1 Microdia USB 2.0 Webcam Driver
2 ==============================
4 This Driver is essentially a fork of the Syntek Webcam drivers for Linux
5 by Nicolas Vivien, specifically to accomodate SN9C20x chipset based Webcams.
7 The driver currently supports the latest version of Video For Linux i.e
8 V4L2. V4L1 is deprecated, and applications like Camorama that use only V4L1 will
11 This driver currently supports Skype v2.x, Ekiga v2.x & even aMSN
14 The Microdia USB 2.0 Webcam Driver for SN9C20x chipset based Webcams is
15 currently under development. Using this driver can result in damage and data
16 loss to your system. Use this driver only if you know what you are doing.
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40 8. Documentation & References
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54 To compile the driver you need :
55 Kernel 2.6.22 or higher
62 To compile the documentation you need :
68 Most video applications do not support the image encoding SN9C20x-based
69 webcams offer. Such applications need to have the image stream converted
70 for them. This can be done using "libv4l", which is pre-loaded between the
71 application and the video resource and translates the image stream into a
74 Most distributions offer precompiled packages. If yours does not, the
75 sources are available here :
76 http://freshmeat.net/projects/libv4l/
78 Consult libv4l's README for usage details.
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84 There are packages for various distributions available here :
85 http://repo.or.cz/w/pkgmicrodia.git
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93 To build the kernel module ("driver") :
95 (This will create the kernel object file called "microdia.ko".)
99 To build the documentation :
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107 To load the driver, follow these steps (as root) :
109 # modprobe compat-ioctl32 // Only required for 64-bit Linux OS
112 To test the driver with a V4L2 compliant application, try mplayer :
113 $ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:fps=25:device=/dev/video0 -vo x11
114 $ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:fps=25:device=/dev/video0 -vo xv
116 Note: Some applications require libv4l for image format decoding. (see "1.3
117 Decoder") Consult libv4l documentation for full usage details. Here is an
118 example for a common usage :
119 $ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so mplayer tv:// -tv \
120 driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:fps=25:device=/dev/video0 -vo xv
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126 $ strip -g microdia.ko
128 # cp microdia.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/media/video/usbvideo/
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135 We recommend using v4l2ucp to adjust and improve image quality.
136 http://sourceforge.net/projects/v4l2ucp/
138 We are also developing our own GUI, available here :
139 http://repo.or.cz/r/guimicrodia.git
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145 The kernel module is currently under active development.
147 The full list of supported webcams can be found here :
148 http://groups.google.com/group/microdia/web/project-status
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154 To request support, please contact us on Microdia Mailing List :
155 https://groups.google.com/group/microdia/
156 microdia@googlegroups.com
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160 9. More Documentation & References
162 All documentation and references for microdia webcam driver can be found at
163 http://groups.google.com/group/microdia/web
165 Latest version of this driver is usually available at the following location
166 http://repo.or.cz/w/microdia.git
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172 Microdia USB 2.0 Webcam Driver is distributed under the GPL licence version 2
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179 The Microdia Linux driver has no connection to "MICRODIA Ltd." or "Sonix
180 Technology Co., Ltd.". They are not responsible for anything we do or our
181 driver does and we are not responsible for their actions or their hardware.