Webcams....

Strange things,webcams. Especially in Linux!
Some time ago, I bought a cheap webcam - purely because it was really cheap and it *may* work in Linux - and if not, well, it didn't cost much!
Well, after a lot of fiddling to work out a suitable driver, it does. So I bought several more for experimental purposes.
The basic how-to for anyone with a similar cam (mine was a Chicony Twinklecam, but the same applies to Sweex cams and the Trust SpyC@m too) can be found over on one of my websites -
http://www.kernowyon.co.uk/linux_stuff/webcam.html

Anyway, the cam has never worked using the driver which the Linux kernel installs (as per the article) ....until now! Strangely, in Kubuntu, plugging in the cam loads the sn9c102 driver (which never worked for this cam) plus the spca5xx driver. And behold! It actually works! OK, it seems to be a case of plug cam in, unplug it and put it back again to get any joy - but its a start!
Not exactly 100% reliable as yet - seems to need some messing, but I have not seen any image prior to this without the sonixcam driver. So things are looking interesting for some hacking around with the drivers.
Talking of hacking (note: NOT cracking, which is the malicious stuff - the term hacking has been mis-used by the media), I converted one of my cheapo cams to be an infra red cam. Very easy to do - but different models vary on how you do the mod. My brother in law was the first to mod a cam based on some fun we had with an IR security camera I bought for wildlife watching. He has done several now - including assisting on the Chicony Twinklecam mod here.
His site - which has a step by step walkthrough for a Sweex cam and reports on others -

http://www.hoagieshouse.com/IR/

Pretty neat :)
I have some shots to demonstrate the difference between a real 100% IR only cam ( which is what the modded webcams are) and a security camera - which sees both IR and normal light. I will post them onto my website at some point and link the address here. Quite interesting - a monitor for instance in IR is blank - even when turned on - because of course, no IR is being emitted. The security camera - because it can see both IR and normal light - shows the image from the monitor.
All good fun :)

For those interested in my health, well, I *was* OK for a few days - not really having too much bother. This moring though, I have been pretty short of breath this morning. Came on around 10am - still going now at 11.45. Medication taken about 9am.