The Generic Microdia-SN9CXXX Video4Linux1 & Video4Linux2 driver is THE ONLY driver supporting (almost) all the SN9CXXX PC Camera Controllers. It works out of the box with all the existing video applications for Linux!
Would you like to have the driver released under an OpenSource license or in the Linux kernel ? Read the FAQ (question 4)
Supported Microdia/Sonix PC Camera Controllers are:
SN9C101, SN9C102, SN9C102P, SN9C103, SN9C105, SN9C110, SN9C120, SN9C201, SN9C202
Compared to the opensource SN9C1XX and the obsolete GSPCA driver, the Generic SN9CXXX driver provides better video quality at higher framerate, supports more hardware and works with any application
The driver works with every video application. A partial list includes:
Skype, videoview, motion, camorama, kopete, xawtv, vlc, linphone, wengophone, amsn, gqcam, ekiga, palantir, camstream, sn-webcam, mplayer, mencoder, transcode, ttv, motion, vgrabbj, streamer, effectv, freej, fswebcam, luvcview, cheese, motv, webcam, xsane and many others.
Trial releases of the driver are out for the following official Linux distributions and architectures:
- Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) Gutsy 7.10, TIME-LIMITED
- Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) Feisty 7.04, TIME-UNLIMITED
To know how to obtain the time unlimited version for the above systems, read this. To know how to obtain the driver for another Linux system or to have more informations about the SN9CXXX driver, read the updated FAQ.
4. Q: Will you release the source code one day?
A: It's likely I will never release the source code, unless I have
financial proposals. The best candidate is the manufacturer of these
controllers. If you would like to see this driver released under
the GPL to everyone, please send them a personal request.
The more requests they will see, the more they will consider this driver.
Another way is to collect the money once from all the potential
users, according to the principles of the ransom model:
"A publishing model where copyrighted works (such as books, software,
or music) remain proprietary until a total amount of money is
collected or a certain date arrives, at which point the work is
automatically freed to the public."
The terms of this approach will require a preliminary discussion
between me and a group of interested users. Contact me in this case.
Should a possible agreement go well, I am also available for submitting
the source code to the mainstream Linux kernel, maintaining and improving
the driver by supporting new hardware promptly and for free for an unlimited
period of time.
A special debugger (already developed) will also be available to the
community.
