Kubuntu command to determine what webcam device I have

clindsay03 · January 17, 2019, 11:42pm

I was playing around with VLC Media and tried to record a webcam video.

There is no webcam device listed and I do have a webcam. This is the 1st time I have tried to use it.

Perhaps there is some software I need to install using Muon Package manager. When I search for webcam or VLC many options come up and I have no idea what they all mean or what to add.

Can anyone assist me?

I have a Lenovo laptop… not sure what webcam I have but here is a list of all my devices:

It doesn’t seem I have a video card??? Not sure what I am looking at.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 650M] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230 (rev c4)
04:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 30)
04:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 30)
04:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 30)
04:00.4 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. xD Host Controller (rev 30)

I went to settings/audio & video and no device is listed for video but there is a webcam opening on my laptop.

So confusing right!!!

Thanks so much!

Akito · January 18, 2019, 3:07am

Is your video card.

As suggested here and here you should try to use cheese, though if the device is not found, you probably need the correct drivers for your device.

As stated above, you have to find out what driver your webcam needs, install it and then it should work.

Fast.Edi · January 18, 2019, 8:25am

Hi.
Not sure, but it seems you did a lspci for this list?
Usually Webcams are held as USB devices, so you might probably try “lsusb” to be sure, that the device is not (propperly) recognized.

Akito · January 18, 2019, 1:38pm

It should’ve shown up at least there, regardless of the command in the terminal.

76ron · January 18, 2019, 4:38pm

FIRST ALL: Your webcam is compatible with Kubuntu ?
search your webcam model in this link: http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/
If she is compatible, then try to use cheese, a GNOME program for capturing video and stills from a webcam.
If you no have cheese then install with : sudo apt-get install cheese
Cheese should automatically detect your webcam and display live video stream.
If cheese no works, then try Empathy has been the default VoIP/Video Chat application since Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), and can be used to establish whether or not your webcam is working.
The two commands : 1- ls /dev/video* and 2- ls /dev/audio* You can to use to know the video and audio device files for your webcam. You also can to try the mplayer ( can be installed with apt-get )
Open a terminal window and type the following:
mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0
this assumes that your webcam is at /dev/video0 you can replace width and height for others values
by example : width=1024:height=768 hope have helped you.

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 5:59am

with lsusb this is what it gave me:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:07da Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 045e:0083 Microsoft Corp. Basic Optical Mouse
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 6:46am

I installed cheese and
“no device found”

I completed the terminal command you mentioned and it showed software installed.

Went to Cheese and still no device found.

Downloaded drivers for GeForce GT 650 but not able to run.

Asking to open with what program??? Not sure what program to open the driver download.’

This is where I am at.

Thanks

Akito · January 19, 2019, 12:29pm

Be sure you downloaded the correct driver with the .sh extension and follow the installation instructions exactly step by step.

anon56357095 · January 19, 2019, 12:37pm

@ clindsay03

I was playing around with VLC Media and tried to record a webcam video.

Cheese is a GNOME application webcam and not a native KDE application. Cheese can be flaky even in its native Gnome desktop environment.

I would suggest you use Kamoso as this is a webcam designed for the KDE environment.

Also it would be wise to use this terminal command to remove all cheese files. Before installing Kamoso.

sudo apt remove --purge cheese -y && sudo apt autoremove -y

I will mention my old Lenovo webcam did not like Linux, even though it was listed with lusb, but when I sold it; the new owner told me it worked when he installed M$. Hey ho, what do I know.

Should you be referring to recording a desktop session you will need to install vokoscreen. Where you can see yourself in in small box giving a narrative of your how desktop works.

sudo apt install vokoscreen

Muon and Gnome software centre have limited repositories, if you want the full power of Ubuntu, you will need to install the Synaptic package manager.

Akito · January 19, 2019, 12:38pm

That said, I didn’t particularly recommend cheese, I just have seen it mentioned everywhere. My main point was installing the correct driver. Once that is done, one can try out different front-ends.

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 10:10pm

I have this from the GeForce website:

GeForce_Experience_v3.16.0.140.exe

where do I find the file ending in sh?

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 10:24pm

I am new to Kubuntu…I have used Ubuntu for the last 5 years and thought the Muon was the name for the Synaptic package manager in Kubuntu… my bad!

So now it is installed. I searched GeForce and found a few files to install. I did not install one file that indicated it was for developers…it that OK?

I got this error message:

E: /tmp/apt-dpkg-install-Y7h62H/5-nvidia-340_340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite ‘/lib/udev/rules.d/71-nvidia.rules’, which is also in package nvidia-kernel-common-390 390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

what does this mean?

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 10:24pm

Also I did remove Cheese

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 10:27pm

I added vokoscreen. What is the error message at the bottom about unable to lock???

Reading state information… Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms lib32gcc1 libbsd0:i386 libc6-i386 libcuda1-340 libdrm-amdgpu1:i386 libdrm-intel1:i386 libdrm-nouveau2:i386 libdrm-radeon1:i386 libdrm2:i386 libedit2:i386
libelf1:i386 libexpat1:i386 libffi6:i386 libgl1:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libglapi-mesa:i386 libglvnd0:i386 libglx-mesa0:i386 libglx0:i386 libllvm6.0:i386
libnvidia-common-390 libpciaccess0:i386 libsensors4:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libwayland-client0:i386 libwayland-server0:i386 libx11-6:i386 libx11-xcb1:i386 libxau6:i386
libxcb-dri2-0:i386 libxcb-dri3-0:i386 libxcb-glx0:i386 libxcb-present0:i386 libxcb-sync1:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxdamage1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386 libxfixes3:i386
libxnvctrl0 libxshmfence1:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386 nvidia-kernel-common-390 nvidia-kernel-source-390 nvidia-prime nvidia-settings pkg-config screen-resolution-extra
Use ‘sudo apt autoremove’ to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
ffmpeg libavdevice57 libdc1394-utils
Suggested packages:
ffmpeg-doc libx264-148
E: Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/cache/apt/archives/

clindsay03 · January 19, 2019, 10:28pm

When I expand the details of the error message: it is alot of info…thanks so uch for your assistance as you have been very helpful!

debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Gnome
debconf: (Can’t locate Gtk3.pm in @INC (you may need to install the Gtk3 module) (@INC contains: /etc/perl /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.26.1 /usr/local/share/perl/5.26.1 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl5/5.26 /usr/share/perl5 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.26 /usr/share/perl/5.26 /usr/local/lib/site_perl /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl-base) at /usr/share/perl5/Debconf/FrontEnd/Gnome.pm line 151, <> line 10.)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Dialog
debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog
debconf: (TERM is not set, so the dialog frontend is not usable.)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline
(Reading database … 243322 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing nvidia-driver-390 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-390 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-cfg1-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-encode-390:i386 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-decode-390:i386 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-compute-390:i386 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-encode-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-decode-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing nvidia-utils-390 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-fbc1-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-fbc1-390:i386 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-ifr1-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-gl-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-ifr1-390:i386 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing libnvidia-gl-390:i386 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing nvidia-compute-utils-390 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing nvidia-dkms-390 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
INFO:Disable nvidia
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Removing libnvidia-compute-390:amd64 (390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Selecting previously unselected package libc6-i386.
(Reading database … 243085 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack …/0-libc6-i386_2.27-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb …
Unpacking libc6-i386 (2.27-3ubuntu1) …
Replaced by files in installed package libc6:i386 (2.27-3ubuntu1) …
Selecting previously unselected package libcuda1-340.
Preparing to unpack …/1-libcuda1-340_340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb …
Unpacking libcuda1-340 (340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Selecting previously unselected package libvdpau-doc.
Preparing to unpack …/2-libvdpau-doc_1.1.1-3ubuntu1_all.deb …
Unpacking libvdpau-doc (1.1.1-3ubuntu1) …
Selecting previously unselected package nouveau-firmware.
Preparing to unpack …/3-nouveau-firmware_20091212-0ubuntu1_all.deb …
Unpacking nouveau-firmware (20091212-0ubuntu1) …
Selecting previously unselected package lib32gcc1.
Preparing to unpack …/4-lib32gcc1_1%3a8.2.0-1ubuntu2~18.04_amd64.deb …
Unpacking lib32gcc1 (1:8.2.0-1ubuntu2~18.04) …
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-340.
Preparing to unpack …/5-nvidia-340_340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb …
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGL.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libEGL.so.1 to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libEGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libEGL.so.1 to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libEGL.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libEGL.so to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libEGL.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libEGL.so to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libEGL.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so.2 to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so.2.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so.2 to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv2.so.2.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so.1 to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340’
Adding ‘diversion of /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so.1 to /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libGLESv1_CM.so.1.distrib by nvidia-340’
Unpacking nvidia-340 (340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
dpkg: error processing archive /tmp/apt-dpkg-install-Y7h62H/5-nvidia-340_340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite ‘/lib/udev/rules.d/71-nvidia.rules’, which is also in package nvidia-kernel-common-390 390.77-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Selecting previously unselected package ocl-icd-libopencl1:amd64.
Preparing to unpack …/6-ocl-icd-libopencl1_2.2.11-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb …
Unpacking ocl-icd-libopencl1:amd64 (2.2.11-1ubuntu1) …
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-opencl-icd-340.
Preparing to unpack …/7-nvidia-opencl-icd-340_340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb …
Unpacking nvidia-opencl-icd-340 (340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Selecting previously unselected package libvdpau1-dbg:amd64.
Preparing to unpack …/8-libvdpau1-dbg_1.1.1-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb …
Unpacking libvdpau1-dbg:amd64 (1.1.1-3ubuntu1) …
Selecting previously unselected package vdpauinfo.
Preparing to unpack …/9-vdpauinfo_1.0-3_amd64.deb …
Unpacking vdpauinfo (1.0-3) …
Errors were encountered while processing:
/tmp/apt-dpkg-install-Y7h62H/5-nvidia-340_340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-20) …
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Setting up libcuda1-340 (340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.6) …
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-43-generic
Setting up libc6-i386 (2.27-3ubuntu1) …
Setting up libvdpau1-dbg:amd64 (1.1.1-3ubuntu1) …
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) …
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) …
Setting up vdpauinfo (1.0-3) …
Setting up ocl-icd-libopencl1:amd64 (2.2.11-1ubuntu1) …
Setting up nouveau-firmware (20091212-0ubuntu1) …
Setting up libvdpau-doc (1.1.1-3ubuntu1) …
Setting up nvidia-opencl-icd-340 (340.107-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) …
Setting up lib32gcc1 (1:8.2.0-1ubuntu2~18.04) …
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) …

anon56357095 · January 20, 2019, 12:15pm

Please run these terminal commands

inxi -Fxz
sudo apt remove --purge vokoscreen -y && sudo apt autoremove -y

What does your Driver Manager inform you about Nvidia usage? Run this terminal command.

dkms status

I’ve not owned a laptop with discrete graphics, it may be worth following the solutions offered on the Arch wiki, where they use Bumblebee to correct graphic card issues…

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee

wicklowham · January 20, 2019, 8:10pm

Suggest you install cmd-line app : inxi
Thereafter run man inxi and select the webcam device extension ,then run inxi with that extension.
inxi provides a lot of info on all your hardware.

Frank in County Wicklow Ireland

clindsay03 · January 21, 2019, 4:02am

I ran inxi -F and got this:

inxi -F
System: Host: clindsay-Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y500 Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.6 Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Machine: Device: laptop System: LENOVO product: 9541 v: Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 serial: N/A
Mobo: LENOVO model: INVALID v: 31900003WIN8 STD MLT serial: N/A
UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: 6BCN31WW(V1.03) date: 10/08/2012
Battery BAT1: charge: 5.6 Wh 100.0% condition: 5.6/6.3 Wh (89%)
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i7-3630QM (-MT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
clock speeds: max: 3400 MHz 1: 1226 MHz 2: 1204 MHz 3: 1229 MHz 4: 1200 MHz 5: 1197 MHz 6: 1240 MHz
7: 1230 MHz 8: 1284 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 650M]
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: nvidia (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
OpenGL: renderer: N/A version: N/A
Audio: Card-1 NVIDIA GK107 HDMI Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA v: k4.15.0-43-generic
Card-2 Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet driver: alx
IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 20:89:84:1f:8a:d5
Card-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 driver: iwlwifi
IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: 60:36:dd:61:3c:3a
Drives: HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (8.5% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD3200BEKT size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 293G used: 26G (10%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 47C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 243 Uptime: 6 days Memory: 3090.7/7927.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.56

clindsay03 · January 21, 2019, 4:06am

I removed vokoscreen as well.

Then I ran sudo apt install dkms status:

sudo apt install dkms status
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Unable to locate package status

clindsay03 · January 21, 2019, 4:12am

I ran inxi -F and got this: it looks like my Nvidia drivers for the GeForce GT 650M are unloaded. So how do I load them???

inxi -F
System: Host: clindsay-Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y500 Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.12.6 Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Machine: Device: laptop System: LENOVO product: 9541 v: Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 serial: N/A
Mobo: LENOVO model: INVALID v: 31900003WIN8 STD MLT serial: N/A
UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: 6BCN31WW(V1.03) date: 10/08/2012
Battery BAT1: charge: 5.6 Wh 100.0% condition: 5.6/6.3 Wh (89%)
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i7-3630QM (-MT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
clock speeds: max: 3400 MHz 1: 1226 MHz 2: 1204 MHz 3: 1229 MHz 4: 1200 MHz 5: 1197 MHz 6: 1240 MHz
7: 1230 MHz 8: 1284 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 650M]
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: nvidia (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
OpenGL: renderer: N/A version: N/A
Audio: Card-1 NVIDIA GK107 HDMI Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA v: k4.15.0-43-generic
Card-2 Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet driver: alx
IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 20:89:84:1f:8a:d5
Card-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 driver: iwlwifi
IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: 60:36:dd:61:3c:3a
Drives: HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (8.5% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD3200BEKT size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 293G used: 26G (10%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 47C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 243 Uptime: 6 days Memory: 3090.7/7927.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.56