Audio Problems With Skype For Ubuntu
Posted by Matt Hartley
Today Iian asks:
My friend bought a Logitech 720 which includes camera and microphone, mainly for Skype. In short, it doesn’t do the job in Ubuntu, but works fine under Windows 7.
I checked it on this computer and it acts exactly the same way (except that I have no Windows here). The first problem is that the microphone doesn’t work under Ubuntu. I checked the Sound Settings on the Input tab and the microphone is recognized, but it fails to respond (i.e. the Input level never gets off zero).
Likewise in Cheese the image has lines through it and you can see signs of another “red” image.
Do you have any suggestions? If not I will definitely NOT buy the camera until it has a better driver. (more…)
Webcam Drivers For Ubuntu
Posted by Matt Hartley
Like with any piece of technology, discovering that something you rely on isn’t going to work as expected can be maddening to say the least. And despite the many advancements seen on the webcam front, sometimes webcam drivers for Ubuntu can still present some problems. My own rule when using webcams, is just to stick with Logitech models. The reason being is that they’re generally well supported thanks to solid driver solutions already rolled up with distros like Ubuntu. (more…)
Logitech Webcam On Ubuntu
Posted by Matt Hartley
Today Tommy writes:
Matt, I’ve been thinking about buying one of those new webcams I keep seeing on Amazon. The problem though is that I don’t know which one is the best for for my computer? I’ve been told to buy a Logitech webcam on Ubuntu, but this seems suspect to me. Why would Logitech have Linux better support? Oh by the way, I own a Eee netbook with a webcam built-in and your Eee-control Ubuntu article was a huge help. Hopefully you make lightning strike twice here? Help, I am at a loss as to which webcam I should be buying for my Ubuntu system! (more…)
Photobooth For Ubuntu Linux
Posted by Matt Hartley
UPDATE: Running a new version of Ubuntu or Mint? Is the app crashing on you complaining about “could not open codec” when running the app in a terminal? I have the fix: add the following PPA. Add ppa:pj-assis/testing and update. You’ll be back in business in no time.
Cheese is buggy and slow. So I tried UCView and it’s only available for Ubuntu Karmic. Even at that, it crashes too easily in Ubuntu Natty. This brings us to guvcview. While it doesn’t offer everything I found with Cheese in the sense of a truly simple to use photobooth for Ubuntu Linux application, I was pleasantly surprised to find it provides rock solid video output. Not only did it offer all the same functionality Cheese would be offering to users if it actually worked right, but guvcview also provides photobooth for Ubuntu Linux functionality that is nicely bundled with my Logitech webcam controls. This means you can make real settings based changes to your webcam and it’ll stick!
