Internal webcam not working

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spanakop
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2021 6:07 am

Internal webcam not working

Post by spanakop »

Hi all. I have a Thinkpad T470 and I'm having problems getting the internal webcam working.

I have done the following;
Added this to /boot/loader.conf

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cuse_load="YES"
webcamd is installed and the service is running. usbconfig gives me a list of items one of which is this;

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ugen0.3: <Bison Integrated Camera> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (500mA)
Added this to /etc/rc.conf

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webcamd_enable="YES"
webcamd_0_flags="-B -d ugen0.3"
Running this 'webcamd -d ugen0.3' yields;

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Webcamd is already running for ugen0.3.0
I am a member of the operator, wheel, video and webcamd groups. If I try to run webcamoid, the camera is not listed, nor is it listed in VLC. If i try to test the camera through Firefox, nothing is working.

Not sure what else I should be doing.
spanakop
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2021 6:07 am

Re: Internal webcam not working

Post by spanakop »

After many hours looking into this, I think I have found the answer. Hald service needs to be running for this to work. I had made the assumption that because 'hald_enable="YES"' was in my rc.conf file, the service was running. However, running 'rc-status' showed that it was not. Running 'service hald status' would report that it is stopped. Starting hald and restarting webcamd service, then gave me my internal webcam.

Another problem is that rc-service reports hald as crashed. So I need to understand why this is the case.
User avatar
ericbsd
Developer
Posts: 2052
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:54 pm

Re: Internal webcam not working

Post by ericbsd »

spanakop wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:22 pm Hi all. I have a Thinkpad T470, and I'm having problems getting the internal webcam working.

I have done the following;
Added this to /boot/loader.conf

Code: Select all

cuse_load="YES"
webcamd is installed and the service is running. usbconfig gives me a list of items one of which is this;

Code: Select all

ugen0.3: <Bison Integrated Camera> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (500mA)
Added this to /etc/rc.conf

Code: Select all

webcamd_enable="YES"
webcamd_0_flags="-B -d ugen0.3"
Running this 'webcamd -d ugen0.3' yields;

Code: Select all

Webcamd is already running for ugen0.3.0
I am a member of the operator, wheel, video and webcamd groups. If I try to run webcamoid, the camera is not listed, nor is it listed in VLC. If I try to test the camera through Firefox, nothing is working.

Not sure what else I should be doing.
This will only work with FreeBSD.

GhostBSD should already have webcamd setup.

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rc-status | grep webcamd
 webcamd                                                           [  started  ]
 webcamd.ugen0.2                                                   [  started  ]
 webcamd.ugen0.6                                                   [  started  ]

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rc-update | grep webcamd
              webcamd |      default                           
If it is not in the rc-update list, add it.

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sudo rc-update add webcamd default
if it is already running maybe your webcam is not suported.
spanakop
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2021 6:07 am

Re: Internal webcam not working

Post by spanakop »

Thanks for that, I have commented out those webcamd lines in my rc.conf file.

The root cause is actually the hald service crashing. If I start the hald service again, I can run pwcview or webcamoid and it will pick up the camera and work fine. I have put a load of info in the telegram group about this. It seems as though 'hald-addons-input' is missing from '/usr/local/libexec'
spanakop
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2021 6:07 am

Re: Internal webcam not working

Post by spanakop »

Moving hald into default has also helped a lot by using that little command you had above. Previously it was in dynamic (needed/wanted)

Code: Select all

sudo rc-update add hald default
Even though rc-status says hald has crashed, it seems to work across reboots still.

Thanks
User avatar
ericbsd
Developer
Posts: 2052
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:54 pm

Re: Internal webcam not working

Post by ericbsd »

hald is not needed for webcamd anymore.
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