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v4l interface questions

DISCUSSION Pavel Machek 3 participants 3 messages Aug 27, 2001 – Aug 28, 2001

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Hi!

I have few questions about v4l api.

I have device (vicam == usb 3com homeconnect camera), which would like to fit into v4l framework. But... mmap is not really native operation for usb. Should I emulate it, or just return unsupported and expect applications to use read()?

Similar problem is there with formats. vicam has some really strange formats. Should I do conversion in kernel?

Is there some usermode program that can handle camera without mmap ability and can support arbitrary screen sizes + 16bpp grayscale?
Pavel

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#1 lore raw
Quoted 7 lines · Pavel Machek

I have device (vicam == usb 3com homeconnect camera), which would like to fit into v4l framework. But... mmap is not really native operation for usb. Should I emulate it, or just return unsupported and expect applications to use read()?

Similar problem is there with formats. vicam has some really strange formats. Should I do conversion in kernel?

Don't do conversion in the kernel.

Quoted 2 lines

Is there some usermode program that can handle camera without mmap ability and can support arbitrary screen sizes + 16bpp grayscale?

Signature · 3 lines
-Steven
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
			-- George Orwell
#2 lore raw
In reply to Pavel Machek
Quoted 8 lines · Pavel Machek

Hi!

I have few questions about v4l api.

I have device (vicam == usb 3com homeconnect camera), which would like to fit into v4l framework. But... mmap is not really native operation for usb. Should I emulate it, or just return unsupported and expect applications to use read()?

IHMO applications should be able to fallback to read() if mmap() doesn't work.

Quoted 2 lines

Similar problem is there with formats. vicam has some really strange formats. Should I do conversion in kernel?

Probably. The driver should support at least one of the standard VIDEO_PALETTE_* formats. It is fine to pick one which comes close to the native format of the camera, there is no need to support _all_ formats.

Quoted 2 lines

Is there some usermode program that can handle camera without mmap ability and can support arbitrary screen sizes + 16bpp grayscale?

8bpp grayscale should be no problem with xawtv. I'd suspect you will not find any app which can deal with 16bpp, there isn't even a VIDEO_PALETTE_* #define for this ...

Gerd

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Damn lot people confuse usability and eye-candy.