dell inspiron 1521 intergrated webcam and linux mint - please help, it doesn't work

mscatamaran · 03-24-2009, 09:44 PM

I have Linux Mint 6 (Felicia) on a Dell Inspiron 1521 and am having trouble getting my integrated webcam to work. I would like to use Cheese webcam but as a last resort I will switch to another program.

Every time I try to run Cheese my webcam light comes on and Cheese opens (as it should) but the screen is blank. It allows me to click Take Picture but nothing actually happens. I then try to close Cheese and it freezes up making me Force Quit.

any suggestions on how to get this to work? Maybe I need the webcam drivers off of Dell's site, but if thats what I would have to do then how would I install those (being that they r based on Windows OS)?

Rome5 · 03-24-2009, 10:10 PM

Have you started cheese from a terminal? If so, please post the output here (if any).

Also, what current resolution are you trying to use? Does lowering the res help? You may have to lower resolution, then kill cheese, and restart.

mscatamaran · 03-25-2009, 12:16 AM

i started cheese in terminal. no input.

how do i find out the screen resolution?

Rome5 · 03-25-2009, 04:37 PM

The webcam resolution set by cheese. If you select Edit > Preferences you should get a popup box where you can choose the camera and cam resolution. Verify the camera in the first, but lower the resolution. You may have to lower it as far as it will go. If it works, than it's likely a problem with cheese. If it doesn't, we'll look elsewhere for the cause.

mscatamaran · 03-25-2009, 05:11 PM

so i took the resolution down as far as i could then brought it up to as far as i could get with also getting an image. not very much- 176 x 144

so if i want better resolution what do i have to do

03-24-2009, 09:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
mscatamaran Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: linux mint felicia	dell inspiron 1521 intergrated webcam and linux mint - please help, it doesn't work I have Linux Mint 6 (Felicia) on a Dell Inspiron 1521 and am having trouble getting my integrated webcam to work. I would like to use Cheese webcam but as a last resort I will switch to another program. Every time I try to run Cheese my webcam light comes on and Cheese opens (as it should) but the screen is blank. It allows me to click Take Picture but nothing actually happens. I then try to close Cheese and it freezes up making me Force Quit. any suggestions on how to get this to work? Maybe I need the webcam drivers off of Dell's site, but if thats what I would have to do then how would I install those (being that they r based on Windows OS)?

03-24-2009, 10:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
Rome5 Alternative Computing Team Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver.CO Posts: 311 OS: Arch linux	Re: dell inspiron 1521 intergrated webcam and linux mint - please help, it doesn't wo Have you started cheese from a terminal? If so, please post the output here (if any). Also, what current resolution are you trying to use? Does lowering the res help? You may have to lower resolution, then kill cheese, and restart.

03-25-2009, 12:16 AM	#3 (permalink)
mscatamaran Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: linux mint felicia	Re: dell inspiron 1521 intergrated webcam and linux mint - please help, it doesn't wo i started cheese in terminal. no input. how do i find out the screen resolution?

03-25-2009, 04:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
Rome5 Alternative Computing Team Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver.CO Posts: 311 OS: Arch linux	Re: dell inspiron 1521 intergrated webcam and linux mint - please help, it doesn't wo The webcam resolution set by cheese. If you select Edit > Preferences you should get a popup box where you can choose the camera and cam resolution. Verify the camera in the first, but lower the resolution. You may have to lower it as far as it will go. If it works, than it's likely a problem with cheese. If it doesn't, we'll look elsewhere for the cause.

03-25-2009, 05:11 PM	#5 (permalink)
mscatamaran Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: linux mint felicia	Re: dell inspiron 1521 intergrated webcam and linux mint - please help, it doesn't wo so i took the resolution down as far as i could then brought it up to as far as i could get with also getting an image. not very much- 176 x 144 so if i want better resolution what do i have to do