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I run Ubuntu 22.04 on a MacBook Air and the internal webcam does not work. I tried following this link but it worked at first (I could see the webcam working) and then it stopped again. I tried going through the instructions above again but with no luck.

Is there any way I can fix this? Thanks!

VanPiro
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    My solution stopped working after upgrade to 22.10. – cipricus Oct 25 '22 at 11:32
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    I just tried to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.10 myself and yes, unfortunately this stopped working for me too. – VanPiro Oct 27 '22 at 14:17
  • I can live with it I guess as long as the bugs I had in 22.04 are absent (like this and this). But the solution was definitely working in 22.04. I think it stopped working because of the kernel change, but why isn't it working with the old kernel (which I've tried for different reasons) I don't know. – cipricus Oct 27 '22 at 15:13

4 Answers4

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Have you first installed the driver from Apple AppleUSBVideoSupport? I have found it here (at the very end) as attachment.

Download the archive, extract it.

sudo apt install isight-firmware-tools

when prompted select AppleUSBVideoSupport path

(if you need to do that again, first purge: sudo apt-get --purge remove isight-firmware-tools)

Have you followed the latest instructions from here? The ones you followed for 18.04 might be outdated.

git clone https://github.com/patjak/facetimehd-firmware.git

enter the facetime-firmware folder and do:

make

sudo make install

reboot

The script for ubuntu (https://github.com/patjak/facetimehd/wiki/Installation) didn't work for me in Kubuntu 22.04, sept. 2022, Macbook Air ca. 2013: the above did.

Cheese didn't work. Kamoso did.

UPDATE:

As the OP said, guvcview also works (present in Ubuntu repos), and it looks more advanced. Video recording is much better than Kamoso's on this machine.

Webcamoid is a camera software that did not worked here either.

Update after upgrade to Kubuntu 22.10, plasma 5.25:

The solution above stopped working.

cipricus
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  • Thanks! I tried this and despite some progress it is still not working properly. Specifically, I now see an image from my webcam, however it's static (cannot take videos) and the color code is all wrong (green and purple image). Any ideas? – VanPiro Oct 02 '22 at 15:40
  • @VanPiro - what program are you using? with Cheese I had the same problem, but it works with Kamoso on Kubuntu. – cipricus Oct 03 '22 at 14:40
  • I tried both Cheese and Kamoso but neither works. Cheese gets the true colors, but only captures one or two frames in the first 5 seconds and then stops. Kamoso is the same in terms of frames captures but also has all the image sprayed with green and purple – VanPiro Oct 04 '22 at 14:10
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    After I tried a few webcam programs that didn't work, I found one that works well after cipricus instructions above. It's guvcview (you can find it in Ubuntu Software). Thanks! – VanPiro Oct 06 '22 at 12:11
  • @VanPiro - Horrible name guvcview (that I will never be able to remember and type in the application launcher), but it definitely works on Kubuntu too :) - and seems much more advanced, with more settings, video recording is by far better – cipricus Oct 06 '22 at 12:58
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After converting my 2017 Macbook air to Ubuntu 22.04, I was able to install the driver using sudo apt install isight-firmware-tools, and I correctly entered the path to the AppleUSBVideoSupport path. I was able to follow the "new" instructions suggested here on this post, but only in combination with other older instructions as posted by the original person who asked the question. I'm not sure how it worked, but it did somehow. But it would be good to have a definitive and comprehensive procedure.

steelyeye99
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  • could you add some more info on what instructions you followed? my own answer here stopped working in 23.04 – cipricus Jul 03 '23 at 18:07
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I was having problems with cheese crashing on a fresh install of ubuntu 22.04 and discovered at ubuntu software center that there is a snap store's cheese. After removing the distribution one and tried the snap store one it worked.

Bruno Cabral
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I found this workaround here that allows you to use your Android phone as an external camera via WiFi (assuming your phone and computer are connected to the same network).

Briefly:

  1. Download the DroidCam app on your android device via the Play Store, here
  2. Install adb on your Ubuntu machine via the following command

sudo apt install adb

  1. Follow the instructions to install the DroidCam Linux client on your computer
  2. Start droidcam client from the Gnome launcher menu or via the Terminal
  3. On your phone open DroidCam app and follow the instructions (you'll see the phone IP address and you'll have to input that on DroidCam client side)

Done, it works for now! Hope this helps

VanPiro
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  • Works with google meet video, guvcview, but not with cheese (keeps crashing) – VanPiro Nov 11 '22 at 11:57
  • Even this option stops working after a while and starts behaving like the internal webcam. Connecting the phone via USB gives the same problem. I'll give up and buy an external USB webcam... – VanPiro Dec 03 '22 at 11:36