[sane-devel] Camera drivers needed.

[kilgota at banach.math.auburn.edu]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009, Theo Tulley wrote:

> I have just bought a "Digital Microscope" (from Maplin) which works fine
> on my laptop with Windows XP-Pro, but the provided software doesn't work
> with LinuxMint-6 which is the only system on my PC, where I would get a
> larger image.
>
> Please, how can I discover whether there is a SANE driver for this?
> Under Windows it appears as "USB PC Camera (SN9C 120)" .
>
> Yours hopefully, -
>
>     Theo Tulley.
> tj.tulley at physics.org

Hello,

I don't know exactly what the SANE project is doing about digital cameras. 
Thus, perhaps I am doing them an unwitting disservice by pointing out a 
couple of other resources.

1. If it is a USB still camera, then the Gphoto project deals with such 
things. Since currently (as far as I know) the SN9C120 cameras are not 
supported, it would be appropriate to contact 
gphoto-devel at lists.sourceforge.net
with further informatin, or, actually, you can send the information 
directly to me, since I am active in that project.

2. If it is a webcam, then I think it might possibly be supported in the 
gspca project, which deals with kernel module support for webcams. The 
first thing I would do if I were you is to check whether the camera is 
supported already in the source tree for the kernel you are running, by 
going to linux/drivers/media/video/gspca to check whether or not the USB 
Vendor:Product number is supported already. It could be. If not, then you 
could get a copy of the current gspca source tree by doing something like

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/~jfrancois/gspca/

and then look through the source tree for gspca to see if your camera is 
there. If so, then compile, install, and, one hopes, enjoy.

Remarks:

Again, choice 1 if it is a still camera, and choice 2 if it is a webcam.

Here is a sample of the way that USB IDs are put in the respective 
software packages:

In libgphoto2, the relevant info will be in the subdirectories of 
libgphoto2/camlibs, typically in the file library.c, but not always. A 
typical entry looks like

         {"Logitech Clicksmart 310", GP_DRIVER_STATUS_TESTING, 0x46d, 
0x0900},

Do not worry if the name of the camera is the same. Look at the two 
four-digit hexadecimal numbers. The first is the Vendor number, and the 
second is the Product number. If those match your camera, then try that 
driver for your camera.

For the gspca kernel modules, the entries are somewhat similar, for 
example

         {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x602e), SB(OV7630, 102)},

or for a possibly even better match maybe one of these:

         {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x6138), BSI(SN9C120, MO4000, 0x21)},
         {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x613a), BSI(SN9C120, OV7648, 0x21)},
#if !defined CONFIG_USB_SN9C102 && !defined CONFIG_USB_SN9C102_MODULE
         {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x613b), BSI(SN9C120, OV7660, 0x21)},
         {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x613c), BSI(SN9C120, HV7131R, 0x11)},
/*      {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x613e), BSI(SN9C120, OV7630, 0x??)}, */
#endif
         {USB_DEVICE(0x0c45, 0x6143), BSI(SN9C120, SP80708, 0x18)},


To use the kernel module, one needs of course a streaming app. Several of 
them are suitable, but it is easier to work with an app that is compatible 
with libv4l2 standards.

Hope this information helps. Feel free to contact me if you find some 
kind of match with your camera but you do not quite know what to do next.

Theodore Kilgore