Thanks to everyone helping me out, making this instruction better. Once again, this shall help you getting a Logitech QuickCam Messenger (ID: 046d:08f0) running on Linux Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) using Skype. Please don’t waste any time posting instructions for other webcams. We don’t care!

To make sure, you got the right cam, plug it into your computer.
Check if your camera matches my ID by running:

There should be something like this:

If your ID matches, please continue, otherwise you might be lucky and can start installing Gstfakevideo straight away. However this “Howto” was only tested for a QuickCam Messenger with the ID above. For other IDs please take a look here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SkypeWebCams

All you need before we start:

Remove the old quickcam_messenger module because it will not deliver the correct colors for our cam. If you do find a solution for this problem, please leave a comment! Thanks. Anyway removing the installed module:

To make sure it is not going to be loaded again we add the following line at the end of /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Download the new qcmessener module:

Apply this patch:

Continue installing:

Ignore the “Kernel configuration is invalid.” errors.

Give it a test:

If every thing works go on and install Gstfakevideo:

Create a new file (i.e. in your home directory) called skype.sh and add these lines:

And run:

Now reload the module

Info: run

to view more options.

Create a new file /etc/modprobe.d/qcmessenger.conf and add:

This makes sure, that your webcam will always be /dev/video1 (as /dev/vidoe0 is needed for gstfakevideo) and uses “dblbuf” (correct colors).

Add your account to the “video” group:

Finally fire up Skype by running skype.sh. That’s it!

Please leave a comment if you got some problems or want to give me feedback.

Here is a test image.

Update: Ubuntu 9.04 Users klick here…

I am surprised how many people visit my site because their looking for a solution to get a Logitech QuickCam Messenger (046d:08f0) running on Linux using Skype

Since my last post seems to be a bit buggy for newer kernels, I updated my system to Debian (Lenny, 2.6.26-1-686) and gave it try.

All you need before we start:

Plug in your webcam.
Remove the old quickcam_messenger module:

To make sure it is not going to be loaded again we add

at the end of /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Download the new qcmessener module:

Now if you are running kernel 2.6.26 or newer , it is necessary to patch some files.

Continue installing:

Remember to be root when running make install

Give it a test:

If every thing works go on and install Gstfakevideo:

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

And run:

Now reload the module

Create a new file /etc/modprobe.d/qcmessenger and add:

This makes sure, that your webcam will always be /dev/video1 and uses “dblbuf”.

Finally fire up Skype by running skype.sh. That’s it!

Please leave a comment if you got some problems or want to give me feedback.

Update:
Here is a test image.

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