The web camera of my laptop doesn't seem to work

I don't like blaming the user. The lack of a driver was (potentially) costly for you. That's a Linux thing and is unfortunate. There's little motivation to make webcam hardware work on Linux.

Some thoughts...

You probably had time to try a few different cameras out and return those that didn't work.

Also, can't you use Teams on your phone?

Again, this is a problem with Linux - or with the OEMs who aren't interested in standards compliance or making their hardware work for obscure desktop operating systems.
 


KGIII said:
I don't like blaming the user. The lack of a driver was (potentially) costly for you. That's a Linux thing and is unfortunate. There's little motivation to make webcam hardware work on Linux.
Again, this is a problem with Linux - or with the OEMs who aren't interested in standards compliance or making their hardware work for obscure desktop operating systems.
Click to expand...
It wasn't a Linux problem but a browser problem, since Debian has an old version of Firefox and the Teams webapp is crap with anything that isn't Chromium based.
Terminal Velocity said:
Yes, that cam works in ''Cheese'' and it will probably work in Microsoft Teams if they let me in but I can't join with that version of the OS (11.2) and FF in 96.something, I have to update in order to join. Whatever happened is happened, I am stuffed
Click to expand...
I still would be interested to see if the webcam works with the unofficial Teams-for-Linux app since the webcam does work with Cheese as OP mentioned?
 
Is there a firmware/bios update for that Laptop ?
 
Sorry it’s a bit late, but a thought occurred to me. If you run the command:
Bash: 
sudo modprobe uvcvideo
And then run cheese, does that allow the webcam to be discovered and work?!
I’ve seen this solution posted elsewhere in the past.
If it does fix the issue, you’ll need to run that command every time you want to use your webcam. Or run it in your startup after you log in.
 
JasKinasis said:
Sorry it’s a bit late, but a thought occurred to me. If you run the command:
Bash: 
sudo modprobe uvcvideo
And then run cheese, does that allow the webcam to be discovered and work?!
I’ve seen this solution posted elsewhere in the past.
If it does fix the issue, you’ll need to run that command every time you want to use your webcam. Or run it in your startup after you log in.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is working now :( too little too late or never give up Debian! Thank you man
 
Terminal Velocity said:
Yes, it is working now :( too little too late or never give up Debian! Thank you man
Click to expand...
You have me confused earlier you said it wasn't working with Teams but it was working with Cheese?
Terminal Velocity said:
Yes, that cam works in ''Cheese'' and it will probably work in Microsoft Teams if they let me in but I can't join with that version of the OS (11.2) and FF in 96.something, I have to update in order to join. Whatever happened is happened, I am stuffed
Click to expand...
 
Terminal Velocity said:
I have a backup HP laptop that also run Debian 11 but 11.2, I have some years to update it. The integrated camera in that laptop works well, but it can't run Microsoft Teams on the browser because the OS or the browser is not supported, at least this is what Microsoft said
Click to expand...
The JasKinasis command made the Lenovo laptop to work, the one I mentioned on the original post (fully updated, I can join team with that, but the cam didn't work till now)
 
Test the cam without Teams. Does cheese work?
 
@Terminal Velocity :-

The thing you need to understand with webcams under Linux - it MAY be the same under the Beast of Redmond, but I haven't bothered with that for over a decade! - is that you have two separate components there. You have an audio component, and you have a video component. And because different parts of the kernel deal with those two items on a separate basis, you have to set up your webcam's audio individually, apart from the video component.

What output d'you get on that laptop from running

Code: 
arecord -l

....in the terminal? (My bad; you may need to add "sudo" in front. We don't use it in Puppy; I keep forgetting everybody else has to!)

That should list every item on board that has a microphone. From what I understand of current laptops, they usually have one microphone, somewhere on the machine, that tends to get used for everything. Being primarily a desktop user, most of these don't have a built-in microphone the way laptops do.....but you do NOT have to necessarily use the webcam's mike (if it has a dedicated one).

So long as you have a microphone, somewhere on that machine, that DOES function under Linux, you can use that. Most video-calling/conferencing apps will allow you to specify the video device and audio device separately. In my own case, I use the video output from a USB webcam - a Logitech c920 HD 'Pro' - but the audio comes from a headset-mounted 'boom' microphone. I can usually specify these two items in different places in an app's settings, and invariably it works great.

So do most things in Linux.......once you understand what's going on, and what steps you need to take.

(shrug...)


Mike. ;)
 
Last edited:
MikeWalsh said:
@Terminal Velocity :-

The thing you need to understand with webcams under Linux - it MAY be the same under the Beast of Redmond, but I haven't bothered with that for over a decade! - is that you have two separate components there. You have an audio component, and you have a video component. And because different parts of the kernel deal with those two items on a separate basis, you have to set up your webcam's audio individually, apart from the video component.

What output d'you get on that laptop from running

Code: 
arecord -l

....in the terminal? (My bad; you may need to add "sudo" in front. We don't use it in Puppy; I keep forgetting everybody else has to!)

That should list every item on board that has a microphone. From what I understand of current laptops, they usually have one microphone, somewhere on the machine, that tends to get used for everything. Being primarily a desktop user, most of these don't have a built-in microphone the way laptops do.....but you do NOT have to necessarily use the webcam's mike (if it has a dedicated one).

So long as you have a microphone, somewhere on that machine, that DOES function under Linux, you can use that. Most video-calling/conferencing apps will allow you to specify the video device and audio device separately. In my own case, I use the video output from a USB webcam - a Logitech c920 HD 'Pro' - but the audio comes from a headset-mounted 'boom' microphone. I can usually specify these two items in different places in an app's settings, and invariably it works great.

So do most things in Linux.......once you understand what's going on, and what steps you need to take.

(shrug...)


Mike. ;)
Click to expand...
The output of ''arecord -l'' is:
Code: 
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC236 Analog [ALC236 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
 
@Terminal Velocity :-

As I thought; you have a single sound card. I can't speak for Cheese, as I've never used it.....but I know for a fact you can select your audio card in GuvcView, independently of the video feed.

I would have thought , however, that with but a single audio source it should be selected automatically.......since it's the only one available.

Have you ever tried using this microphone to capture sound via any other program on this machine? If so, has it been successful?


Mike. :confused:
 
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