Webcam Not Working

[dkout]

I have tried installing both Ubuntu and Manjaro but the webcam does not seem to work on either (while it works on Windows). It seems that the webcam is not even being recognized by the system. Any thoughts on how this might be fixed? Would a kernel update solve this in the future?

Thanks!

[endeavour]

There is no Linux driver for the webcam. Unless Dell or Omnivision release technical details this is going to involve reverse engineering the windows driver to see how it works. I'm afraid this is beyond my skillset.

[guilhem]

More information:
jakeday/linux-surface#145

We have the ov5693 camera as exposed by /sys/bus/acpi/devices/INT33BE:00/

[guilhem]

To resume, we have to wait for:

• ipu3 to be stable
• ipu3 to manage the "new" Multimedia controller [0480]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:8a19] (instead of 8080:1919 only managed by ipu3)
• libcamera to manage ipu3
• libcamera to have a V4L2 compatibility layer for "legacy" app to use the camera
• maybe a driver for ov5693 to manage parameters through i2c

[guilhem]

For the sake of information, it seems that camera i2c device is i2c-OVTI01A0 (tested by activating and deactivating camera in BIOS)

[dkout]

To resume, we have to wait for:

* `ipu3` to be stable

* `ipu3` to manage the "new" `Multimedia controller [0480]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:8a19]` (instead of `8080:1919` only managed by ipu3)

* `libcamera` to manage ipu3

* `libcamera` to have a V4L2 compatibility layer for "legacy" app to use the camera

* maybe a driver for ov5693 to manage parameters through `i2c`

For those with more experience in Linux development cycles etc, any idea how long this might take? Is there an estimated timeframe?

Thanks!

[guilhem]

some more information:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Dell/XPS/XPS-13-7390-2-in-1#Camera

[dkout]

There should be a way to make it work now, since it already works on the 2020 xps 13 developer edition. Any thoughts on how one might access those drivers?

[endeavour]

My guess is the developer edition has different camera hardware. Perhaps someone can check?

[NiklasBeierl]

@dkout Carefull, they are easy to confuse: The XPS13 7390 has a developer edition. But as far as I know, the XPS13 2 in 1 7390 does not. The 2 in 1 and the normal one have different screen bezels and different camera hardware. Camera for the non-2-in-1 has been confirmed working in the arch wiki. But the 2 in 1s camera is why we are here. That was the exact misconception that baited me into buying a 2-in-1 assuming the camera would work.
So @endeavour is right on the money.

[dkout]

Yes, that's actually the reason I bought the 2-in-1 too. There seems to be some work being done in the ipu3 area here: linux-surface/linux-surface#91 (comment) but there's no indication to a time frame.

[kbingham]

To resume, we have to wait for:

Firstly - don't "wait for" ... things here won't happen here without someone driving them ...
If you need this support, push for it.

* `ipu3` to be stable
* `ipu3` to manage the "new" `Multimedia controller [0480]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:8a19]` (instead of `8080:1919` only managed by ipu3)

Does the kernel driver not load for your platform?

• libcamera to manage ipu3

We have IPU3 as one of our main targets. But there is still a lot of work to go to be able to use it on non-chromebook devices. We're only supporting IPU3 for our Chromebook targets, so please do

• libcamera to have a V4L2 compatibility layer for "legacy" app to use the camera

• maybe a driver for ov5693 to manage parameters through i2c

It looks like someone has started looking at this in the surface thread above - and there is some support in the atomisp moduels already - but someone needs to get a version posted to linux-media for review, to work towards integration.

For those with more experience in Linux development cycles etc, any idea how long this might take? Is there an estimated timeframe?

Timeframe? - when someone (with the device, and motivation) looks at it. If you're reading this - that means 'you' ;-)

--
Kieran

[maresb]

I'm generally very comfortable with Linux and high-level Python programming, but unfortunately kernel driver development is distinctly beyond my current abilities. I'm not sure how exactly I can help...

I could offer to try out some commands, or perhaps more efficiently even arrange for ssh access into a LiveUSB for someone who knows what they're doing but has no physical XPS 7390 2-in-1.

[cooperrc]

I'm generally very comfortable with Linux and high-level Python programming, but unfortunately kernel driver development is distinctly beyond my current abilities. I'm not sure how exactly I can help...

I could offer to try out some commands, or perhaps more efficiently even arrange for ssh access into a LiveUSB for someone who knows what they're doing but has no physical XPS 7390 2-in-1.

I'm in the same boat. I have the hardware and would love to help get the camera working, but i have not done any kernel driver development. @kbingham any place we could start?

[kbingham]

The first place to start is to make sure you can load the IPU3 (CIO2/IMGU3) drivers, and get them to match on the hardware you have.
Once you have that, the work that is happening in linux-surface/linux-surface#91 and on the linux-media list will hopefully produce a means to connecting the camera sensors to the IPU3, which will be the point that you can capture images.

However, at that point, the images will likely be 'green' due to incorrect white-balance/exposure corrections, so then the work can start on the algorithm integrations.