From owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG  Sun Feb  4 15:12:46 2007
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Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 07:12:45 -0800
From: Luigi Rizzo <rizzo@icir.org>
To: Alexey Dokuchaev <danfe@FreeBSD.ORG>
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References: <200702021825.l12IPRcV076387@repoman.freebsd.org>
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	from danfe@FreeBSD.ORG on Sun, Feb 04, 2007 at 03:04:38PM +0000
Cc: cvs-ports@FreeBSD.ORG, Luigi Rizzo <luigi@FreeBSD.ORG>, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG,
	ports-committers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: cvs commit: ports/multimedia/linux-ov511-kmod Makefile distinfo
	pkg-descr pkg-plist ports/multimedia/linux-ov511-kmod/files
	Makefile.kld patch-ov511-1
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On Sun, Feb 04, 2007 at 03:04:38PM +0000, Alexey Dokuchaev wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 02, 2007 at 06:25:27PM +0000, Luigi Rizzo wrote:
> > luigi       2007-02-02 18:25:27 UTC
> > 
> >   FreeBSD ports repository
> > 
> >   Added files:
> >     multimedia/linux-ov511-kmod Makefile distinfo pkg-descr 
> >                                 pkg-plist 
> >     multimedia/linux-ov511-kmod/files Makefile.kld patch-ov511-1 
> >   Log:
> >   New port linux-ov511-kmod, a usb webcam driver based on the linux
> >   driver 'ov511' (from the linux sources) built on FreeBSD using
> >   devel/linux-kmod-compat. The driver supports some ov511 based
> >   webcams.
> 
> Could you please describe the benefits of using these drivers instead of
> tools like `graphics/spcaview' or `graphics/vid'?

these (same as multimedia/pwcbsd) are kernel drivers, so they provide
data through /dev/video using the Video4linux api. As such they should
be compatible with apps that use that API to talk to the camers
(e.g. ekiga/gnomemeeting, and hopefully others as time goes).

Conversely, the other tools you mentions are ad hoc apps that talk
to the cameras through /dev/ugen. They do what they do, but
do nothing to help other apps use the cameras.

Kernel drivers should also work better than the corresponding
userland apps because there are some time-critical things (such as
grabbing frames from the camera, etc.) where the userland apps have
a hard time because they cannot control well when they will be
scheduled.

	cheers
	luigi