Documentation/video4linux/README.cpia - kernel/common - Git at Google

 This is a driver for the CPiA PPC2 driven parallel connected
 Camera. For example the Creative WebcamII is CPiA driven.

    ) [1]Peter Pregler, Linz 2000, published under the [2]GNU GPL

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 USAGE:

 General:
 ========

 1) Make sure you have created the video devices (/dev/video*):

 - if you have a recent MAKEDEV do a 'cd /dev;./MAKEDEV video'
 - otherwise do a:

 cd /dev
 mknod video0 c 81 0
 ln -s video0 video

 2) Compile the kernel (see below for the list of options to use),
    configure your parport and reboot.

 3) If all worked well you should get messages similar
    to the following (your versions may be different) on the console:

 V4L-Driver for Vision CPiA based cameras v0.7.4
 parport0: read2 timeout.
 parport0: Multimedia device, VLSI Vision Ltd PPC2
 Parallel port driver for Vision CPiA based camera
   CPIA Version: 1.20 (2.0)
   CPIA PnP-ID: 0553:0002:0100
   VP-Version: 1.0 0100
   1 camera(s) found


 As modules:
 ===========

 Make sure you have selected the following kernel options (you can
 select all stuff as modules):

 The cpia-stuff is in the section 'Character devices -> Video For Linux'.

 CONFIG_PARPORT=m
 CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=m
 CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y
 CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y
 CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=m
 CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA=m
 CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP=m

 For autoloading of all those modules you need to tell module-init-tools
 some stuff. Add the following line to your module-init-tools config-file
 (e.g. /etc/modprobe.conf or wherever your distribution does store that
 stuff):

 options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7 dma=3
 alias char-major-81 cpia_pp

 The first line tells the dma/irq channels to use. Those _must_ match
 the settings of your BIOS. Do NOT simply use the values above.  See
 Documentation/parport.txt for more information about this. The second
 line associates the video-device file with the driver. Of cause you
 can also load the modules once upon boot (usually done in /etc/modules).

 Linked into the kernel:
 =======================

 Make sure you have selected the following kernel options. Note that
 you cannot compile the parport-stuff as modules and the cpia-driver
 statically (the other way round is okay though).

 The cpia-stuff is in the section 'Character devices -> Video For Linux'.

 CONFIG_PARPORT=y
 CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=y
 CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y
 CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y
 CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=y
 CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA=y
 CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP=y

 To use DMA/irq you will need to tell the kernel upon boot time the
 hardware configuration of the parport. You can give the boot-parameter
 at the LILO-prompt or specify it in lilo.conf. I use the following
 append-line in lilo.conf:

 	append="parport=0x378,7,3"

 See Documentation/parport.txt for more information about the
 configuration of the parport and the values given above. Do not simply
 use the values given above.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 FEATURES:

 - mmap/read v4l-interface (but no overlay)
 - image formats: CIF/QCIF, SIF/QSIF, various others used by isabel;
   note: all sizes except CIF/QCIF are implemented by clipping, i.e.
   pixels are not uploaded from the camera
 - palettes: VIDEO_PALETTE_GRAY, VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB565, VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB555,
   VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB24, VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB32, VIDEO_PALETTE_YUYV,
   VIDEO_PALETTE_UYVY, VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV422
 - state information (color balance, exposure, ...) is preserved between
   device opens
 - complete control over camera via proc-interface (_all_ camera settings are
   supported), there is also a python-gtk application available for this [3]
 - works under SMP (but the driver is completely serialized and synchronous)
   so you get no benefit from SMP, but at least it does not crash your box
 - might work for non-Intel architecture, let us know about this

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 TESTED APPLICATIONS:

 - a simple test application based on Xt is available at [3]
 - another test-application based on gqcam-0.4 (uses GTK)
 - gqcam-0.6 should work
 - xawtv-3.x (also the webcam software)
 - xawtv-2.46
 - w3cam (cgi-interface and vidcat, e.g. you may try out 'vidcat  |xv
   -maxpect -root -quit +noresetroot -rmode 5 -')
 - vic, the MBONE video conferencing tool (version 2.8ucl4-1)
 - isabel 3R4beta (barely working, but AFAICT all the problems are on
   their side)
 - camserv-0.40

 See [3] for pointers to v4l-applications.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 KNOWN PROBLEMS:

 - some applications do not handle the image format correctly, you will
   see strange horizontal stripes instead of a nice picture -> make sure
   your application does use a supported image size or queries the driver
   for the actually used size (reason behind this: the camera cannot
   provide any image format, so if size NxM is requested the driver will
   use a format to the closest fitting N1xM1, the application should now
   query for this granted size, most applications do not).
 - all the todo ;)
 - if there is not enough light and the picture is too dark try to
   adjust the SetSensorFPS setting, automatic frame rate adjustment
   has its price
 - do not try out isabel 3R4beta (built 135), you will be disappointed

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 TODO:

 - multiple camera support (struct camera or something) - This should work,
   but hasn't been tested yet.
 - architecture independence?
 - SMP-safe asynchronous mmap interface
 - nibble mode for old parport interfaces
 - streaming capture, this should give a performance gain

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 IMPLEMENTATION NOTES:

 The camera can act in two modes, streaming or grabbing. Right now a
 polling grab-scheme is used. Maybe interrupt driven streaming will be
 used for a asynchronous mmap interface in the next major release of the
 driver. This might give a better frame rate.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 THANKS (in no particular order):

 - Scott J. Bertin <[email protected]> for cleanups, the proc-filesystem
   and much more
 - Henry Bruce <[email protected]> for providing developers information about
   the CPiA chip, I wish all companies would treat Linux as seriously
 - Karoly Erdei <[email protected]> and RISC-Linz for being
   my boss ;) resp. my employer and for providing me the hardware and
   allow me to devote some working time to this project
 - Manuel J. Petit de Gabriel <[email protected]> for providing help
   with Isabel (http://isabel.dit.upm.es/)
 - Bas Huisman <[email protected]> for writing the initial parport code
 - Jarl Totland <[email protected]> for setting up the mailing list
   and maintaining the web-server[3]
 - Chris Whiteford <[email protected]> for fixes related to the
   1.02 firmware
 - special kudos to all the tester whose machines crashed and/or
   will crash. :)

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 REFERENCES

    1. http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/people/ppregler
       mailto:[email protected]
    2. see the file COPYING in the top directory of the kernel tree
    3. http://webcam.sourceforge.net/
	This is a driver for the CPiA PPC2 driven parallel connected
	Camera. For example the Creative WebcamII is CPiA driven.

	) [1]Peter Pregler, Linz 2000, published under the [2]GNU GPL

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------

	USAGE:

	General:
	========

	1) Make sure you have created the video devices (/dev/video*):

	- if you have a recent MAKEDEV do a 'cd /dev;./MAKEDEV video'
	- otherwise do a:

	cd /dev
	mknod video0 c 81 0
	ln -s video0 video

	2) Compile the kernel (see below for the list of options to use),
	configure your parport and reboot.

	3) If all worked well you should get messages similar
	to the following (your versions may be different) on the console:

	V4L-Driver for Vision CPiA based cameras v0.7.4
	parport0: read2 timeout.
	parport0: Multimedia device, VLSI Vision Ltd PPC2
	Parallel port driver for Vision CPiA based camera
	CPIA Version: 1.20 (2.0)
	CPIA PnP-ID: 0553:0002:0100
	VP-Version: 1.0 0100
	1 camera(s) found


	As modules:
	===========

	Make sure you have selected the following kernel options (you can
	select all stuff as modules):

	The cpia-stuff is in the section 'Character devices -> Video For Linux'.

	CONFIG_PARPORT=m
	CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=m
	CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y
	CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y
	CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=m
	CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA=m
	CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP=m

	For autoloading of all those modules you need to tell module-init-tools
	some stuff. Add the following line to your module-init-tools config-file
	(e.g. /etc/modprobe.conf or wherever your distribution does store that
	stuff):

	options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7 dma=3
	alias char-major-81 cpia_pp

	The first line tells the dma/irq channels to use. Those _must_ match
	the settings of your BIOS. Do NOT simply use the values above. See
	Documentation/parport.txt for more information about this. The second
	line associates the video-device file with the driver. Of cause you
	can also load the modules once upon boot (usually done in /etc/modules).

	Linked into the kernel:
	=======================

	Make sure you have selected the following kernel options. Note that
	you cannot compile the parport-stuff as modules and the cpia-driver
	statically (the other way round is okay though).

	The cpia-stuff is in the section 'Character devices -> Video For Linux'.

	CONFIG_PARPORT=y
	CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=y
	CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y
	CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y
	CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=y
	CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA=y
	CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP=y

	To use DMA/irq you will need to tell the kernel upon boot time the
	hardware configuration of the parport. You can give the boot-parameter
	at the LILO-prompt or specify it in lilo.conf. I use the following
	append-line in lilo.conf:

	append="parport=0x378,7,3"

	See Documentation/parport.txt for more information about the
	configuration of the parport and the values given above. Do not simply
	use the values given above.

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	FEATURES:

	- mmap/read v4l-interface (but no overlay)
	- image formats: CIF/QCIF, SIF/QSIF, various others used by isabel;
	note: all sizes except CIF/QCIF are implemented by clipping, i.e.
	pixels are not uploaded from the camera
	- palettes: VIDEO_PALETTE_GRAY, VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB565, VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB555,
	VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB24, VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB32, VIDEO_PALETTE_YUYV,
	VIDEO_PALETTE_UYVY, VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV422
	- state information (color balance, exposure, ...) is preserved between
	device opens
	- complete control over camera via proc-interface (_all_ camera settings are
	supported), there is also a python-gtk application available for this [3]
	- works under SMP (but the driver is completely serialized and synchronous)
	so you get no benefit from SMP, but at least it does not crash your box
	- might work for non-Intel architecture, let us know about this

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	TESTED APPLICATIONS:

	- a simple test application based on Xt is available at [3]
	- another test-application based on gqcam-0.4 (uses GTK)
	- gqcam-0.6 should work
	- xawtv-3.x (also the webcam software)
	- xawtv-2.46
	- w3cam (cgi-interface and vidcat, e.g. you may try out 'vidcat \|xv
	-maxpect -root -quit +noresetroot -rmode 5 -')
	- vic, the MBONE video conferencing tool (version 2.8ucl4-1)
	- isabel 3R4beta (barely working, but AFAICT all the problems are on
	their side)
	- camserv-0.40

	See [3] for pointers to v4l-applications.

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	KNOWN PROBLEMS:

	- some applications do not handle the image format correctly, you will
	see strange horizontal stripes instead of a nice picture -> make sure
	your application does use a supported image size or queries the driver
	for the actually used size (reason behind this: the camera cannot
	provide any image format, so if size NxM is requested the driver will
	use a format to the closest fitting N1xM1, the application should now
	query for this granted size, most applications do not).
	- all the todo ;)
	- if there is not enough light and the picture is too dark try to
	adjust the SetSensorFPS setting, automatic frame rate adjustment
	has its price
	- do not try out isabel 3R4beta (built 135), you will be disappointed

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	TODO:

	- multiple camera support (struct camera or something) - This should work,
	but hasn't been tested yet.
	- architecture independence?
	- SMP-safe asynchronous mmap interface
	- nibble mode for old parport interfaces
	- streaming capture, this should give a performance gain

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	IMPLEMENTATION NOTES:

	The camera can act in two modes, streaming or grabbing. Right now a
	polling grab-scheme is used. Maybe interrupt driven streaming will be
	used for a asynchronous mmap interface in the next major release of the
	driver. This might give a better frame rate.

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	THANKS (in no particular order):

	- Scott J. Bertin <[email protected]> for cleanups, the proc-filesystem
	and much more
	- Henry Bruce <[email protected]> for providing developers information about
	the CPiA chip, I wish all companies would treat Linux as seriously
	- Karoly Erdei <[email protected]> and RISC-Linz for being
	my boss ;) resp. my employer and for providing me the hardware and
	allow me to devote some working time to this project
	- Manuel J. Petit de Gabriel <[email protected]> for providing help
	with Isabel (http://isabel.dit.upm.es/)
	- Bas Huisman <[email protected]> for writing the initial parport code
	- Jarl Totland <[email protected]> for setting up the mailing list
	and maintaining the web-server[3]
	- Chris Whiteford <[email protected]> for fixes related to the
	1.02 firmware
	- special kudos to all the tester whose machines crashed and/or
	will crash. :)

	---------------------------------------------------------------------------
	REFERENCES

	1. http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/people/ppregler
	mailto:[email protected]
	2. see the file COPYING in the top directory of the kernel tree
	3. http://webcam.sourceforge.net/