RoboGeek

Linux inconsistency and resulting confusion I'm thinking of setting up a "webcam" on my Linux system, and the runaround with the howto's is reminding me of what really gripes me about Linux.  It's so bloody inconsistent.

I thought it would be simple ... just google for "linux webcam" and do whatever the HOWTO's said to do.  But the problem is half the information I'm seeing doesn't apply to the specific system I have (ubuntu 5.10 ... I'll note in passing the ubuntu wiki has a page that looks helpful, but I want to demonstrate the general problem).

The first result is Debian Linux Web Cam Server Configuration, and since ubuntu is debian maybe that's the best for me.  Nope.  Okay, it says that for Sarge you can probably just plug the camera in and it will work.  I think 5.10 is based on Sarge, but really don't know that (all these code names tend to obfuscate matters).  In any case the document doesn't describe what to do if the camera isn't automagically recognised.  The document spends a lot of time talking about stuff that isn't on my system, and/or not appropriate for my system.  e.g. modconf doesn't exist on this system, but lsmod does exist and does what the author of that document says modconf would do (I think).  And the problems with the article don't stop with modconf but go on to a a whole slew of low level device configuration, module configuration, trouble shooting and whatnot.

Next is WebCam under Linux which also focuses on Debian Sarge but has a completely set of advice, and focuses on one specific driver.  Why?  It does mention an application at http://motion.sourceforge.net/ which automatically detects motion, which looks like a good security camera feature which I hadn't thought of.

At LinuxDevices.com they have an announcement of a live demo webcam run by someone with an office in Manhattan.  But since the announcement is from 2000, I doubt it's still there.

There's some Webcam Installation Notes which don't mention what Linux system they apply to.  It just dives right into installing software.  My experience with Linux systems is the various distributions are so completely different from one another that you really need to know which one you have, versus the distribution a specific HOWTO author had, so that you can interpolate their instructions for your system.

There's an announcement that development of the PWC driver has halted.  This is important because the PWC driver figures heavily in one of the documents above.

linux.com has a howto on webcams.  You'd think a site named linux.com would have a definitive howto, and it probably is.  Again it dives right into low levels, talking about installing modules, drivers, and whatnot.  Oh, and a large part of the document is about identifying which camera you have, and what drivers will be suitable for it.  This is where I learned of the lsmod command I mentioned above.  But the examples list usb-ohci as a module, whereas on my system this module isn't present, and I don't know whether to be alarmed that it's missing.

The ZC030X Webcam Linux Driver Project page has a warning that this project is inactive, and you should use a different one instead.  Over on that page it has a "Jan 1, 2006" date which gives me a feeling it might be actively maintained.  But I'm beginning to feel like I'm in a maze of twisty passages all alike, but there's no treasure to be found.

The Video For Linux Resources page looks to be a great overview listing the dizzying array of choices.  It's more than a little displeasure that it starts with a long list of driver projects.  I mean, with so many different drivers, it looks like a daunting task to figure out what's what.

And then after that the google results become even less useful so I'm stopping here.

My point is that none of the results I found did a really good job of describing simple steps to take to get a webcam running on Linux.  Most especially none of what I saw gave me a clue to solving the specific thing I want to do, which is videoconferencing.  Instead most of the verbiage I had to wade through was about low level grunty driver talk, and very little about what useful purpose you might have for having a webcam on Linux in the first place.

Along the say I did learn about one idea I hadn't had before ... so this excercise hasn't been a total loss.  The idea of using Linux to run a security camera setup is very interesting.

The results only confirm what I've said before.  The thing hampering Linux's success is the wild differences between linux distributions, the lack of simplicity in using and configuring linux systems.  The differences and inconsistencies only create confusion when someone tries to do something.  e.g. Which HOWTO do you believe?  What resource do you look at for advice?  And why does the HOWTO I'm looking at talk about files and commands that aren't present on my system?

I've been using Linux off and on since 1993.  Most of the time I've been not using Linux specifically because of these problems.
(2006-01-19 12:18:26.0) Permalink