Help File Library: USB Creative Video Blaster II for Linux

Written By: Monty the Mooch

I just finished getting my webcam setup and decided that I had to write everything down. Why not submit an Help File! Then I'll never lose it...ok, maybe I will, but I'll at least be able to remember all the steps by putting it down in writing. So, here it goes!

First off, this Help File assumes that you are using a kernel that has USB support in it. In my case, I'm using kernel version 2.3.99-pre8. I'm not going to go into the compiling of the kernel. I'm just going to touch on what's needed for USB version of the Creative Video Blaster II and how I set my system up. Your mileage may vary.

The Kernel

OK! First we need to make sure that our kernel has USB support. I opted to hardcode USB support into my kernel rather than make it a module.

As root:

cd /usr/src/linux
(This will take you to your kernel source code)

make menuconfig
(you can also use xconfig or config, whichever you prefer)

At this point you will be at the main screen of "menu config"

Go into the "Character Devices" section and the into the "Video for Linux" Section.

You only need to make sure that you have Video for Linux support.

Do not select the "CPIA Video for Linux" option. This will interfere with the CPIA module that you will be adding later.

Now back out to the main menu again and go into the "USB Support" Section.

I decided to put USB Support into the kernel rather can make it a module. So make your selection for USB Support (* or M).

Now a difficult part. For the Creative Video Blaster II you need to select OHCI or UHCI support. This selection depends on you motherboard type. I selected "UHCI Alternate Driver (JE)support". My reasoning for this selection was that the other UHCI driver caused a kernel panic when I rebooted. Bad juju.

So, read through the 3 options and make your selection accordingly.

Remember to have an emergency boot disk or alternate kernel image to boot to if you end up with a kernel panic!

Those are the minimums for the USB support for the Creative Video Blaster II. Compile your kernel, reboot, and come back when you're done.

OK! If you're at this point, I'm assuming that everything went smoothly and you now have USB Support in your kernel! GOOD! Let's move on then.

The Driver

Now get the CPIA driver from http://sourceforge.net/project/filelist.php?group_id=3159

Unpack it wherever you feel comfortable. Once we're done,you'll be able to delete all of it.

From here on out, I will assume you're using a 2.3 kernel. (This is due to the config requirements of the CPIA driver)

First off...READ THE README file!!! This will tell you a lot.

Now cd into the module directory and open the Makefile in your favorite editor.

In the DEFINES section, delete
-DCONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP_MODULE
-DCONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_PP_DMA

(These are for the Parallel port version)

Now uncomment
#-DCONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_USB_MODULE

(delete the #)

In the OBJS section, delete
cpia_pp.o

(This is for the Parallel port version)

Now uncomment
#cpia_usb.o

(delete the #)

At this point you're done editing your Makefile. Save it and exit.

Now, still in the module directory, type 'make'.

This should create cpia.o and cpia_usb.o

Now type

insmod cpia.o
insmod cpia_usb.o

There shouldn't be any errors. This will load the modules you just created.

Now go to the client directory.

./configure make

This compiles gqcam. The program we will use to view what our webcam sees.

Now type ./gqcam

If everything went right, you should be getting good video now.