From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-path: Received: from mail.bcode.com ([150.101.204.108]:27610 "EHLO mail.bcode.com" rhost-flags-OK-FAIL-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751484AbZFCE3X (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Jun 2009 00:29:23 -0400 Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 14:13:50 +1000 From: Erik de Castro Lopo To: linux-media@vger.kernel.org Subject: Creating a V4L driver for a USB camera Message-Id: <20090603141350.04cde59b.erik@bcode.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-media-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: Hi all, I'm a senior software engineer [0] with a small startup. Our product is Linux based and makes use of a 3M pixel camera. Unfortunately, the camera we have been using for the last 3 years is no longer being produced. We have found two candidate replacement cameras, one with a binary only driver and user space library and one with a windows driver but no Linux driver. My questions: - How difficult is it to create a GPL V4L driver for a USB camera by snooping the USB traffic of the device when connected to a windows machine? The intention is to merge this work into the V4L mainline and ultimately the kernel. - How much work is involved in the above for someone experienced in writing V4L drivers? - Are there people involved with the V4L project that would be willing to undertake this project under contract? Obviously, answers to the last question can be send directly to me :-). The others are probably best sent to the list. Cheers, Erik [0] I am also a FOSS developer. My main two projects are http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/ http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsamplerate/ I am also involved with Xiph.org and the Debian project. -- ======================= erik de castro lopo senior design engineer bCODE level 2, 2a glen street milsons point sydney nsw 2061 australia tel +61 (0)2 9954 4411 fax +61 (0)2 9954 4422 www.bcode.com