Webcam trouble... yeah I know...

[nishikotarou]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a complete and total idiot. Despite all that, I really love Ubuntu and I'm not giving up on her no matter what comes. I am trying to use a webcam (Pixart Imaging, Inc. Cammaestro 2.5DU/X-EYE/Orite SC-120/ICGear TravelCam/Easy Snap Snake Eye WebCam) and did enough research to determine that I needed a driver. The driver I need? GSPCAV1. Getting the driver was easy enough but I have absolutely no idea how to install it. So the file says I need to configure my kernel, and it tells me to type make [config|menuconfig|xconfig]; make dep into my terminal. It doesn't work, it probably isn't meant to, there's probably some part of that, that I'm supposed to just automatically know needs changing, but like I said, I'm an idiot.

Can someone, in the simplest terms possible, explain to me how to install this GSPCAV1? I know nothing about kernels, about programming and all that. The biggest accomplishment I've made all night is figuring out that lsusb tells me what kind of camera this is. HELP!

Not sure if it matters but I'm using the cam on Kopete.

[D-cat]

I don't know anything about the driver itself, but generic source compile instructions are not incredibly difficult, providing the dependencies are available.

First in Ubuntu would be to install the compiler and kernel source headers.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential

Then, from the terminal, cd into the directory you extracted the source to. Typically, you'll need to run the configure script first. At this point, you should be following the included README-INSTALL instructions, since sometimes there are options you need to specify, but in terms of generic it goes like this:

./configure

Assuming you have no major failures in the output*, you then run

make

If the make (which compiles the source into binaries) goes smoothly, it's time to install.

sudo make install

Should install your binaries into locations where other programs can find them.
--
* If and only if the error is simply "Permission Denied", try chmod 777 configure , then run ./configure again.

[kmitnick]

please press Alt+F2 and type gnome-terminal
and (assuming the drivers folder is inside /home/username/Desktop/driver) type

cd /home/username/Desktop/driver

and post the output of here

ls -al

[Rubberman]

Go to this web page: http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html
It has drivers and configuration instructions for just about every webcam made that will work with Linux. It has a specific listing for your webcam. It worked for me, and it has worked for everyone else that I have pointed there.