Webcam not found

Harsh Patel

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Hello I have a webcam which connect in USB slot and this is how it looks.
webcam.jpg

I don't know how to activate it but when I put IN USB lights turn on.
I have CHEESE but it says no device found. Now what to do?
 


Webcams that are compatible with the UVC (USB Video Class) protocol will work out of the box in Linux.
UVC is a common, standard protocol that should be implemented/supported by all modern webcams. Allowing them to be used on pretty much any modern platform without special drivers.

If your webcam does NOT work in Cheese - then it means that your webcam probably does not support UVC and may require a dedicated Linux driver from the manufacturer.

Another thing you could try is to install guvcview and try that with your camera.
guvcview should be in the repos of all Linux distributions. You can find and install it using your distros package management tools (apt, aptitude, software centre, dnf, yum, pacman etc etc....)

If it does work with guvcview - then problem solved -once you have it working with guvcview, then cheese should be able to detect it too.

But if it doesn't work with guvcview - then it definitely does not support UVC and will require a dedicated Linux driver from the manufacturer.

However - Getting a Linux driver from Quantum might be another story altogether!
I've never heard of Quantum before - so I have no idea about them as a company, or the quality of their products. But there are a surprising number of tech companies - particularly the less-known, or cheaper, low-end brands, who do not use, or implement support for common, established protocols/standards (Like UVC) on their devices. And instead, implement their own protocols - which requires them to provide drivers for their devices.

And typically, companies who operate like this will only provide drivers for Windows and sometimes Mac, if you're lucky. Manuy still will not consider developing Linux drivers, unless enough of their customers demand them. So you could try pestering Quantum to provide a Linux driver for your webcam. But you'll probably just be ignored!

That said - in order to support Linux - webcam manufacturers only need to set up their camera hardware to support UVC which is a standard protocol. Using standard protocols allows their devices to have greater interoperability on other platforms, completely out of the box - it seems strange that some tech companies still do just not do this. It seems like common sense to me - but there we go!

Worst case scenario:-
If you have no luck getting your webcam to work with guvcview - perhaps consider selling your webcam and try to get one made by a company that does support UVC. Like Logitech. Their webcams are compatible with UVC and work perfectly in Linux, with no need for any special drivers. Even their lower end models.

The following article lists someones opinions on the best web-cams for Ubuntu in 2020.
If they work in Ubuntu, then it stands to reason that they will work in any other Linux distro:

I currently have a Logitech C922 Pro HD Streaming webcam - it works flawlessly for me on Debian.[/code]
 
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When your webcam is plugged in, what do you see when you type lsusb in the terminal? Also for the price:eek: of that webcam you could buy a cheaper one. A few mohths ago I bought a webcam I just searched for ones with Android support since those would probably also work on Linux.
 
When your webcam is plugged in, what do you see when you type lsusb in the terminal? Also for the price:eek: of that webcam you could buy a cheaper one. A few mohths ago I bought a webcam I just searched for ones with Android support since those would probably also work on Linux.

@f33dm3bits - FYI - the prices on the page in your link are in Indian Rupees - at the current exchange rate, the most expensive camera on that page is £8.22 reduced from £9.76. The other two are £7.18 reduced from £11.29.

Looking at the information on each of them - the QHM495LM 6 light webcam boasts extensive compatibility with youtube, twitch, facebook, plug and play etc etc. And is compatible with Windows, MAC and Chrome. So that model sounds like it's probably UVC compliant.

However, there's very little information on the cam that the OP bought. But if one model in the range supports UVC, you would have thought that all of them would!! If the OP's cam doesn't work with Linux, perhaps they can return it and try the QHM495LM 6 light cam instead?!

Out of curiousity - and purely for comparison - I just did a search for Logitech cams in India and came up with this page:

The Logitechs vary in price from about 1500 Rupees (£15.41) at the lowest end, to 15,000 Rupees (£154.11) at the high end - which is extremely expensive for the higher end models, compared to prices on Amazon.co.uk over here. But the low and mid-priced ones are much more reasonable compared to UK prices.

However, the Quantum cams are far cheaper and boast a higher spec than the low and mid-range Logi's.

Anyway, without wanting to derail the OP's thread - I suppose we just need to wait and find out if they got it working with guvcview, and what the output of lsusb is, if it did not!

Another thing I'm wondering is - perhaps the cam IS UVC compliant, but maybe the USB vendor code for the manufacturer of the device, or the device ID itself is not being recognised. So the device is not being recognised, or categorised as a UVC/video device by the system. Perhaps that's why it's not showing up?! IDK?!
 
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@f33dm3bits - FYI - the prices on the page in your link are in Indian Rupees - at the current exchange rate, the most expensive camera on that page is £8.22 reduced from £9.76. The other two are £7.18 reduced from £11.29.
My bad, it was really late when I replied, I must have read it as dollars .
 

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