[SOLVED] how install USB webcam w/Debian Etch?

[bezdomny]

Two years ago, I used the information & resources at Philips USB Webcam Driver for Linux to install my webcam (Logitech Quickcam Zoom) on my Debian Sarge platform.

Since then, I upgraded to Debian Etch, which automatically detected and installed my webcam. Meanwhile, I likewise built an Etch platform in an old Dell box for my mother so we could communicate (she lives a couple of hundred miles away).

So I made an *ass*umption that if I could find an old Logitech Quickcam Zoom for my Mom, Etch would automatically detect and install it...but no such luck.

So I went back to Philips USB Webcam Driver for Linux. It appears to have been neglected for a couple of years. In short, seems obsolete. But I gamely downloaded the driver and tried to install it on Mom's machine (doing all this remotely with KRDC-- and please don't ask me why I'm not using ssh or putty-- let's please leave that for another thread). At any rate, got a slew of errors. And the kernel patches available at the site are quite out of date, none available for the kernel on Mom's machine.

Found a site where a fellow had developed a .deb package and I installed it with the "dpkg" command. Didn't work.

So I notice there's a pwc package in the repositories so I installed it. No change.

Long story, short question-- how does one go about installing a USB webcam in Etch since Philips USB Webcam Driver for Linux seems obsolete and the package in the repositories doesn't seem to help?

Thanks.

By the way, please disregard the info in my sig as we're talking about another machine. Here's the version information from dmesg on my Mom's machine:

Linux version 2.6.18-4-486 (Debian 2.6.18.dfsg.1-12etch1) (dannf@debian.org) (gcc version 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-21)) #1 Wed Apr 18 09:13:09 UTC 2007

Have mercy, please, I've tried to "RTFM" and continue bloodying my nose at dead ends. Any assistance would be appreciated.

[bezdomny]

Apparently, PWC is obsolete and there's a new program in town: GSPCA. Instructions for installing it are here:

Get Your Webcam Working with GSPCA | Linux Journal

Just had a voice & video chat with my Mom on Skype. Great!