I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
poc
On 11/11/2020 01:49, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
I do not use zoom and I don't have a webcam. But in the past I have used skype on Linux with a Logitech Bluetooth headset and the audio in both directions was crystal clear.
You've recorded audio with another program? How did it sound?
Have you tried remote audio with something like skype?
--- The key to getting good answers is to ask good questions.
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
simply 'my' consistent experience(s), with absolutely *specific* "why" yet ...
Zoom (free/commercial) used with my 'fully loaded' f32+KDE desktop, Firefox + extensions/protections, etc etc -- video works, any/all audio is spotty.
Google Meet, video's ok -- audio is completely a non-starter. I mute the audio, and do a direct Cell call -- completely avoiding Google.
Jitsi, as much as I'd prefer to be using it, simply can't get both ends of audio/video working at the same time. That's with peer-to-peer, not with/thru my own servers.
I gave up trying to have any chats @ upstream/otherwise re: "it don't work" ... just gets lost in the usual "works for me", "must be your setup", etc etc uselessness.
All that^ said ... the 'stable', preferred solution here is to create a VirtualBox instance of minimal -- NOT workstation/desktop -- f32, build it up to a *nominal* install of XFCE + Firefox -- with minimal extensions.
THAT setup works with Zoom (free/commercial) with any/every mic+cam combo I've tried. Each & every time. Every once in awhile get a video freeze, but suspect that's network ...
Google meet works better too, but during calls will randomly degrade video &/or audio into an unintelligible mess. Jitsi still refuses to work with Firefox. And I refuse to use Chrome.
YMMV.
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 02:17 +0800, Ed Greshko wrote:
On 11/11/2020 01:49, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
I do not use zoom and I don't have a webcam. But in the past I have used skype on Linux with a Logitech Bluetooth headset and the audio in both directions was crystal clear.
You've recorded audio with another program? How did it sound?
Have you tried remote audio with something like skype?
I've done test recordings with Zoom and with Cheese. They both sound terrible.
poc
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:49 AM Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com wrote:
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
It's not cheap, but I have the older 410 USB only version of this and get nothing but good reports on audio in Windows or Linux.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00AQUO5RI/ref=twister_B08KZ5LYQG
Thanks, Richard
On Tue, 2020-11-10 at 12:55 -0600, Richard Shaw wrote:
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:49 AM Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com wrote:
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
It's not cheap, but I have the older 410 USB only version of this and get nothing but good reports on audio in Windows or Linux.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00AQUO5RI/ref=twister_B08KZ5LYQG
Thanks. I wasn't intending to spend so much. This is only for casual use. I just want something that works acceptably.
poc
Zoom works great with my webcam and its dual mics. Logitech C920, around $100.
On 11/10/20 11:49 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
poc _______________________________________________
I'm running Fedora 32 with a cheap webcam with Zoom. I actually haven't tried the webcam speakers instead use a usb headset. Never had a problem.
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:48 AM SternData subscribed-lists@sterndata.com wrote:
Zoom works great with my webcam and its dual mics. Logitech C920, around $100.
On 11/10/20 11:49 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality? What are people doing in this situation?
poc _______________________________________________
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On Tue, 2020-11-10 at 13:20 -0800, Clifford Snow wrote:
I'm running Fedora 32 with a cheap webcam with Zoom. I actually haven't tried the webcam speakers instead use a usb headset. Never had a problem.
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:48 AM SternData subscribed-lists@sterndata.com wrote:
Zoom works great with my webcam and its dual mics. Logitech C920, around $100.
A headset might be the answer I'm looking for.
poc
On 11/11/20 7:05 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
On Tue, 2020-11-10 at 13:20 -0800, Clifford Snow wrote:
I'm running Fedora 32 with a cheap webcam with Zoom. I actually haven't tried the webcam speakers instead use a usb headset. Never had a problem.
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:48 AM SternData subscribed-lists@sterndata.com wrote:
Zoom works great with my webcam and its dual mics. Logitech C920, around $100.
A headset might be the answer I'm looking for.
poc _______________________________________________
Do you have bluetooth on your system? You could use whatever earbuds you might have for your phone. My airpods work well.
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 10:17 -0600, SternData wrote:
On 11/11/20 7:05 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
On Tue, 2020-11-10 at 13:20 -0800, Clifford Snow wrote:
I'm running Fedora 32 with a cheap webcam with Zoom. I actually haven't tried the webcam speakers instead use a usb headset. Never had a problem.
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:48 AM SternData subscribed-lists@sterndata.com wrote:
Zoom works great with my webcam and its dual mics. Logitech C920, around $100.
A headset might be the answer I'm looking for.
poc _______________________________________________
Do you have bluetooth on your system? You could use whatever earbuds you might have for your phone. My airpods work well.
I have Cambridge Audio Melomania earbuds but could never get the mic to work properly when I tried this a while back. It may be time to revisit the idea.
poc
On 11/10/20 9:49 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
I've use Zoom and Teams on my Fedora laptop. Using the builtin webcam and laptop microphone, I haven't had any complaints about the audio. More recently, I've been using a headset and that's been fine too. I would definitely recommend a headset over the webcam mic. I didn't realize that external webcams generally even had microphones.
A good test would be to use audacity to record some audio and then you can see for yourself what it sounds like.
On Tue, 2020-11-10 at 15:09 -0800, Samuel Sieb wrote:
On 11/10/20 9:49 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
I've use Zoom and Teams on my Fedora laptop. Using the builtin webcam and laptop microphone, I haven't had any complaints about the audio. More recently, I've been using a headset and that's been fine too. I would definitely recommend a headset over the webcam mic. I didn't realize that external webcams generally even had microphones.
A good test would be to use audacity to record some audio and then you can see for yourself what it sounds like.
Already did that (using Cheese and Zoom).
poc
On Tue, 2020-11-10 at 17:49 +0000, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand.
Yes, it's quite possible that all the webcams have terrible microphones, audio circuitry, and audio encoding. Even expensive webcams. And the audio and data compression used for comms tends to need good audio to not turn it into an awful mess.
They're miniaturised, the microphone has a tiny air hole, and they tend to be omnidirectional (no matter how they describe themselves). To be directional, you need more than one air inlet, and/or more than one mike element.
The ones that say they have some kind of noise cancelling rarely ever do have a noise-cancelling mike (one that puts room ambience in anti- phase with the mike facing you), they usually just use a terrible software-based signal level threshold mute (muting the mike when the level drops somewhat).
Generally, to get good sound, especially with party-line chats, you want a decent mike right next to your mouth. That can be a gooseneck mike, headset, or a clip-on mike.
As someone who works in video production, and has designed intercom systems to suit our needs (because the others did not), if you don't want to wear headsets (mike and headphone combinations), the better option (for audio quality and convenience) has been a desk mike on a long gooseneck, and a small loudspeaker that's a further away than most people would expect (to minimise feedback or echoes). You're not tied to cables, that way.
Is there some Pulse filter I can use to improve the audio quality?
As a general rule, it's next to impossible to filter bad audio to make it good. There are some things can be done to sweeten audio that's not so great (such as reducing the bass when you're in a boomy room), but that's only polishing the edges of things, not fixing the impossible.
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 14:55 +1030, Tim via users wrote:
As a general rule, it's next to impossible to filter bad audio to make it good. There are some things can be done to sweeten audio that's not so great (such as reducing the bass when you're in a boomy room), but that's only polishing the edges of things, not fixing the impossible.
Thanks for insights Tim. I take that all on board. What I don't really understand is how my cheap Lenovo tablet works acceptably well and my big Fedora desktop doesn't. I'm sure the camera and mic in the tablet can't be especially high quality.
poc
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 13:09 +0000, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
What I don't really understand is how my cheap Lenovo tablet works acceptably well and my big Fedora desktop doesn't. I'm sure the camera and mic in the tablet can't be especially high quality.
Luck of the draw, perhaps. Some mobile phones have surprisingly good microphones (usually the expensive ones). I had one with good noise reduction systems using two microphones in combination, and handled loud environments quite well, too. They're probably used in tablets, too.
On 2020-11-10 20:25, Tim via users wrote:
As someone who works in video production,
Hi Tim,
Off list:
I have lost a lot of my high frequency hearing and have tinnitus. Consequently, I have trouble understand folks on the phone when there is a lot of white or other background noise. Machine shops are hell on me. Crappy cell phone audio does not help either.
I was thinking of using a dual ear headset on my office phone. Two headphones would help block out background noise. And I have used single ear Panasonic headset before and liked their audio quality. But I am not sure Panasonic has a dual though.
Do you have a better idea? Know a good model?
Many thanks, -T
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 08:58 -0800, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
I have lost a lot of my high frequency hearing and have tinnitus. Consequently, I have trouble understand folks on the phone when there is a lot of white or other background noise. Machine shops are hell on me. Crappy cell phone audio does not help either.
I was thinking of using a dual ear headset on my office phone. Two headphones would help block out background noise. And I have used single ear Panasonic headset before and liked their audio quality. But I am not sure Panasonic has a dual though.
I'm in the same boat - tinnitus and can't hear anything above 15kHz, beyond the squeal of the horizontal output stages of old CRT TV sets. Ironically, the top audio frequencies transmittable on analogue TV and radio are the same (15kHz). Even those without tinnitus usually have some hearing loss of high frequencies with age, worse if they've worked in noisy environments.
Headphones that cover both ears can significantly help in understanding speech. It helps with hearing problems, it helps block out background racket, and both sides of the brain are used independently in understanding speech with independent processing from each ear, so hearing things with both ears really helps, too. And using a speakerphone can be useful for anyone who finds it easier to understand speech when both ears can hear what's being said.
By the by, even before my hearing started to degrade, I always found it easier to understand what people said through my left ear than my right ear, when using a telephone that could only be heard in one ear at a time.
Connecting headsets and headphones to telephones can be difficult, at least with traditional landlines. They often have no socket for it, and require specific impedances, and types of microphones. But when it comes to mobile phones, it's easier. Many gaming headsets can be used directly (bluetooth or plugged in), and while some may be bass-boosted for more gaming excitement, many of them are optimised for speech clarity. I found the Sennheiser GameOne headsets good for comms, though they aren't cheap.
If you're lucky, you could have an office phone with a general purpose headset connector. Otherwise, you can unplug the handset, and plug it into a buffer amplifier between the phone and a headset.
In my field, most comms headsets have a dynamic mike, and they definitely need a buffer amplifier to be able to used with telephone systems (which invariably use a DC powered electret condenser mike).
Getting yourself one of the expensive mobile phones can help a lot with audio quality, but of course that won't help when the other side of the call is using a lousy phone. A friend bought one of the $100 Nokia phones a couple of years back, and that had terrible sound. Whenever he rang me it was very hard to hear what he said, and it used sound level muting to try and cut out background noise. It only transmitted loud audio, so if he spoke quietly, or moved too far away from the mike, it was extremely muted. I got really sick of continually telling him to get closer to the phone throughout every phone call.
On 2020-11-11 10:44, Tim via users wrote:
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 08:58 -0800, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
I have lost a lot of my high frequency hearing and have tinnitus. Consequently, I have trouble understand folks on the phone when there is a lot of white or other background noise. Machine shops are hell on me. Crappy cell phone audio does not help either.
I was thinking of using a dual ear headset on my office phone. Two headphones would help block out background noise. And I have used single ear Panasonic headset before and liked their audio quality. But I am not sure Panasonic has a dual though.
I'm in the same boat - tinnitus and can't hear anything above 15kHz, beyond the squeal of the horizontal output stages of old CRT TV sets. Ironically, the top audio frequencies transmittable on analogue TV and radio are the same (15kHz). Even those without tinnitus usually have some hearing loss of high frequencies with age, worse if they've worked in noisy environments.
Headphones that cover both ears can significantly help in understanding speech. It helps with hearing problems, it helps block out background racket, and both sides of the brain are used independently in understanding speech with independent processing from each ear, so hearing things with both ears really helps, too. And using a speakerphone can be useful for anyone who finds it easier to understand speech when both ears can hear what's being said.
By the by, even before my hearing started to degrade, I always found it easier to understand what people said through my left ear than my right ear, when using a telephone that could only be heard in one ear at a time.
Connecting headsets and headphones to telephones can be difficult, at least with traditional landlines. They often have no socket for it, and require specific impedances, and types of microphones. But when it comes to mobile phones, it's easier. Many gaming headsets can be used directly (bluetooth or plugged in), and while some may be bass-boosted for more gaming excitement, many of them are optimised for speech clarity. I found the Sennheiser GameOne headsets good for comms, though they aren't cheap.
If you're lucky, you could have an office phone with a general purpose headset connector. Otherwise, you can unplug the handset, and plug it into a buffer amplifier between the phone and a headset.
In my field, most comms headsets have a dynamic mike, and they definitely need a buffer amplifier to be able to used with telephone systems (which invariably use a DC powered electret condenser mike).
Getting yourself one of the expensive mobile phones can help a lot with audio quality, but of course that won't help when the other side of the call is using a lousy phone. A friend bought one of the $100 Nokia phones a couple of years back, and that had terrible sound. Whenever he rang me it was very hard to hear what he said, and it used sound level muting to try and cut out background noise. It only transmitted loud audio, so if he spoke quietly, or moved too far away from the mike, it was extremely muted. I got really sick of continually telling him to get closer to the phone throughout every phone call.
Mine cuts out at about 2500 hz in the left ear and 2200 hz in the right. At about 2100 Hz, the two ears hear different pitches.
I have had a bit of help with the ringing with various things. If you eMail me directly off line, I will give you my run down. Got is down about 60%. My hearing recovery though. No one wants to hear about vitamins on this list.
On 11/11/20 11:44 AM, Tim via users wrote:
I'm in the same boat - tinnitus and can't hear anything above 15kHz, beyond the squeal of the horizontal output stages of old CRT TV sets.
Me too, except that I have an artillery notch in my hearing caused by too much "outbound" on the Gun Line back in '72. Slept in the forward berthing compartment, one deck down and about 40 feet back from the gun mount. Woke up one morning to find out I'd slept through a forty round bombardment from the ship's 5"/54. Around 2004 or so, I found out about the hearing loss and tinnitus; the notch isn't bad enough for compensation, just free hearing aids but the tinnitus is 10%, the highest allowed for that.
On 2020-11-11 12:33, Joe Zeff wrote:
On 11/11/20 11:44 AM, Tim via users wrote:
I'm in the same boat - tinnitus and can't hear anything above 15kHz, beyond the squeal of the horizontal output stages of old CRT TV sets.
Me too, except that I have an artillery notch in my hearing caused by too much "outbound" on the Gun Line back in '72. Slept in the forward berthing compartment, one deck down and about 40 feet back from the gun mount. Woke up one morning to find out I'd slept through a forty round bombardment from the ship's 5"/54. Around 2004 or so, I found out about the hearing loss and tinnitus; the notch isn't bad enough for compensation, just free hearing aids but the tinnitus is 10%, the highest allowed for that.
A quick and dirty hearing test:
Hi,
All email to this address is filtered by yahoo, and it only lets through mail with "flying pigs" written somewhere in the subject line.
Bye, Tim.
On 2020-11-10 18:49, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Sound quality may be bad for many reasons. I see you have already done some investigation but let me list some trivial and not trivial hints:
- microphones are bad, especially laptop ones, often taking a lot of fan noise (a bit better if they are positioned on top of the screen, worse if they are near the keyboard) - check your sound level, it may be too low (noise) or too high and clipping (distorsion), use pavucontrol to see the vumeter; distorted voice is badly mangled by voice compression codecs - do not create feedback (use earphones), the software echo cancellation may mess everything up - if you use bluetooth, the earphone+mic mode (HSP/HFP) may sound quite bad, because of poor codecs (this may be related to "non free world" software choices, but it should affect playback more than recording) - if it happens on a specific software, it may be related to its codec choice
for some of these causes you can do tests by recording yourself and listening back. After a lot of experimentation I've bought a quite good external USB mic and of course my voice is a lot better than with the laptop (stereo!) mic.
Next (off) topic: how to send a good video. Webcams are generally very bad (mostly very noisy 720p). Smartphones have hugely better cameras (even on front), as soon as I'll find a bit of time I'm going to experiment on how to use an old smartphone as a webcam, there is a SmartCam kernel module that creates a v4l device that gets data from a phone.
Regards.
On Wed, 2020-11-11 at 23:18 +0100, Roberto Ragusa wrote:
On 2020-11-10 18:49, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I occasionally participate in Zoom calls using my Android tablet, and everything Just Works(tm). I'd like to do the same on my desktop with Fedora, but despite testing three different cheap webcams the big issue is always with the sound. I can hear the other people perfectly, and the video is fine, but the audio from my side is muddy and nearly impossible to understand. I've tried with and without headphones in case it's a feedback issue (though not using the headphone mic). It doesn't make any difference. Surely not all the webcam mics can be so bad? How would anyone ever use them?
Sound quality may be bad for many reasons. I see you have already done some investigation but let me list some trivial and not trivial hints:
- microphones are bad, especially laptop ones, often taking a lot of fan noise
(a bit better if they are positioned on top of the screen, worse if they are near the keyboard)
- check your sound level, it may be too low (noise) or too high and clipping
(distorsion), use pavucontrol to see the vumeter; distorted voice is badly mangled by voice compression codecs
- do not create feedback (use earphones), the software echo cancellation
may mess everything up
- if you use bluetooth, the earphone+mic mode (HSP/HFP) may sound quite
bad, because of poor codecs (this may be related to "non free world" software choices, but it should affect playback more than recording)
- if it happens on a specific software, it may be related to its codec choice
for some of these causes you can do tests by recording yourself and listening back. After a lot of experimentation I've bought a quite good external USB mic and of course my voice is a lot better than with the laptop (stereo!) mic.
Next (off) topic: how to send a good video. Webcams are generally very bad (mostly very noisy 720p). Smartphones have hugely better cameras (even on front), as soon as I'll find a bit of time I'm going to experiment on how to use an old smartphone as a webcam, there is a SmartCam kernel module that creates a v4l device that gets data from a phone.
Thanks. As I need something for a conference Right Now I've connected two webcams. One has decent video, the other has not-terrible audio. It's ridiculous but it works for the moment. When I have time I'll explore other options.
I've seen several articles about using your smartphone as a webcam. Some of them even mention Linux.
poc
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 at 07:58, Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com wrote:
I've seen several articles about using your smartphone as a webcam. Some of them even mention Linux.
I run Zoom on an old Nexus smartphone (no SIM). The phone has a decent camera and mike, and gives more flexibility for the location than my desktop but has to be plugged in to the charger.
Using smartphones as webcams on Fedora requires building and installing a driver (which is why I have experience with MOK's for secure boot). I got it working, but never bothered trying it with Zoom.
On 2020-11-12 13:42, George N. White III wrote:
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 at 07:58, Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan@gmail.com mailto:pocallaghan@gmail.com> wrote:
I've seen several articles about using your smartphone as a webcam. Some of them even mention Linux.
I run Zoom on an old Nexus smartphone (no SIM). The phone has a decent camera and mike, and gives more flexibility for the location than my desktop but has to be plugged in to the charger.
But that is unfeasible if you have to share your screen or do a presentation.
Best regards.
On Thu, 2020-11-12 at 14:27 +0100, Roberto Ragusa wrote:
On 2020-11-12 13:42, George N. White III wrote:
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 at 07:58, Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan@gmail.com mailto:pocallaghan@gmail.com> wrote:
I've seen several articles about using your smartphone as a webcam. Some of them even mention Linux.
I run Zoom on an old Nexus smartphone (no SIM). The phone has a decent camera and mike, and gives more flexibility for the location than my desktop but has to be plugged in to the charger.
But that is unfeasible if you have to share your screen or do a presentation.
OK. I haven't looked at it closely.
poc
On Thu, 2020-11-12 at 08:42 -0400, George N. White III wrote:
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 at 07:58, Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com wrote:
I've seen several articles about using your smartphone as a webcam. Some of them even mention Linux.
I run Zoom on an old Nexus smartphone (no SIM). The phone has a decent camera and mike, and gives more flexibility for the location than my desktop but has to be plugged in to the charger.
Using smartphones as webcams on Fedora requires building and installing a driver (which is why I have experience with MOK's for secure boot). I got it working, but never bothered trying it with Zoom.
There's an Android app call Droidcam (non-free) which has a Linux download. Might be worth checking out.
poc
On Thu, 2020-11-12 at 13:42 +0000, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
There's an Android app call Droidcam (non-free) which has a Linux download. Might be worth checking out.
I never got anywhere trying that out. Dunno if it simply doesn't work, or secure boot made it impossible to load the module.
On 11/12/20 7:52 PM, Tim via users wrote:
On Thu, 2020-11-12 at 13:42 +0000, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
There's an Android app call Droidcam (non-free) which has a Linux download. Might be worth checking out.
I never got anywhere trying that out. Dunno if it simply doesn't work, or secure boot made it impossible to load the module.
You would either have to disable secure boot or add the signing key to the system store.
Tim (re droidcam):
I never got anywhere trying that out. Dunno if it simply doesn't work, or secure boot made it impossible to load the module.
Samuel Sieb:
You would either have to disable secure boot
I tried that.
or add the signing key to the system store.
I couldn't figure out how to do that.
In the end, I gave up. And can't think of a reason to try again.
On Thu, 12 Nov 2020 at 23:55, Tim via users users@lists.fedoraproject.org wrote:
On Thu, 2020-11-12 at 13:42 +0000, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
There's an Android app call Droidcam (non-free) which has a Linux download. Might be worth checking out.
I never got anywhere trying that out. Dunno if it simply doesn't work, or secure boot made it impossible to load the module.
I was able to use droidcam with a MOK (machine-owner key). See: https://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/secureboot.html#initial_shim