On Tue, 24 Mar 2009, Thomas Kaiser wrote:
Theodore Kilgore wrote:
But OTOH this causes a problem, too, because the manufacturers of cameras
(probably some of them are not exactly manufacturers but rather packagers)
are switching the electronics inside the device any time they feel like it,
or if they get a large quantity of chips at a good price, or whatever. I
have seen it happen several times that a certain camera keeps the make and
model, but it gets a new USB Vendor:Product number. And, worst of all, it
may have previously been well supported but now it is not. Someone who goes
and buys the camera based upon the make and model which are stencilled on
the outside of the camera and printed on the packaging material can end up
being stung.
Ok, just a example. See
http://www.kaiser-linux.li/index.php/Linux_and_Webcams#Typhoon_Easycam_USB_330K
At the time I bought this cam it had a sn9c102 bridge and PAS202 and was
working great with gspca. Some time later, somebody reported to me that he
has the same cam but with a PAC7311. So I just updated my page with the new
information. AS of coincident, I was working on the PAC7311 at the time I got
this report!
So, I see. You have had to face similar problems. Fun, isn't it?
Anyway, with a good and nice looking page on the LinuxTV wiki, you can get
more interest from some other people and they may sign up and correct the
page or ad new information (like this cam has now this chipset).
Yes, perhaps this will help. Somehow we all have to figure out a way to
keep on top of these things, and the information is always shifting
around. The idea of doing things in Wiki style, and letting people sign up
and add information, is probably good, too.
I mention a couple of other, similar efforts to keep track of various
devices, hoping it is possible for some wise person to come up with a way
to avoid the problems which are associated with those efforts:
Related to the Gphoto project, we have a similar information web page,
listing Linux compatibility for still cameras. Unfortunately, it seems
that the web page is maintained by one individual, and he is snowed under.
He has plenty of other work, too, of course, and he works hard. So it is
in no way a criticism of him if I say that the page is always hopelessly
out of date, not even managing to keep up with a complete list of the
cameras which are already supported in libgphoto2.
There is also the list of usb devices at qbik.ch and it is (again very
naturally) always out of date, too. It does operate more in the Wiki
style, in that everyone can start an account there, sign up and add
devices. However, the model they use fails, to the extent that it is not
possible to edit what someone else has entered, and it seems not possible
to send a mail to someone in charge, who can repair a stale entry. I am
thinking of such a thing as an entry which says that device soandso does
not work. Then someone (me or you, for instance) succeeds in supporting
the device. So, we can go and add the information that now it works, in a
comment to the existing entry. But even before anyone looks at those
comments, beside the entry is a big red X which indicates that it does not
work. And the person who originally filed the report is the only one who
can change that big red X, and that person has now disappeared. If by good
luck you are the one who created that original entry, then you and only
you can remove that big red X. But if it was not originally your entry,
you can't even if you know better.
So, as I said, I mention these parallel attempts at documentation with the
hope that their problems can somehow be avoided. Perhaps it is good to try
to do that.
Good luck,
Theodore Kilgore
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