USB Creative Video Blaster II for Linux
Written By: Monty the Mooch
I just finished getting my webcam setup and decided that I had to write
everything down. Why not submit an NHF! Then I'll never lose it...ok,
maybe I will, but I'll at least be able to remember all the steps by
putting it down in writing. So, here it goes!
First off, this NHF assumes that you are using a kernel that has USB
support in it. In my case, I'm using kernel version 2.3.99-pre8. I'm not
going to go into the compiling of the kernel. I'm just going to touch on
what's needed for USB version of the Creative Video Blaster II and how I
set my system up. Your mileage may vary.
The Kernel
OK! First we need to make sure that our kernel has USB support. I opted to
hardcode USB support into my kernel rather than make it a module.
As root:
cd /usr/src/linux
(This will take you to your kernel source code)
make menuconfig
(you can also use xconfig or config, whichever you prefer)
At this point you will be at the main screen of "menu config"
Go into the "Character Devices" section and the into the "Video for
Linux" Section.
You only need to make sure that you have Video for Linux support.
Do not select the "CPIA Video for Linux" option. This will interfere with
the CPIA module that you will be adding later.
Now back out to the main menu again and go into the "USB Support" Section.
I decided to put USB Support into the kernel rather can make it a
module. So make your selection for USB Support (* or M).
Now a difficult part. For the Creative Video Blaster II you need to
select OHCI or UHCI support. This selection depends on you motherboard
type. I selected "UHCI Alternate Driver (JE)support". My reasoning for
this selection was that the other UHCI driver caused a kernel panic when I
rebooted. Bad juju.
So, read through the 3 options and make your selection accordingly.
Remember to have an emergency boot disk or alternate kernel image to boot
to if you end up with a kernel panic!
Those are the minimums for the USB support for the Creative Video Blaster
II. Compile your kernel, reboot, and come back when you're done.
OK! If you're at this point, I'm assuming that everything went smoothly
and you now have USB Support in your kernel! GOOD! Let's move on then.
The Driver
Now get the CPIA driver from
http://sourceforge.net/project/filelist.php?group_id=3159
Unpack it wherever you feel comfortable. Once we're done,you'll be able to
delete all of it.
From here on out, I will assume you're using a 2.3 kernel. (This is due to
the config requirements of the CPIA driver)
First off...READ THE README file!!! This will tell you a lot.
Now cd into the module directory and open the Makefile in your favorite
editor.
In the DEFINES section, delete
-DCONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP_MODULE
-DCONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP_DMA
(These are for the Parallel port version)
Now uncomment
#-DCONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_USB_MODULE
(delete the #)
In the OBJS section, delete
cpia_pp.o
(This is for the Parallel port version)
Now uncomment
#cpia_usb.o
(delete the #)
At this point you're done editing your Makefile. Save it and exit.
Now, still in the module directory, type 'make'.
This should create cpia.o and cpia_usb.o
Now type
insmod cpia.o
insmod cpia_usb.o
There shouldn't be any errors. This will load the modules you just
created.
Now go to the client directory.
./configure
make
This compiles gqcam. The program we will use to view what our webcam sees.
Now type ./gqcam
If everything went right, you should be getting good video now.
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