Regarding QuickCam webcams and FreeBSD

Tue Jan 23 13:08:01 UTC 2007

Sorry to bring up an old thread but if others catalog this list for
searching later like I do then at least they will have this updated
information.

As suggested by Ted, I went out and looked for a webcam port and the
cams supported by that port.

PWCBSD
- the author states that it "should work with any webcam supported by
the Linux pwc driver."

A list of supported cams can be found here: http://raaf.atspace.org/

On 2/10/06, Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm at toybox.placo.com> wrote:
>
> Go into the ports and build one of the webcam programs, get the
> list of supported cameras from it's docs, find one of these on ebay, is
> about
> the best you can do I think.
>
> Ted
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> >[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Simon Chang
> >Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 8:06 AM
> >To: Ted Mittelstaedt
> >Cc: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> >Subject: Re: Regarding QuickCam webcams and FreeBSD
> >
> >
> >Ted,
> >
> >First of all, I am a fan of your FreeBSD and the Corporate Networking
> >Guide.  You have done an excellent job writing that book and I often
> >refer to it for suggestions on specific topics.
> >
> >Regarding self-contained webcams, I realize that these gizmos are out
> >there.  But so far none of them have the two criteria I am looking
> >for:
> >
> >1)  Wireless connectivity (802.11g preferred), and
> >2)  VPN / IPsec capable.
> >
> >The reason is that I want to be able to move the camera at a moment's
> >notice, and I don't want the images of my bedroom / study / backyard
> >to be broadcast in the clear.  However, I have not seen any webcam
> >that has those two capabilities, so that's why I am trying to get them
> >to work with Free and OpenBSD.
> >
> >SC
> >
> >On 2/1/06, Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm at toybox.placo.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> The reason there's little interest in this is that webcams are
> >> rapidly becoming completely self-contained.  Lots of them today
> >> have an ethernet port, and integrated webserver in the camera.
> >> The need for a PC to be involved here for anything other than
> >> running a web browser to display output is pretty questionable.
> >>
> >> When network address translation first came out the only way you
> >> could get it was to used a modded open source UNIX on a PC with
> >> 2 nics.  Then Cisco came out with it so you could use their routers
> >> to get it.  Then linksys came out with cheap routers that had
> >> it.  Nowadays, only the diehards are running FreeBSD nat routers
> >> with 2 nics in them.  The same thing is happening with webcams.
> >>
> >> Ted
> >>
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> >> >[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Simon Chang
> >> >Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 12:49 PM
> >> >To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> >> >Subject: Regarding QuickCam webcams and FreeBSD
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >Howdy,
> >> >
> >> >I happen to have been doing quite a bit of research in this area.
> >> >What I wanted to do was to set up a *nix box with a webcam and a
> >> >wireless NIC, so that I can mount the headless machine in the bedroom
> >> >to keep an eye on our seven-month-old baby.  (Link between the *nix
> >> >box and the home private network will be encrypted using IPsec VPN.)
> >> >
> >> >What I have found so far are the following:
> >> >
> >> >1)  The apps that I have found do not work with a wide
> >variety of more
> >> >recent makes of webcams.  If you do a Google search on "FreeBSD
> >> >webcam" or "OpenBSD webcam", you actually see some tools that
> >> >purportedly work with QuickCam Express or QuickCam B/W (or
> >Color), and
> >> >a handful of other models.
> >> >
> >> >2)  Logitech, the maker of QuickCam, used to make available technical
> >> >specs and docs for the developers to write drivers with.
> >> >Unfortunately, the company does not do that anymore, and anyone who
> >> >wants to make a QuickCam-series work has to either reverse-engineer
> >> >it, use available drivers and hope for the best, or run it under
> >> >Windows.
> >> >
> >> >3)  By contrast, NetBSD and some Linux distros (so far I've heard
> >> >promising things about Fedora Core 4 and I think Gentoo) have more
> >> >development work going on for webcams.  If FreeBSD doesn't work for
> >> >you, try some of the other *nixes.
> >> >
> >> >HTH,
> >> >
> >> >SC
> >> >
> >> >- Hide quoted text -
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >On 1/29/06, Xn Nooby <xnooby at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >> I bought a fancy Quickcam (face-tracking), though I have no
> >> >idea how to make
> >> >> it work with FreeBSD.  I installed qcamview, but when I run
> >> >it as root, it
> >> >> says "Not found Quickcam, or Permission denied".
> >> >>
> >> >> Anyone know anything about Quickcams on FreeBSD?  I don't
> >> >expect it to work,
> >> >> but it would be cool if it did.  There seems to be very
> >> >little information
> >> >> on the net about qcamview.
> >> >>
> >> >> I'd be happy to just snapshots with it.  I'm using FreeBSD
> >> >6.0 and Fluxbox.
> >> >> The cam is USB 2.0.
> >> >>
> >> >> Any suggestions?
> >> >> _______________________________________________
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-- 
The Bleeber