Reading Video from Squeak

Dean_Swan at Mitel.COM Dean_Swan at Mitel.COM
Thu Apr 27 19:36:23 UTC 2000



From:  Dean Swan at MITEL on 04/27/2000 03:36 PM

Mark,
     Ever since Connectix introduced the QuickCam, they have been rather cagey
with respect to releasing information on how to talk to it.  Logitech seems to
maintain this tradition.  There is a web page at:

     http://www.crynwr.com/qcpc/

Which collects the most complete set of information on this topic that I'm aware
of (btw, Russ Nelson, who hosts this page has been a friend and associate of
mine for about 15 years, and I warn you he's a bit passionate regarding the
topic of undisclosed proprietary interfaces).  Unfortunately, the bulk of
information available concerns the PC version of the QuickCam.  The Mac QuickCam
is a bit "wanky" because it runs the serial port in a non-standard configuration
(externally clocked, at that) , and you have to wiggle certain bits with
appropriate timing to maintain power to the camera.


     It would probably be easier to make a plugin for Squeak that could read
from standard video input devices from the host OS.  The QuickCam drivers make
it look like a standard Mac or Windoze video input device, and there are drivers
available for Linux (see above web page), but I don't think there is any support
for NT.



                              -Dean Swan

                              dean_swan at mitel.com









Mark Guzdial <guzdial at cc.gatech.edu> on 04/27/2000 01:30:25 PM

Please respond to squeak at cs.uiuc.edu

To:   squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
cc:    (bcc: Dean Swan/Ogd/Mitel)

Subject:  Reading Video from Squeak



Sort of related to the Playing Movie Files thread...

The Connectix/Logitech QuickCam on the Mac connects up to the serial
port.  Squeak can read the serial port.  Has anybody figured out how
to grab frames off the QuickCam (or any other video source -- I'm
just interested in the QuickCam because it's cheap and serial)?  I
wandered Connectix and Logitech websites and didn't find any docs on
reading the signal.

Thanks!
Mark
--------------------------
Mark Guzdial : Georgia Tech : College of Computing : Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
(404) 894-5618 : Fax (404) 894-0673 : guzdial at cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Mark.Guzdial.html











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