org or driver-usb@opensolaris.org
Posted by bnitz on July 20, 2007 at 08:58 PM CST #
Posted by Colin on July 27, 2007 at 10:39 AM CST #
Posted by Vladimir Kotal on August 01, 2007 at 08:07 PM CST #
Posted by Colin on August 03, 2007 at 06:16 PM CST #
that's really a smart and quick sloution, without much efforts and time but how to configure it on network without internet?
http://www.sony-conferencing.com/
Posted by Steve on August 18, 2007 at 01:11 PM CST #
I think you are asking the same question that Vladimir asked. Please refer to what I said about the h323 configuration in above comments. It makes Ekiga work without internet.
Posted by Colin on August 20, 2007 at 04:59 PM CST #
That's really a smart and quick sloution for video conferencing, without much efforts and time.
http://www.sony-conferencing.com/
Posted by steve on August 27, 2007 at 12:48 PM CST #
Colin this is a really neat implementation that you have done. I have been working as of late to transition my dv8000t from FreeBSD to OpenSolaris nv_b73. Getting the Logitech Fusion to work was something that I didn't get to work on FreeBSD and while poking around I found this blog and tested it and it just worked. Which is one of the reasons that I have really liked working with OpenSolaris as of late.
Do you have any suggestions of applications that are around for OpenSolaris already that will capture from the camera and write out an image? Or from what you have seen it is still something that is relatively new and will be needed to be ported? Ekiga is a great proof of concept and was simple to test this camera but it doesn't allow me to some more functional things. Any insights?
-richard
Posted by richard on September 30, 2007 at 03:11 AM CST #
Thanks.
So far, there is no application integrated in OpenSolaris to capture from the camera and write out an image. As I know, Ekiga is the only application. But I think it is easy to port an application. Please read usbvc(7D) manpage for the interfaces that the driver supports.
Posted by Colin on October 01, 2007 at 10:13 AM CST #
hello,
you can add this webcam:
Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks usb46d,8c3
works fine, tested on Indiana! (doesn't work on SXDE3)
Posted by gerard on November 17, 2007 at 03:05 PM CST #
Hi,
I just got a new Sony Vaio FZ27g notebook . It has a built in camera.
How do I detect it and use it in solaris. I am a complete newbie.
Thanks,
Vineet
Posted by vineet on November 21, 2007 at 01:31 AM CST #
If you can find the following device file after boot, then your camera is supported Solaris driver. You can then run ekiga application to see the video.
# ls /dev/video0
# ekiga
Posted by Colin on November 26, 2007 at 08:35 PM CST #
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Posted by Amy on December 06, 2007 at 02:16 PM CST #
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Posted by willis on January 09, 2008 at 05:30 PM CST #
have you got any suggestions of applications that are around for OpenSolaris and already that'll capture from the camera and write out an image.
Posted by ladyfaa on February 13, 2008 at 12:42 PM CST #
I myself did not play with any other applications except Ekiga. Fort an application that capture & write out an image, I think you can try to find one in the open source community and then compile it on Solaris. Most likely it will work without much efforts.
Posted by Colin Zou on February 15, 2008 at 04:52 PM CST #
I have an Avermedia DVD EZMAKER USB that is compliant with the USB Video Class. It's info is:
value='usb7ca,c038.101
How would I get this to be recognized by Solaris Express? I tried:
update_drv -a -i "usb7ca,c038" usbvc
but no success.
Posted by jNat on February 16, 2008 at 01:57 AM CST #
If the device is fully compliant with UVC, then it can be recognized by Solaris Express without run "update_drv" because the device will have UVC class name which is already in /etc/driver_alias. If it can not be recognized by Solaris, then it does not fully compliant with UVC. But you can still try to bind the device with the usbvc driver to have a test. For the detail binding method, pleae refer to the usbvc driver aliases in /etc/driver_alias file. There are several aliases for Logitech webcams in that file, I think you can try the similar for your device.
Posted by Colin Zou on February 17, 2008 at 09:49 AM CST #
Hi,
I am interested in trying to build a video conferencing solution using the Sun Ray. Any advice?
Thanks,
Ed
Posted by Ed Graham on February 22, 2008 at 04:23 AM CST #
As far as I know, Sun Ray does not support USB webcams yet. But not sure if it supports other kinds of webcams. You can try opensolaris mail lists to get more info.
Posted by Colin on March 03, 2008 at 01:34 PM CST #
Have you tested or do you know if the usbvc driver works with a QuickCam for Dell Notebooks (Built-in notebook camera) 046d:08c6.
If yes, do you know how I can test it to see if it works on SNVbuild83a?
Thank you. :)
Posted by Brian C. Keith on March 13, 2008 at 08:42 AM CST #
The Dell builtin webcam is not tested yet. You can test it by running ekiga application in Solaris after SNV build 63.
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