(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Morning, all.

Doubtless some of you are already aware of this, but you can use VLC to monitor your webcam's output, if you don't already have something like GuvcView already installed.

I myself wasn't aware of this until last night, when I read this in the ArchLinux wiki on 'Using webcams under Linux'.

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Very simple to do, in fact:-

1 ) Go to Media->Open Capture Device, and the following window comes up:-





Enter the appropriate details:-





Use the drop-down arrows to select the appropriate device (in Puppy, cam output is almost invariably /dev/video0). Select your sound card (you can check this with Menu->Setup->Multiple sound card wizard), and your country's video standard (PAL here in Europe, usually NTSC in the Americas).

Then, just hit 'Play'. That's all there is to it!

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You can make image adjustments by clicking on the 'Equaliser' button in the toolbar; most functions need the checkbox ticking to enable them, so as to bring up the 'greyed-out' parts. You can also make finer adjustments by clicking on the 'v4l2' tab (most newer Pups usually have this installed by default.)

Just making use of what already exists in Puppy. I also tried this in the Windoze Portable version, running under WINE, but no soap; under Windows, the headings and detail in that window are all completely different.....so nothing was recognised.

Hope some of you may find this info useful.


Mike.

Hi mike,

I have used this long time ago, works nicely.

Slightly off topic but kind of related...
I didn't have any webcam, so used an old android phone.
I don't remember steps correctly, but just had to install an app called droidcam (if I remember correctly).

Hi, DJ.

We-e-ell; like I said, many of you probably knew about this already.

I'm playing around with my webcams more than usual ATM.....because I've already relegated the MyCrudSoft LifeCam HD-3000 I bought a fortnight ago to the old Dell lappie. I've been eyeing-up the Logitech c920 HD Pro for a long while; I had a wee win on the UK lottery this last weekend, and PC World have just dropped their price from £69 GBP to £54.....which is as cheap as I've ever seen it online. And, with it being UVC (USB Video Class)-compliant, it's literally plug'n'play under Linux.

So; I popped down there Sunday morning, and grabbed one while they were still available.

I still prefer standalone webcam apps (like GUVCView) to using built-in stuff like VLC.....but it's nice to know there's alternatives out there. I've been trying for ages to get Cheese running, but although it installs and runs fine, it refuses to see any webcam. Nuts!!


Mike.