Creative Webcam I - a nearly working, unmaintained approach

This page is dealing with a linux-driver for the creative Webcam I, also known as PPC1, Creative VideoBlaster, WebCam, Smart One Digital Camera DCC100, Vivitar MPP and Viewmate. The cam is connected to the parallel port.

I got some video4windows-sources from vision (they developed the cam for creative).

Together with another hacker I wrote some code for a linux kernel module.

If you are a linux hacker and if you want to deal with ugly ported video4windows-sources you can have some sources (dated 1999) for a kernel module. I don't know if I made it work with 2.2.x or 2.0.x because it is so long ago. You will need the v4l-version2-API for that.

The module can get something out of your cam that looks like a picture. Single frames, single color only and of a very poor quality.

You are really on your own with that, because I don't have that cam any more. I am not able to support this any more. This isn't even alpha-code...! Please don't ask me any questions about it.

I don't know, if there has been another approach to develop a driver for this cam. The company that developed that cam gave me the windows-sources as they had no other specification available. They said, that project was done in a hurry that time...

For IP-reasons there is a function missing, that is very important for the improvement of the picture quality. Obviously it has something to do with bayer-dithering.

You better get a new cam for something like 40 Euro that is capable of USB in a supermarket

Are you really interested in that struggle?

Here we go.

-- MatthiasWientapper - 06 Feb 2002