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Logitech C270 webcam
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Paul M. Foster
Jul 27, 2021, 11:50:04 AM7/27/21
to
Folks:
I bought a Logitech C270 webcam, which is supposed to work in Linux. It
does, EXCEPT the microphone isn't picking up sound. I've checked in
alsamixer, and the microphone device can be selected. But under cheese
or other software, it still does not capture. Yes, I've googled this,
but it's Linux, so there are few answers and none of them work for me.
Any help?
Paul
I bought a Logitech C270 webcam, which is supposed to work in Linux. It
does, EXCEPT the microphone isn't picking up sound. I've checked in
alsamixer, and the microphone device can be selected. But under cheese
or other software, it still does not capture. Yes, I've googled this,
but it's Linux, so there are few answers and none of them work for me.
Any help?
Paul
Greg Wooledge
Jul 27, 2021, 12:00:04 PM7/27/21
to
On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 11:44:36AM -0400, Paul M. Foster wrote:
> I bought a Logitech C270 webcam, which is supposed to work in Linux. It
> does, EXCEPT the microphone isn't picking up sound. I've checked in
> alsamixer, and the microphone device can be selected.
When they gave me a USB camera/mic for meetings for work (thanks Covid),
> I bought a Logitech C270 webcam, which is supposed to work in Linux. It
> does, EXCEPT the microphone isn't picking up sound. I've checked in
> alsamixer, and the microphone device can be selected.
I pretty quickly learned that trying to run this device under ALSA was
not for me. That's when I finally bit the bullet and installed Pulse Audio.
Yours also appears to be a USB camera/mic (based on 1 minute with Google),
so my advice may fit.
The major problem with ALSA (for me, at least) is that it's damned near
impossible to find any documentation on how to tell the computer, "OK,
look, I've got two audio devices now. I'd like you to use this one for
output, because it's where my speakers are plugged in. I'd like you to
use that one for input, because it's a microphone." You'd think this
would be pretty basic and simple, but it's not.
Pulse, on the other hand, just works. At least for me.
But there's a trick to it. You have to... NOT start Pulse Audio yourself.
Don't put anything in your login or session-starting files. Nothing. If
you do, it won't work properly, and you'll waste a whole lot of time.
You have to let it start itself "on demand". That's it. That's the trick.
Thomas Amm
Jul 27, 2021, 12:30:04 PM7/27/21
to
remember having used it and -vaguely- that I had problems to keep it
from registering as primary audio device. So there should be a way.
Some details would be nice to know:
-what does 'lsmod|grep audio' return
-what is the output of 'cat /proc/asound/cards'
-what does 'tail -f /var/log/syslog' say when you plug in the camera
(try hotplugging it while 'tail -f[...]' is running)
-is the camera connected to a USB-2 or a USB-3 port? I remember the
C270 causing trouble with some USB-3 ports.
Paul M. Foster
Jul 27, 2021, 2:50:05 PM7/27/21
to
paulf@dudley:~$ lsmod | grep audio
snd_usb_audio 262144 2
snd_usbmidi_lib 36864 1 snd_usb_audio
snd_hwdep 16384 2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 114688 6
snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core
snd 94208 27
snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi
usbcore 294912 9
xhci_hcd,snd_usb_audio,usbhid,snd_usbmidi_lib,usblp,usb_storage,uvcvideo,xhci_pci,uas
paulf@dudley:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf040000 irq 127
1 [U0x46d0x825 ]: USB-Audio - USB Device 0x46d:0x825
USB Device 0x46d:0x825 at usb-0000:00:14.0-2,
high speed
Card #1 above is the C270.
I don't want to hotplug this thing if I can avoid it-- it's way down and
under everything. Plugged into a USB 2 slot.
Paul
Greg Wooledge
Jul 27, 2021, 4:30:05 PM7/27/21
to
Please don't ask me for help in private. Keep it on the mailing list.
On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 04:02:42PM -0400, Paul M. Foster wrote:
> Interestingly, I apparently have pulse installed and running:
>
> paulf@dudley:~$ ps ax | grep pulse
> 1063 ? S<sl 1642:33 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no
>
> I didn't manually load it, so somewhere it must have loaded itself. And the
> same with alsa:
>
> paulf@dudley:~$ ps ax | grep alsa
> 583 ? SNs 0:04 /usr/sbin/alsactl -E HOME=/run/alsa -s -n 19 -c
> rdaemon
>
> I don't know much about sound, so any pointers would help.
>
> Paul
I'm currently on bullseye, but I started using Pulse on buster, so some
details may appear slightly different. The basic steps should be similar,
though.
In my current X session, I have:
unicorn:~$ ps auxw | grep -e pulse -e alsa
greg 875 6.0 0.2 1682936 26992 ? S<sl Jul22 466:53 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal
greg 239155 0.0 0.0 6112 724 pts/3 S+ 16:10 0:00 grep -e pulse -e alsa
No sign of your alsactl program.
The fact that your pulseaudio daemon has 1642 minutes of total CPU time
used tells me you've been using it. That's a good sign, especially if
you weren't even aware you were using it. That means it must be doing
things correctly, at least to a first order approximation.
Here's my relevant hardware:
unicorn:~$ lsusb
[...]
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:0892 Logitech, Inc. OrbiCam
unicorn:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
1 [C920 ]: USB-Audio - HD Pro Webcam C920
HD Pro Webcam C920 at usb-0000:00:14.0-3, high speed
When I run pavucontrol, and click input devices, it has automatically
selected "OrbiCam Analog Stereo" "Port: Microphone". And it has a little
blue bar that shows input volume level. I can see it spike when I type or
snap my fingers.
During the times when I was trying to start pulseaudio myself, pavucontrol
would never work. It would just say it couldn't talk to the daemon, or
something, I don't remember the wording. That was the clearest symptom
that I was doing something wrong. When that happened, shutting down
pulseaudio and starting it again worked. The thing was, I had to do that
*every* time I rebooted. The first time, it would fail, and the second
time, it would work. It was 100% consistent. To this day I don't know
*why* it's that way. It just is.
Removing the pulseaudio lines from my .xsession file fixed it.
My environment is as follows:
1) I login on the Linux console. No display manager.
2) I type 'startx'.
3) I have a .xsession file, which runs various things, and then runs fvwm.
4) I don't use any "Desktop Environment" (no GNOME, no KDE, no LXDE, etc.).
Just fvwm.
It all works for me. Unfortunately, this means I have very little
first-hand knowledge of failure states to help you diagnose your issues.
If you can describe your exact symptoms in detail, someone else on the
mailing list might be able to help you. Be specific. Tell us what you
see in pavucontrol, and what happens when you select each of the available
input devices.
On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 04:02:42PM -0400, Paul M. Foster wrote:
> Interestingly, I apparently have pulse installed and running:
>
> paulf@dudley:~$ ps ax | grep pulse
> 1063 ? S<sl 1642:33 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no
>
> I didn't manually load it, so somewhere it must have loaded itself. And the
> same with alsa:
>
> paulf@dudley:~$ ps ax | grep alsa
> 583 ? SNs 0:04 /usr/sbin/alsactl -E HOME=/run/alsa -s -n 19 -c
> rdaemon
>
> I don't know much about sound, so any pointers would help.
>
> Paul
I'm currently on bullseye, but I started using Pulse on buster, so some
details may appear slightly different. The basic steps should be similar,
though.
In my current X session, I have:
unicorn:~$ ps auxw | grep -e pulse -e alsa
greg 875 6.0 0.2 1682936 26992 ? S<sl Jul22 466:53 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal
greg 239155 0.0 0.0 6112 724 pts/3 S+ 16:10 0:00 grep -e pulse -e alsa
No sign of your alsactl program.
The fact that your pulseaudio daemon has 1642 minutes of total CPU time
used tells me you've been using it. That's a good sign, especially if
you weren't even aware you were using it. That means it must be doing
things correctly, at least to a first order approximation.
Here's my relevant hardware:
unicorn:~$ lsusb
[...]
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:0892 Logitech, Inc. OrbiCam
unicorn:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xdfc20000 irq 130
1 [C920 ]: USB-Audio - HD Pro Webcam C920
HD Pro Webcam C920 at usb-0000:00:14.0-3, high speed
When I run pavucontrol, and click input devices, it has automatically
selected "OrbiCam Analog Stereo" "Port: Microphone". And it has a little
blue bar that shows input volume level. I can see it spike when I type or
snap my fingers.
During the times when I was trying to start pulseaudio myself, pavucontrol
would never work. It would just say it couldn't talk to the daemon, or
something, I don't remember the wording. That was the clearest symptom
that I was doing something wrong. When that happened, shutting down
pulseaudio and starting it again worked. The thing was, I had to do that
*every* time I rebooted. The first time, it would fail, and the second
time, it would work. It was 100% consistent. To this day I don't know
*why* it's that way. It just is.
Removing the pulseaudio lines from my .xsession file fixed it.
My environment is as follows:
1) I login on the Linux console. No display manager.
2) I type 'startx'.
3) I have a .xsession file, which runs various things, and then runs fvwm.
4) I don't use any "Desktop Environment" (no GNOME, no KDE, no LXDE, etc.).
Just fvwm.
It all works for me. Unfortunately, this means I have very little
first-hand knowledge of failure states to help you diagnose your issues.
If you can describe your exact symptoms in detail, someone else on the
mailing list might be able to help you. Be specific. Tell us what you
see in pavucontrol, and what happens when you select each of the available
input devices.
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