Posts Tagged ‘Webcam’

Skype 2.1 beta for Linux

1 Comment
Posted 01 Sep 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux

Seventeen months after releasing Skype 2.0 for Linux, the Skype team has released a beta version of Skype 2.1. According to Skype, Skype 2.1 beta adds support to high quality video and super wideband audio that are being used in the Windows and Mac versions. As everyone knows, Skype is quite slow in adding features to Linux version, but the good thing is, they didn’t abandon it.

Here are the new features in Skype 2.1 in Linux:

  • Skype’s SILK codec for outstanding sound quality
  • High Quality Video
  • PulseAudio
  • Send SMS messages
  • Organise your contacts with contact groups
  • Improvements to chat (typing indicator, new emoticons and message editing)

You can download Skype 2.1 beta from here. I haven’t tried the beta version yet. I have already mentioned about Ubuntu’s webcam issues (here, here etc)starting with Ubuntu 8.10. The video quality is pretty bad starting with Ubuntu 8.10 and Ubuntu now recognizes the webcams as generic ones rather than by the camera name. I’m not sure if the fine tuning on Skype side is going to help any better or not. I have to install and check. I hope the video quality is better, so I don’t have to boot into Windows for webcam chat.

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Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 relased

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Posted 23 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released the 3rd alpha of next version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 9.10, code named Karmic Koala. Kubunt 9.10 alpha 3 is also out. I found few interesting features in both Ubuntu and Kubuntu that might appeal to end users.

The first one is Empathy replacing Pigdin. This enables users to do text, voice and video chats with Google Talk users, MSN, Facebook and Yahoo users.

The second one is making Ubuntu One ships by default in all systems. I have Ubuntu One account and it’s does it job, but it’s still buggy.

Third is, webcam moving to udev. I thought it happened already since webcam worked fine until Ubuntu 8.10 came out. Ubuntu recognized the webcams fine in Ubuntu 8.04 and the picture qualities were good, but starting Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu shows the webcam with general device name than the actual webcam name and the video qualities are extremely bad.

Kubuntu is getting KDE 4.3, which includes more bug fixes and new features. I think it would be better than Kubuntu 9.04.

Kubuntu has released a new netbook version. There are still few bugs to sort out, but it’s a good start.

Kubuntu is removing Konqueror as default browser and  Arora as the default. The reason being, Konqueror is not compatible with many websites. I agree with that though many KDE fans won’t like that. Konqueror is quite powerful, but it’s not simple enough for normal users. Users should have an easy to use browser like Firefox. Though they can install Firefox in Kubuntu, I believe the default browser should be user friendly. I hope Arora is user friendly and can run all plugins and websites.

Kubuntu is bringing more social network features using KDE widgets and Kopete, which is good.

Now, lets move on to the changelog. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Alpha 3 includes:

  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 includes the latest GNOME 2.27.4 development release.
  • Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the Telepathy framework.
  • The gdm 2.27.4 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.
  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 ships the https://ubuntuone.com/ file sharing service by default, providing tightly integrated file synchronization of your computer with other computers and the Ubuntu One network storage service.
  • Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.31-3.19 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc3. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). linux-restricted-modules is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages.
  • Karmic Alpha 3’s underlying technology for power management, laptop Hotkeys, and handling storage devices and cameras maps was moved from “hal” (which is going to be deprecated soon) to “DeviceKit-power”, “DeviceKit-disks” and “udev”.
  • Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler.
  • The new “ext4″ filesystem is used by default for new installations of Karmic; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.
  • GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing the previous GRUB “Legacy” boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time.

Here are the known issues in Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 3:

  • The GNOME login manager (gdm) does not yet have a graphical configuration tool.
  • If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows.
  • If you have internal hard disk partitions aside from Ubuntu itself, GNOME will attempt to automatically mount them at startup and ask for your password. Just cancel the dialog, unless you actually want to work with them.
  • The GNOME desktop displays two mixer applets on the amd64 desktop CD and alternate installs.
  • Building LTSP client chroots currently fails.
  • The Ubuntu Netbook Launcher crashes on shutdown.

You can download Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 from here.

Kubuntu team has also released the 3rd alpha of Kubuntu 9.10. Here are the features in Kubuntu 9.10 alpha 3:

  • KDE 4.3 RC
  • Kubuntu 9.10 includes a netbook version of Kubuntu 9.10, suitable to install on light weight hardware like Netbooks.
  • Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 will include Arora, a lightweight and fast webkit-based web browser. Konqueror is not compatible with many popular websites, so Kubuntu team is  considering arora as our default browser in order to try to provide one that more of our users will find satisfactory. Konqueror is still installed, but in Alpha 3, arora is set as the default.
  • Amarok 2.1.1
  • Kubuntu 9.10 will include the latest release of KPackageKit. New in 0.4.1.1 are new notifications, sweet animations, a history feature, usability fixes and a more robust overall experience with less bugs.
  • K3b 1.66.0
  • New social features that include Plasma widget as part of the default desktop experience for all of your identi.ca and Twitter needs, The openDesktop Plasma widget as part of the default desktop experience and  Facebook Kopete plugin so that you can chat with your Facebook contacts from the comfort of the default chat client.
  • QtCurve 0.65.1.
  • Kubuntu 9.10 offers further control over the look of your GNOME apps in KDE using kcm-gtk 0.5.

Here are the known issues in Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3:

  • If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows.
  • The Kubuntu Netbook Edition is missing the “install” icon on the desktop. You can start the installation from the menu.
  • The Kubuntu Netbook Edition image does not install under Windows (with wubi).

You can download Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 here.

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Controlling your computer with hand gesture – available for Linux too

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Posted 22 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux, Technology

Taiwan’s publicly funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) developed a software that lets users control their computer with simple hand gesture. All you need is a webcam and Air Cursor software. ITRI developed the software to work with common computer hardware so people won’t have to buy anything new to get set up. The software is compatible with currently available editions of Microsoft Windows, as well as Linux. ITRI is looking for partners to start distributing the software. It’s good to know a recent technology that will work with Linux immediately. It may not be a smooth ride for Linux users who have webcam driver issues in Linux.

Source: PC World.
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Webcam didn’t work with Virtualbox 3.0

3 Comments
Posted 06 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux

You might have read my earlier post about Virtualbox 3.0. I thought the feature I was waiting for was fixed in Virtualbox 3.0. It was the webcam support. I thought the following changelog was to fix that issue:
USB: Support for high-speed isochronous endpoints has been added. In addition, read-ahead buffering is performed for input endpoints (currently Linux hosts only). This should allow additional devices to work, notably webcams.

I installed a fresh copy of Virtualbox 3.0 in Ubuntu 9.04 and installed Windows Vista as guest OS. I added the webcam to USB devices in the settings. Vista installed the driver for the webcam successfully, but no video when I tried to use it in Skype and Windows Live Messenger. Did it work for anyone?

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Virtualbox 3.0 released

1 Comment
Posted 01 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux

Sun has released Virtualbox 3.0 yesterday. Virtualbox 3.0 brings one of the fixes I have been waiting for. It fixed the USB webcam problem. I haven’t tried it to see if it’s working. I would give that a try tonight. Here are some of the major fixes in Virtualbox 3.0, mostly related to Linux.

  • Support for OpenGL 2.0 for Windows, Linux and Solaris guests
  • Linux hosts: kernel module compile fixes for 2.6.31
  • fixed 64 bits CentOS guest hangs during early boot
  • GUI: added mini toolbar for fullscreen and seamless mode
  • GUI: redesigned settings dialogs
  • GUI: allow to create/remove more than one host-only network adapters
  • 3D support: fixed VM crashes for client applications using incorrect OpenGL states
  • support Windows 7 RDP client
  • Networking: fixed another problem with TX checksum offloading with Linux kernels up to version 2.6.18
  • VBoxManage: fixed incorrect partition table processing when creating VMDK files giving raw partition access
  • VBoxManage: support cloning to existing image file
  • Shared Folders: sometimes a file was created using the wrong permissions
  • Shared Folders: allow to change file attributes from Linux guests and use the correct file mode when creating files
  • Shared Folders: some content was incorrectly written under certain conditions
  • Shared Folders: fixed incorrect file timestamps, when using Windows guest on a Linux host
  • X11 clipboard: fix duplicate end of lines
  • X11 guests: a number of shared clipboard fixes
  • Linux guests: Guest Additions support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11
  • Linux guests: new daemon vboxadd-service to handle time synchronization and guest property lookup
  • Linux guests: implemented guest properties (OS info, logged in users, basic network information)
  • USB: Support for high-speed isochronous endpoints has been added. In addition, read-ahead buffering is performed for input endpoints (currently Linux hosts only). This should allow additional devices to work, notably webcams.
  • USB: fixed error handling for some USB dongles

For more information on fixes, refer to changelog.

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Google chat now supports Video

2 Comments
Posted 13 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category Technology

Google has finally delivered the long expected support for webcam in Google chat. I’m not sure why Google took so long to introduce video support when all other clients had that. To use the video chat, all you have to do is download and install a plugin. Here are the steps:

  • Download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in, quit all open browser windows, and install the plug-in.
  • Sign in to Gmail.
  • In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.

Source: Google.

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Webcam settings adjustment

3 Comments
Posted 05 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Is there an application in Ubuntu that I could use to adjust the brightness of my Logitech webcam? As I mentioned in my earlier posts, when the webcam was recognized properly by Ubuntu 8.04 and AMSN, I could adjust the setting through AMSN. Even the default video was bright enough, but now with more lights in my room, the video appears much darker than before. I couldn’t adjust the brightness through AMSN, since AMSN is not recognizing my webcam. I didn’t see an option in Cheese to adjust the brightness. I installed gqcam and when I tried to start it, I got /dev/video not found error. Any help to improve the webcam brightness and other settings is appreciated. :(

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Two more issues with Ubuntu 8.10

5 Comments
Posted 04 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

I forgot to mention couple of more issues I encountered with Ubuntu 8.10. The first one is WPA encryption. Even though wpa-supplicant is installed, Ubuntu network manager didn’t connect to WPA encrypted connection. It works fine with WEP connection. I found lots of complaints about it in the Ubuntu forums.

The second one is the webcam with AMSN. I have already written about webcam issue with Ubuntu 8.10. Ubuntu recognizes both the built-in webcam and USB connected webcam as USB webcam, not by the webcam name. Ubuntu 8.04 recognized the webcams by names, but not with 8.10. The webcam worked with Skype after the final release, but it’s not working with AMSN. I get a blank screen. It used to work with AMSN when I was using Ubuntu 8.04.

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Ubuntu 8.10 upgrade and fresh installation

2 Comments
Posted 03 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

I upgraded my desktop from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10 last Friday. The upgrade went smoothly though it took 3 hours to complete. Most of the time was used to download the packages. After the installation was done and I rebooted the system, I saw the regular logout button (red square icon) in it’s usual place, but also a new one with my name in the middle of the menu bar. I then saw a informational bulb glowing in the menu bar and it informed me to click ok to replace the old logout button with the new FUSA applet (Fast User Switcher applet). I did that and it told me to logout and login. Once I logged back in, my old logout button was replaced with the new FUSA applet. FUSA applet is the new user switcher that integrates your online status with the usual logout options and user list. I liked the idea of integrating those commenly used options, but it didn’t feel complete to me. I can’t say what’s missing, but i feel it has a potential to get better. For more information on FUSA, check Mark Shuttleworth’s blog.

I was using Kubuntu 8.10 since the alpha stage until the final release, in my laptop. I had few issues with Kubuntu. I had issues with video (flickers), webcam not working and skype audio. It may not be Kubuntu issues, but they were still issues that I had to deal with. I thought I would give Ubuntu 8.10 a try. I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10 in my laptop. I still had the video flickering, but it wasn’t as bad as it was in Kubuntu. Disabling the compiz desktop effects stopped the flickering, but that’s not a complete solution. I want the video to work as it was in Hardy, with compiz effects enabled.

I didn’t see the pulse audio setup in Ubuntu. The default was alsa. Skype voice didn’t work when the sound in and out were set as default. I changed them to HDA Intel xxxx (1st option after default) and it worked. The webcam too worked fine. I have one issue with Linux Skype client. I have this problem in both my desktop and laptop. If I’m doing a webcam chat with another user, as soon as the other user starts the webcam, I don’t see my video in the screen and all the buttons in the window disappear. All I see is the other user’s video. I have to close the window to stop the webcam. Also, there is no option to increase the video size or to make it full screen similar to Windows client.

I can say happily that upgrading the old Ubuntu installation (Ubuntu 8.04) was quite smooth unlike Windows. My dad and my father-in-law did the upgrade and their laptops continue to work fine (as I wrote, they are Ubuntu users). I generally go for fresh installation, but the upgrade was so smooth, I might continue that way and do a fresh install once every 2 years.

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Dell’s Ubuntu 7.10 offering

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Posted 20 Dec 2007 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

You might have heard the news that Dell is offering DVD video playback in their Ubuntu systems. Dell has released more information on what they are offering for Ubuntu 7.10.

  • Dell is offering LinDVD software with every Ubuntu system for DVD playback. It’s a proprietary software and the cost is included in the system price.
  • Normal Compiz Fusion effects are enabled by default.
  • Dell is installing and enabling the NVIDIA 3-D OpenGL driver by default on systems purchased with NVIDIA video cards.
  • Dell now puts a DVD ISO image on the desktop. Users can burn that to DVD and use as a restore disc. Dell already offers reinstallation partitions on the hard drive.
  • Adobe flash player is installed by default.
  • New hardware support including Integrated laptop webcams w/ digital microphone, NVIDIA video cards on laptops, including suspend/hibernate support, Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 on the Inspiron 530, Support for the Dell 1720 and 1720dn printers
  • APT repository for updating BIOS from Ubuntu.

Source: Direct2Dell.

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