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I'm a recently convert to Linux.

Running Ubuntu 19.04 on an older Macbook 4.1 or 4.4, white model, September 2008.

It has an iSight camera which is the only thing that didn't work out of the box.

I'm following the instructions at:

Camera not working on Macbook Pro

Everything seems to work fine till the "sudo modprobe -r bcd-pci".

Then I get a "modprobe: FATAL: Module bcd_pci not found".

Google doesn't help and I can't find an explanation on the forums as to why this is happening. I can't get back to using OSX too. This system is limited to 10.7 and things are starting to get outdated/having compatibility issues especially online.

I'm aware my question might be tremendously simple to solve, but I'm really at a loss.

Yeah, I should just buy a new computer and get on with it. Unfortunaly, can't spend that much right now.

I'd be very thankfull if anyone could chime in.

Green Banana
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1 Answers1

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I did this a while ago and I did:

install the firmware tool

sudo apt-get install isight-firmware-tools

firmware file

file

Extract the firmware file somewhere and when the iSight-firmware-tool is done installing and it opens, go through the process and when it asks for a firmware file, give it the location of the file that you extracted before. Then if all goes well, reboot and boom, iSight.

Community
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Plasma
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  • If I'm understanding things correctly the apt-get you're mentioning is to get firmware extraction tools and the file is the firmware.

    Those are already covered in the linked instructions I've previously posted above.

     – Green Banana Apr 26 '20 at 13:50
  • Yes that is what I was saying – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 13:50
  • I'm thankful for your help but I have no problems with getting and extracting firmware.

    I'm having issues locating the bcd_pci module.

     – Green Banana Apr 26 '20 at 13:52
  • What does the bcd_pci module have to do with getting the iSight Camera to work properly. If you follow what I said, it should work. If the guide you are following doesn’t work, try the one I posted, it should work (I have an old macbook from who knows when and I got it to work) – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 13:54
  • Followed your instructions and the camera is working normally.

    Albeit I don't clearly understand how and why just extracting a firmware does that. I'd like to understand that a bit more. Could you, would you explain how?

    And, why did the other instructions had so many extra steps? What's so different between the two methods?

    I'd love to answer you what the bcd_pci module had to do with the iSight, unfortunately I have no idea.

    I was just following the instructions that apparently had some success into getting the iSight camera to work that Google turned out.

     – Green Banana Apr 26 '20 at 16:19
  • This is exactly what time after time puts me off Linux. You get as many answers to your questions as the people you question. – Green Banana Apr 26 '20 at 16:19
  • They pulled a file from github, extracted it and compiled from source. The way I showed didn’t have to be compiled from source and iSight-firmware-tools did the last couple parts from the guide you posted automatically – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 16:21
  • And to your question about why do people answer with as many questions as answers is because in Linux, there’s usually more then one way to solve a problem so people just want to know more about your system, os, etc to understand the problem a little better. And I don’t know about how the firmware tool makes everything work.. it just does and it works for me so I didn’t really look into how it does what it does. – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 16:24
  • I get it. Allow me a final question, cause the system is complaining about the lengthy discussion and I have no reputation to move to chat. Supposedly then, the iSight- firmware-tools ran the same modprobe commands since apart from the compiling commands, those were the last parts from the guide... Then, what was the bcd_pci module then and why did it fail in the manual procedure but not through the firmware-tools? // About the answers: unfortunately people don't usually explain the "whys" and just throw command lines at others which doesn't help how to understand the system itself. – Green Banana Apr 26 '20 at 16:27
  • I don’t know but I do know that the iSight camera works through an internal usb connection so if I’m wrong, correct me, but I think it has something to do with iSight being usb and not a pci connection. I don’t know anything past that. Hope that answers your question, and welcome to Linux. Cheers! – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 16:32
  • Sudo apt install iSight-firmware-tools downloads a tool to point the camera to a file that will allow it to function. The firmware file is self explanatory. Just guessing, but the firmware tools probably uses different commands than the manual installation. – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 16:42
  • Thanks. Those helped a bit to visualize the issues. Off to the next problem. Unless I manage to get everything I need running, I'm afraid I'll be getting back to an outdated OSX. Compatibility issues vs. things not running at all (i'm looking at flash and firefox, and yes I know about the security issues, but I need it to run) - I'll take the compatibility issues. It's still looking too much hassle to make what should be simple things, running. – Green Banana Apr 26 '20 at 17:38
  • Well, the Ubuntu community will always have your back when you need it. I think the reason why it doesn’t work out of the box is legal issues. Sorry Linux didn’t work out for you. Linux is always improving to make the desktop better. – Plasma Apr 26 '20 at 17:45