Droidcam

From Gentoo Wiki
Jump to:navigation Jump to:search


Droidcam is a tool to use a smartphone's cameras as webcam on a computer.

Installation

Kernel

Droidcam brings its own Kernel module. For it to work, the Kernel must be configured appropriately.

KERNEL Enable support for <Software_title>
Device Drivers --->
  <M> Multimedia support --->
    [*] Cameras/video grabbers support
    [*] Media Controller API

The module is available as v4l2loopback-dc and must be loaded before starting Droidcam.

USE flags

USE flags for media-video/droidcam Use your phone or tablet as webcam with a v4l device driver and app

dist-kernel Enable subslot rebuilds on Distribution Kernel upgrades
gtk Build the dev-cpp/gtkmm:3.0 client.
modules-compress Install compressed kernel modules (if kernel config enables module compression)
modules-sign Cryptographically sign installed kernel modules (requires CONFIG_MODULE_SIG=y in the kernel)
strip Allow symbol stripping to be performed by the ebuild for special files

Usage

To use Droidcam, a smartphone with the Droidcam app installed is needed. The smartphone and the computer need to be able to reach each other over the network. Alternatively, a USB connection can be used. Depending on the operating system, this might require setting further options on the smartphone (e.g. enabling USB debugging).

Connect via Wi-Fi/LAN

After starting Droidcam on the smartphone, the smartphone app shows the IP address and port for the computer to connect to. After starting the app on the computer, WiFi / LAN needs to be selected and the WiFi IP and port, which are shown on the smartphone, need to be entered in the appropriate field on the computer. After that, the two apps should be able to establish a connection. The phone's camera is then available like any other webcam connected to the computer.

Troubleshooting

Droidcam/v4l2loopback device not found

If droidcam shows a message like this on startup, it is very likely that the kernel hasn't been configured properly or that the required modules haven't been loaded. Please make sure the kernel is configured properly and v4l2loopback-dc been loaded. Note that this module is not the same as v4l2loopback.

Removal

Unmerge

root #emerge --ask --depclean --verbose media-video/droidcam

Remove user configuration

User configuration is stored as a simple text file in the user's config directory. To remove the configuration:

user $rm ~/.config/droidcam

External resources