Update: Click here to go to a newer version of this article…

This weekend I successfully installed my Logitech QuickCam Messenger (046d:08f0) on my Debian box. In fact it worked out of the box with all kind of programs except for Skype. That was bad because Skype is my main video conference software and I don’t get the point of buying new hardware for Linux.
Anyway, this is the picture you get if you would have skyped me before:
That is why I dragged some information together, which you can find all over the web but never on one single page, to fix that problem.

Lets start. On https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SkypeWebCams the Logitech QuickCam Messengerm (046d:08f0) is listed as a ‘Fiddle to Get Working’ webcam:

Logitech QuickCam Messenger (046d:08f0) – On 32-bit systems, works with “quickcam” driver and gstfakevideo.

Debian comes along with quickcam_messenger which has to be removed:

You need:

And you are ready to go:

If every thing worked well you should be able to get some pictures with camoramic or xawtv.
After that we load the module, move /dev/video0 to /dev/video1 because video0 is reserved for Gstfakevideo.

Better would be a new udev rule. Create a new line in /etc/udev/rules.d/99-perso.rules (if the file doesn’t exists, create it):

Run

and reconnect your Webcam.

Now we install Gstfakevideo:

Create a new file called skype.sh and add these lines:

And run:

Now fire up Skype by running skype.sh.

You shoud get somthing like this:

If not something went wrong. Leave a comment so I might be able to help you out.

Update:
After a few Kernel updates (>2.6.23) I had problems compiling the quickcam module:

I found a patch on Ubuntuforums.org witch you can download here:
Quickcam Patch

Save it (/usr/src/) und run

Follow the instructions and enter the full path to qc-driver.c.
Now edit qc-driver.c and uncomment line 3484:

Run:

Install it

Have fun

PS: The patch also works with 2.6.25

Schon seit Stunden versuche ich psyBNC (einen IRC Bouncer) auf einem Server bei Hetzner zum laufen zu bringen. Tutorials dazu gibt es wie Sand am Meer, dennoch will es mir einfach nicht gelingen. Ich kann zwar zum Bouncer connecten, aber der weigert sich mich zum IRC Server weiterzuleiten. Dann kam der entscheidende Hinweis im Hetzner-Wiki:

Wegen zunehmender Angriffe auf Colocation Server, welche IRC-Bots oder IRC-Bouncer betreiben, filtert unser zentraler L3-Switch alle Pakete mit dem Zielport 6667 automatisch aus. Mit dieser aktiven Gegenmaßnahme sorgen wir bei 99 % unserer Kunden für einen störungsfreien Betrieb.

Zum Glück laufen IRC Netzwerke über mehr als nur einen Port (in meinem Fall 6666-6670). Das sind dann diese kleinen Dinge, die einen wirklich unnötig aufhalten.