How to install Creative VF0250 webcam under Ubuntu 12.04 and fix Cheese problems ?

Does it work in Cheese?
Did you find any guides or bugs based on the ID?
Have you reported a bug?

Andrew,

cheese appears oblivious to the presence of this VF0250 webcam. I did'nt find any guides or bugs based on the ID since cheese does not react to anything. I am not sure if there is bug related to cheese.

I somehow just get the feeling that Ubuntu 12.04 simply does not recognize or detect this webcam as it lacks a compatible driver.

Thanks very much for your advice.

Julianloui

Check the modules here
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/video4linux/gspca.txt

your Webcam is listed there, try to load the modules manually if are not loaded automatically.

    lsmod

to list the loaded modules.

Regards
 NikTh

Nick,

The l;smod command reports the module gspca_main as present in UBuntu12.04 but I can't locate it. The same module turns out to cover my ViewQuest CS330 webcam also. Can you tell me how to open and use an available module such as this one? Thanks.

Julianloui

You can try to load the module(s) with the modprobe command. According to the page I gave in previous answer , this module is
"gspca_zc3xx" ,so the command below will load it.

    sudo modprobe gspca_zc3xx

Then check the camera again .. works ?

If yes , then it will not work after a reboot. You must configure the system to load this module automatically in every reboot (because for some reason is not load the needed module).

How to do that?

by adding the module to /etc/modules file

    gksudo gedit /etc/modules

and add ONLY the name of the module

    gspca_zc3xx

Save the document and from now on , the system will load the module automatically in every reboot. (or shutdown , power off - on..etc).

Regards
 NikTh

Nick,

Thanks for your quick response. I've just carried out all your instructions using two webcams, one at a time on my Ubuntu 11.10 and Ubuntu 12.04 systems. I encountered no errors while executing the commands.

The devices are Creative VF0250 ( ID Code: 0410:4051 Driver module: gspca_zc3xx ) and
                                                    ViewQuest CS330 ( ID Code: 0733:0401 Driver module: gspca_spca501)

However, I saw identical error messages for both webcams under Ubuntu 11.10 and then under Ubunu 12.04 as follows when I opened cheese:

<><><> Ubuntu 11.10 cheese error message:
Unable to initialize Clutter, unable to find suitable fbconfig for GLX context:unable to find fbconfig with rgba visual.

<><><> Ubunut 12.04 cheese error message:
Gtk Warning: Attempting to add a widget with type GtkImage to a GtkToggleButton, but as a GtkBin subclass, a GtkToggleButton can only contain one widget at a time; it already contains a widget of type GtkLabel. Warning: Could not negotiate format.

Julianloui

Be sure that the modules are loaded correctly (lsmod) and then execute the following command

    gstreamer-properties

at the opened window click on VIDEO > Test (on Default Input) and see if your camera works. If not, try to "play" with the settings a little and try again. If again is not working, then post back here the full terminal results.

Regards
 NikTh

Nick,

Both modules are loaded correctly. Let me concentrate on only the VF0250 webcam. When I test it with
gstreamer-properties in video mode, the webcam works properly, blinking its green LED light and showing
my image on the computer screen. However, cheese remains in trouble and shows the same error messages as I reported yesterday. I am inlcined to think that the GSPCA modules are working fine in view of the video image test data.

My basic question is "What causes cheese to report the following errors?"

<><><> Ubuntu 11.10 cheese error message:
Unable to initialize Clutter, unable to find suitable fbconfig for GLX context:unable to find fbconfig with rgba visual.

<><><> Ubunut 12.04 cheese error message:
Gtk Warning: Attempting to add a widget with type GtkImage to a GtkToggleButton, but as a GtkBin subclass, a GtkToggleButton can only contain one widget at a time; it already contains a widget of type GtkLabel. Warning: Could not negotiate format.

Julianloui

Thanks NikTh, that solved my question.

* * * * New input on Ubuntu 12.10 cheese program * * * *

My earlier report was based on a Mac Book computer totally devoted to LInux. I upgraded its Ubuntu 12.04
to Ubuntu 12.10 yesterday and was very happy to see cheese running bug-free afterwards.

Today when I attempted to upgrade my HPd530-based Ubuntu Linux from 12.04 to 12.10, my result was entirely different, probably due to the fact that the HP computer is much older and much less hardware-resourceful than the Mac Book. The cheese error I am reporting is a GLXBadContext (Details: serial 155 error_code 153, minor code 6).

Julianloui