How to install the IBM Ultracam II driver

How to make the IBM UltraCam II work under Linux:

1. First you have to get the kernel patch for the ultracam.

The patch is for Kernel 2.4.20, so if you are using any other 2.4 series kernel you might have to adjust the patch to work.

On 2.6 the structure of the usb source tree changed a lot, i don't know, if the patch still works here at all.

2. Change to the drivers directory in the kernel source tree: cd /lib/modules/'uname -r'/build/drivers

3. Apply the patch:

patch -p0 -i <pfad zu dem gespeicherten patch-file>.

If the patch was successful, you should see the following:

patching file usb/Config.in
patching file usb/Makefile
patching file usb/ultracam.c
patching file usb/usbvideo.c

4. Go up one level to the kernel source root:

cd ..

5. Configure the kernel:

make menuconfig

6. Activate the following Options as modules (set to <M>):

Multimedia devices -> Video For Linux
USB support -> Support for USB
USB support -> Preliminary USB device filesystem (auf [*])
USB support -> UHCI Alternate Driver (JE) support
USB support -> USB IBM Ultraport II Camera support

In case some of them should already be activated (<*> oder <M>), just let them as they are.

Exit the configuration and save your settings.

7. Recompile the kernel modules: make dep && make modules modules_install && depmod -ae.

NOTE: If you are using non standard kernel modules they have to be recompiled afterwards as well.

8. Now you can do

modprobe ultracam

and launch "xawtv".

If everything works, you should see yourself now. The driver is quite unstable and you might have to unload and reload the ultracam module every now and then.