It may not always do so, however, so if you don't have the particular module you're seeking loaded and Most stock kernels are compiled with kmod, which enabling automatic loading of necessary modules when the appropriate hardware is detected. You should get output similar to the following: Once you know which module your camera needs you can find out if it is already loadedīy typing the following at the command line:Īs shown by the prompt above, you will need to have root privileges Webcam-ready kernel, where everything is loaded as a module (allīut the relevant lines have been edited for brevity): The following output is an example of what you might find in a USB Where `uname -r`, surrounded by forward tick marks, is your kernel version number. You can get a list of all modules available by typing the following at the command line: o for 2.6+ series kernels this was replaced with. Note that up until the 2.4 series modules had the suffix. If you know what that module is named, try using find in this example we are looking for the 'ibmcam' module: If you don't see it, the particular driver may exist as a loadable module. which may yield something like the following, depending on your hardware:ĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub foundĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: hub 5-0:1.0: 2 ports detectedĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: Linux video capture interface: v1.00ĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: quickcam: QuickCam USB camera found (driver version QuickCam USB $Date: 7 13:29:53 $)ĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: quickcam: Kernel:2.6.7 bus:1 class:FF subclass:FF vendor:046D product:0840ĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: quickcam: Sensor HDCS-1000/1100 detectedĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: quickcam: Registered device: /dev/video0ĭec 18 17:35:18 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new driver quickcam The driver exists either as a loadable module or within the already running kernel.Īn easy way to tell if the driver is enabled is to use the dmesg command piped into less (for easy paging) to look for an acknowledgement that it was loaded when your system started up: Your Linux distribution vendor has likely enabled the most common options already, including the bus, or connection type, and drivers for common camera models. As a rule, often the stock kernel, or working part of the operating system, of your initial installation may already have support for what you need.

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