Dear lazyweb,
In your experiences, what has been the best webcam to use with Gentoo? I would like to use skype or some other video messaging app to talk to my girlfriend studying abroad next semester but I haven’t used (or setup) a webcam before. Thanks all.
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The logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 is suppose to work nicely, or so I’ve heard. It produces a very nice image. And if you don’t have a Mic yet, they have a QuickCam Web, which looks like it might be the same camera, but with a built-in mic.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/webcam_communications/webcams/&cl=us,en
I’m quite happy with my Genius 312P — it’s cheap, has official Linux support, but can also use gspcav1 drivers (in portage), has more then decent graphics and it’s cute too
The only drawback is that it’s a bit clumsy to put into the desired position.
To the above person, gspcav1 has recently been merged into the vanilla kernel.
My Logitech works well with that driver but I forget exactly which model it is.
I have a Logitech QuickCam Communicate (Pro?) that works great with the gspcav1 and Skype. On older kernels, gspcav1 is available as an external package.
Well, I can speak well for the one I just got last month, Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro (for Mac), which works perfectly with the UVC driver in the kernel, no strange fiddling, works fine in both Cheese and Skype (32-bit on a 64-bit sytsem). I went for the Mac version because I thought that they wouldn’t be using strange drivers to get it to work with autofocus on Mac, and seems to be the case indeed, it does not require software focus (it would work on the mac without having to install anything).
For what it’s worth, gspcav1 is not in kernel by the way, the gspca in kernel is using v4l2, not v4l1 like gspcav1 use; and the 32-bit bridge for that is not exactly as good, indeed I have a webcam that uses that driver (cheap-o-webcam found at the supermarket), it does not work in Cheese either, but Skype can’t even open it without causing warnings in the kernel log..
I think the currently selling Logitech webcams are all or almost all UVC-based, which is very very good.
Get an UVC webcam. Works (almost) out of box.
I posted a few months back about my Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000. Works well on Gentoo x86_64, much easier since the UVC driver was merged into the kernel. Gives pretty good images, works well with Skype and the microphone also worked without any fiddling. I would say any decent UVC based webcam will serve you well.
Thanks all! I think I know what I will get now
i used one Trust WB-1400T or something similar by name via gspca driver. it was awfully slow and with bad colors. maybe the new gspca v4l driver will improve this.
i also have creative live! vista im webcam. it works quite well via ov51x-jpeg. (at least way better than gspca-based card).
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