Again: Linux and the Vaio TZ webcam

13Jan08

Today I have found this page, which has a ready-to-use version of the r5u870 webcam driver for Linux. I have also added an ebuild to Gentoo bug #176824 which fetches driver sources using Subversion, so you will get always the latest working code when installing. Heck, I am starting to think I should publish my local Gentoo overlay somewhere…

Update: I have just published my overlay here. You can sync against rsync://foobar.homeunix.org/hario-overlay or get a branch using Bazaar (bzr co rsync://foobar.homeunix.org/hario-overlay).

Update: Removed check for CONFIG_VIDEO_BUF kernel option, updated ebuilds should work with zen-sources as well as gentoo-sources :D

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10 Responses to “Again: Linux and the Vaio TZ webcam”  

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  1. 1 dphil on January 17, 2008 said:

    Thanks for the ebuild. Unfortunately, it won’t compile using zen-sources kernel 2.6.24-rc6-zen0. The kernel option CONFIG_VIDEO_BUF is not available, but VIDEOBUF_GEN is. zen-sources was the easiest way for me to apply alsa patches for snd-intel-hda on my Vaio SZ640 (speaker mute problem with headphones).

    Reply
  2. 2 hario on January 17, 2008 said:

    I have updated the live subversion ebuild so it does not check for CONFIG_VIDEO_BUF anymore, as the proper dependency is selected by CONFIG_VIDEO_VIVI. Also, I have added an ebuild for version 0.10.2 which fetches the tarball instead of using subversion. I hope the updated ebuilds work better, because I will take a look at zen-sources in the next couple of days (I am tired of the speaker mute bug). Thanks for your advice :D

    Reply
  3. 3 Anonymous on January 19, 2008 said:

    The build compiled now, but loading the module produces these errors:

    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_ctrl_add
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_curframe_get
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_claim_interface
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_curframe_testpattern
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_urbstream_stop
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_urbstream_start
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_ctrl_add_tmpl
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_urbstream_cleanup
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_register_mod
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_curframe_abortall
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_curframe_complete_detail
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_unregister
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_urbstream_init
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_choose_altsetting
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_ctrl_alloc
    r5u870: Unknown symbol usbcam_urbstream_config_iso

    These symbols appear to be part of the USBCAM library that the driver depends on:
    http://lwn.net/Articles/232690/

    Perhaps I missed some option in the 2.6.24-rc6 kernel or the kernel doesn’t support these options.

    Also, I found r5u870-0.20.0.tar.bz2 here:
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=514292&page=4

    Reply
  4. 4 dphil on January 19, 2008 said:

    That was me :)

    Reply
  5. 5 hario on January 23, 2008 said:

    I modified the svn-based ebuild so it also installs the usbcam driver. Also I added an ebuild for version 0.10.2 and set up a Trac instance to organize myself regarding the overlay :)

    I tested the latest zen-sources, and I found that the issue with the speakers is gone, which is great, but the virtual video driver used by the r5u870 driver was splitted, so you will need to apply this single-line patch to recent kernel sources, and then the r5u870 driver will work again.

    Regarding the usbcam driver, it was not merged in the main kernel tree, as far as I know.

    The 0.20.0 tarball which can be found in Ubuntuforums is approximately the same as the 0.10.2 which I made the ebuild for.

    Reply
  6. 6 dphil on January 26, 2008 said:

    Thanks again for the patch. All modules loading correctly :)

    Reply
  7. 7 hario on January 26, 2008 said:

    Great! Thanks for the report, dphil :-)

    Reply
  8. 8 Feldi on March 27, 2008 said:

    Hi!

    I have the same problem as dphil, but the “on-line patch” is not anymore available, because the link http://foobar.homeunix.org/hario-overlay/media-video/r5u870/files/vivi-dmasg-config.patch is not workink….
    Could you redirect the link of the patch? Or post a new link?

    Thanks

    Reply
  9. 9 hario on March 27, 2008 said:

    Due to a hard disk failure, I had to move the overlay, there are new links for the Trac instance and the patch itself.

    Enjoy!

    Reply
  10. 10 Feldi on March 28, 2008 said:

    Thanks again for the patch. All modules loading correctly
    I have a Vaio VGN-FE41M.

    The output of the #lsusb command is:
    Bus 001 Device 004: ID 05ca:1836 Ricoh Co., Ltd

    I’m using the 2.6.24.3 kernel source recompiled by me with the r5u870-0.11.2 driver.
    I patched the kernel sources and recompled. Now the webcam is working!

    Thanks!

    Reply

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