[ad#posts]
I have a Philips SPC710NC webcam kicking around, and yesterday I wanted to get it up and running just in case I wanted to do a video call through Skype. I remember not too long ago how this was a real pain to do in Ubuntu, but since Arch Linux has a newer kernel I thought that maybe it would be much easier.
Well, turns out that it is real easy to do. The latest kernel in Arch (2.6.29) has the driver support built in so there was very little fiddling around. I just had to modify a thing or two.
As it turns out, the driver works but it’s not entirely streamlined. If I want to use video with Skype I would have to enter this from the command line:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
This would start Skype with video capabilities, but I’m just not that keen on having to start a program from the command line if I don’t have to. I want to be able to open them like I normally do (usually with Gnome-Do) and have it work the way I want.
In order for this preload to be systemwide and for it to be loaded upon login, I created a new file named “.profile” (without the quotes) and placed it in my home directory. In this file I entered this line:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so
Now, whenever I log on to my computer this video setting is system wide and I don’t have to start any program using my webcam from the command line.
Click some of these circles and spread the news!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi Rob,
I’m using the same webcam and never got it properly running with Skype on Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.10 even though it was working perfectly with other applications. Your hint with LD_PRELOAD solved this issue. THANKS A MILLION!!!
Just adding the command line (without “skype”) into ~/.profile (which did already exist) didn’t work out. On another site I found the following workaround:
1) sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/skype
2) Add the following
#!/bin/sh
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype
3) sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/skype
Cheers, Tobias