webcam software/driver for Ubuntu 11.10

After installing some must have apps on Ubuntu 11.10, you might have missed few things e.g if you’re using webcam either on Desktop/PC using USB (or other port) or in laptop or netbook, you need to install the driver software for your webcam, because it is very likely that your webcam manufacturer doesn’t supply driver software for Linux based OS such as Ubuntu (e.g I’m using Logitech Webcam, and there is no official software for GNU/Linux platform, although it’s available for Microsoft Windows – with advanced features and configure options to use/control webcam more effectively, e.g there is no option for controlling the LED indicator attached near the camera lens, in Linux based software. Similarly zoom in/out ..and a lot of other features are not available in any open source alternative).

Here is a snapshot (outside view from my Logitech webcam) – running cheese on Ubuntu 11.10, with Gnome Shell

Cheese Webcam Booth – best Webcam Software

On Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) – there are many webcam softwares are available but unfortunately, none of them have features – equivalent to that we get with native drivers available for Windows. Anyway, it does have the basic features such as capturing pictures/photos (in normal and burst mode, count down timers are also available), recording videos (with different resolutions options are also available) and some funky graphical effects (it’s cool). The application name is ‘Cheese’ – the version 3.0 has arrived earlier this year, with a lot of extra features, cheese is (probably) the best application for webcam, on Gnome based Linux distributions. Cheese 3.0 requires Gnome 3 (although older versions run smoothly on Gnome 2.*).

How to install Cheese Webcam Booth in Ubuntu 11.10

You can either install it from Ubuntu Software Center (search for ‘cheese’  and click on install) or Command Line interface – terminal.

Open a terminal (search or hit Ctrl+Alt+t) and execute the following command(s) –

sudo apt-get install cheese

Have Fun! check out the preferences and effects – for other features/options.