Decent webcam @ Futureshop/BestBuy

[Evan Leibovitch]

Hello everyone,

I'd been having some grief with my old $4 microphone since upgrading to 
Kubuntu 8.10; I just couldn't seem to get the ALSA mixer to get it 
useful. And web forums seemed to present more similar problems that 
remained unresolved. So rather than waste another week on what might 
still be a futile effort, I started investigating USB-based microphones, 
and as it turns out most of them are built into webcams. Since I didn't 
have a webcam for this system I started looking around, at the usual 
suspects (Canada Computers, Tiger, NewEgg, etc.)

Having been scared off many Logitecs because of firmware issues (some 
revs work with the driver, some don't, but the packaging doesn't say 
what' s installed), I saw that an off-brand model seemed to be 
reasonably supported. Some drivers work, but are not commonly shipped 
with distributions and need to be built from source. Others contain 
proprietary bits.

I found one that seemed to have the combination of price, specs, and 
support using a standards-based driver included in many current distros. 
It was $31 at Future Shop -- a place I almost *never* consider for 
computer parts -- from an off-brand called Dynex:
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10098615&catid=10498
I was surprised to see the Dynex listed amongst the webcams 
well-supported by the standards-based UVC driver:
http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/

I don't think stock availability is an issue. At the Yonge-Dundas store, 
there was a floor-standing display full of them.

For $32 it seemed like a reasonable gamble; at that price it's cheaper 
than most current models. And I was delighted to get home and find this 
unit to be amongst the most hassle-free peripherals I've ever plugged in 
to a Linux system. The driver loaded as soon as it was plugged in and it 
was recognized right away; I had immediate access from both ALSA and the 
video test worked as soon as I told the Skype to use it.

The only unusual thing is that `lsusb` reports the device as "Best Buy" 
:-) -- sure enough it's also found at that store: 
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10098615&catid=20403
So it' s probably just a store-brand -- BestBuy's equivalent of 
"Presidents Choice". :-)

Anyway... I rarely recommend hardware but this one's on my list.

- Evan

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