Winnov Videum on Linux

Bill Dirks - September 23, 1999

This page is for things related to using the Winnov [ http:/www.winnov.com/ ] Videum line of video capture cards on the Linux operating system. In particular, Video for Linux Two drivers for Videum cards (and Philips EasyVideo).

There are two video capture drivers, one for the ISA and PCI cards, and another driver for the PCMCIA Videum Traveler camera. The Traveler driver is available at another site. See below.

There is an audio capture and playback driver that works with the PCI cards, and some ISA cards.

These video capture drivers use the Video for Linux Two [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/v4l2.htm ] API. To use a V4L2 driver you will first need the V4L2 videodev.tgz file. The contents of this file are necessary to compile and load a Winnov driver, so get it and follow the instructions to build and install videodev.o, the V4L2 base module. (V4L2 is not in the standard kernel.)

Video Capture Driver for ISA and PCI cards

The driver at this point doesn't support all the features of the Videum card. The driver is designed for the new Linux 2.2.x versions, and does not work with 2.0.x version kernels. Here is an approximate list of the features.

Audio Driver for PCI cards

The audio driver uses the OSS API [ http:/www.opensound.com/pguide/intro.html ]. It supports all the audio features of the Videum PCI AV card, including recording, playback, and all volume control and mixer functions. It does not work with every Videum AV card. It requires the Winnov WAVI-97 chip and CS4218 sound chip. That basically means it works with PCI AV cards, PnP ISA AV cards, and maybe some recent legacy ISA AV cards. If you do not have one of those cards you can maybe still use the mixer functions, but you can't record or play audio. The audio driver uses files that come in the video capture driver package, and you generally need to have the latest video capture driver too. Audio driver readme file [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnvaudreadme.txt ].

Downloads

If you would like to use the drivers, download by clicking on a link below. I suggest taking a peek at the readme [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnvreadme.txt ] file before downloading. Remember to get the latest Video for Linux Two [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/v4l2.htm ] source code too (it's a small file). A few small programs that work with the driver are also available at that site.

Driver Downloads
Current V4L2 Videum ISA/PCI driver wnv19990923.tgz [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnv19990923.tgz ] 1999-09-23 (47KB)
Previous V4L2 driver wnv19990907.tgz [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnv19990907.tgz ] 1999-09-07 (46KB)
Previous V4L2 driver wnv19990827.tgz [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnv19990827.tgz ] 1999-08-27 (46KB)
Current Videum PCI AV audio driver wnvaud19990921.tgz [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnvaud19990921.tgz ] 1999-09-21 (10KB)
Previous audio driver wnvaud19990908.tgz [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnvaud19990908.tgz ] 1999-09-08 (10KB)
I am keeping a log of daily progress [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnv.txt ] during development.

Notice: As of the 19990804 version, the video capture driver has been split into two modules-- wnv and wnvvid. The wnv module is now just the core board detection and device I/O functions, and wnvvid is the V4L2 driver. If you had previously installed the driver, you will have to edit your drivers/char/Makefile and /etc/conf.modules files. See the readme [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/wnvreadme.txt ] file.

Brief Install Instructions

Download videodev*.tgz from here [ http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/v4l2.htm ].
Download wnv*.tgz
Download wnvaud*.tgz (if you want audio support)
Unpack videodev*.tgz in /usr/src/linux
Unpack wnv*.tgz in /usr/src/linux/drivers/char
Unpack wnvaud*.tgz in /usr/src/linux/drivers/sound (if you want audio)
Edit your kernel configuration if needed to enable Video for Linux as a module.
Edit the makefiles in /usr/src/linux/drivers/char and ../sound as needed.
Build modules and kernel if needed.
Edit /etc/conf.modules to configure the module parameters and enable automatic module loading.
Make the /dev/... device nodes.

See the readme files in the packages for the details.

Questions

Note that I developed this driver myself. Winnov did not develop it, and they do not know anything about it, except that it exists. Winnov helped me with this project by providing me with Videum cards, and some driver source and technical assistance.

If you have problems, questions, comments, post to the winnov.public.unix newsgroup, or email me at bdirks@pacbell.net or post to the video4linux mailing list [ video4linux-list@redhat.com ]. How to access the Winnov public newsgroups [ http:/www.winnov.com/support_newsgroups.htm ]. When emailing me, it is convenient for me if you put "winnov" in the subject.

Drivers for the PCMCIA Videum Traveler

This driver is based on my ISA/PCI card driver, but was developed at the University of Michigan. It is maintained by Jim Zajkowski and Brian Noble. See their page at

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~bnoble/group/wnv-pcmcia/

Copyright 1999 http:/millennium.diads.com/bdirks/winnov.htm