[http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?id=16670 EasyCam] is a software for an automated webcam installation. Thanks to the autodetection it will install the needed driver for your webcam.

There is are [http://blognux.free.fr/Liste/, lists] of the autodetected webcam's. At the moment the list is small, but it's constantly growing.

Installation

Add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://blognux.free.fr/debian unstable main

Then you need to update the packages and install easycam

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install easycam

Start easycam

with the following command you start easycam (There is also an icon under System->Administration):

sudo easycam

Now you can choose your webcam from the list. The software asks you if you want to install the driver.

After a some compilation your webcam should be ready.

Problems

If you get in trouble you can check on their [http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?id=16670 thread] (in french) or on the [http://wiki.ubuntu-fr.org/materiel/webcam_logitech_msn?s=amsn Documentaion Ubuntu Francophone (in french)].

Testing your webcam

There is a nifty little application called [http://camorama.fixedgear.org/ camorama] to view, alter and save images from a webcam. Simply install it via apt:

sudo apt-get install camorama

Additional software

If you want to have a little tray system icon that notifies you when your Webcam is on, try [http://infinito.f2o.org/cameramonitor/ Camera Monitor]. There is even a [http://infinito.f2o.org/cameramonitor/cameramonitor_0.1-1_i386.deb debian/ubuntu package] available.

The source code is [http://blognux.free.fr/sources/, here]: