State of Linux webcam support

[Hans de Goede]

Greg KH wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 28, 2007 at 07:38:17PM +0200, Hans de Goede wrote:
>> Greg KH wrote:
>>> On Fri, Sep 28, 2007 at 02:13:37PM +0200, Bertrik Sikken wrote:
>>>> Many webcam drivers are consequently maintained out of the
>>>> official kernel and *DO* include decompression and bayer
>>>> conversion to at least get webcams into a workable state.
>>>> (Examples, there are many more:
>>>> * Philips PWC driver: http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/
>>>> * Various other drivers: http://www.linux-projects.org
>>>> * Spca driver: http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html )
>>>>
>>>> Some ideas:
>>>> * create a user-space library for webcams that reads the compressed
>>>>   data from a v4l(2) device file, decompresses and unbayers it,
>>>>   then exposes it through a standard API to applications.
>>>> * as above, instead of library, use gstreamer plug-ins (each compressed
>>>>   webcam format would have its own plugin, with perhaps a single plugin
>>>>   for unbayering).
>>>> * bypass the kernel drivers entirely and use libusb to talk to the
>>>>   webcams. A problem is that (AFAIK) libusb does not support isochronous
>>>>   USB transfers and many cameras use this transfer mode.
>>>>
>>>> Any thoughts on how to improve Linux webcam support?
>>> Yes, work with the existing Linux video driver developers.  They need
>>> all the help they can get.
>>> More information about them can be found at http://linuxtv.org
>>> That being said, I have no objection to people helping on this project
>>> to take some of the current out-of-tree drivers and cleaning them up to
>>> get them included in the main kernel source tree.  That would be an
>>> immense help that the people here could provide.
>>> Does anyone want to pick up one of the above mentioned drivers, or any
>>> of the other ones floating around on the net, and do this?
>> Actually I've been toying with the idea to work on the UVC webcam driver to 
>> make it suitable for upstream / mainstream kernel merging. I haven't 
>> contacted the UVC developers about this yet, as I've been swamped with 
>> other stuff.
> 
> There is already a developer, Brandon (on the CC:) who is actively
> working on this.  You might want to work with him, if he needs any help.
> His response might be delayed as he is traveling this weekend across
> the globe...
> 

Cool,

Brandon anything I can do to help? I've some kernel driver writing experience 
(2 in kernel hwmon drivers are maintained by me, 3th and 4th one pending) and 
plenty of embeddedsystems and generic C programming experience.

>> But if the linuxdriverproject could help me in someway to do this that 
>> would be great!
>>
>> Actually I think that helping existing drivers reach the mainline might be 
>> a very worthwhile goal to add to the list of goals for this projects in 
>> general.
> 
> I agree, feel free to edit the wiki and propose some drivers here on the
> list that fall under that category.  Off the top of my head, I know of a
> few...
> 

I'm afraid my list currently is only 1 long: UVC, but I think adding a list of 
candidates for this to the wiki is a great idea!

Regards,

Hans