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Re: [LUG] USB cameras on Linux 2.4



>>
> That reminds me... Did anyone ger the October issue of Linux format !! Paul
> Sutton assures me that it has an artical on USB webcams !!! :-D, one step
> closer to me leaving windoze !

> B) Webcam <--- give me a while to read that linux format !
<<

Linux Format subscriber - so here's the gen: (USB cameras - NOT webcams. 
Webcams would presumably be supported in snapshot mode, the article mentioned 
nothing about motion / shot sequences. However, the camera is loaded in real 
time as a /mnt drive, so this *could* be possible.)

Older kernels can be patched but USB support is much improved in releases 
from 2.4 onwards.

Check for usbd with:
ps -ax | grep usb

Connect the camera and enter:
modprobe usb-storage

Check the module loaded properly:
less /proc/bus/usb/devices
less /proc/modules

Create a mount point for the camera:
mkdir /mnt/camera

Mount it!
mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/camera
ls /mnt/camera

(Some installations may automate parts of this sequence using /proc/usb)

To keep the mount for next time:
Edit fstab and add a line:
/mnt/camera /mnt/camera supermount
dev=/devsda1 1,fs=vfat,defaults,noauto 0 0

(not sure if this should be dev=/dev/sda1 .... )

One note of caution: USB cameras are designed to be hotpluggable, some of the 
USB device drivers for Linux are not up to that part of the job. If you 
unplug the camera whilst copying or moving files (Duh!) you can expect data 
loss. (As you will with a floppy). 


-- 

Neil Williams
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