built-in webcam of TrekStor SurfTab twin 11.6

[dreamer88]

Hi,
i installed Mageia 9 on a TrekStor SurfTab twin 11.6 (Intel Atom x5-Z8350 / Cherry-Trail based tablet with detachable keyboard) and everything seems to work fine except the built in webcam which does not seem to be recognized at all.

I did some research and found the following article that seems to indicate that support for the built in webcams for Cherry-Trail based devices improved greatly with kernel 6.7: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.7-Media

Unfortunately Mageia 9 uses kernel 6.6.xx and even Cauldron seems to still use the same 6.6.xx Kernel that Mageia 9 uses.

Is there a newer (at least 6.7) kernel precompiled for Mageia available somewhere? (Didn't tmb have a repo with newer kernels for Mageia?)

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

[benmc]

latest Mageia kernel, is as you noted: kernel-desktop-6.6.43-1.mga10-1-1.mga10.x86_64.rpm
Date of upload was 2024-07-27 22:18.( http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/p ... e/release/)

so over a month ago.

The new kernel developer has been / is relocating, so may not yet had time to get back to working on the kernel. Life stuff has a habit like that.

Patience would probably be required.

I also have 2 Atom based devices, but am in no pressing hurry / need to have the camera working. ( Linx-7 dual booted with Win8, Asus T100TA transformer book dual booted with Win10 )

[doktor5000]

The output of

Code: Select all

lspcidrake -v

would be helpful

[dreamer88]

here is the output of lspcidrake -v:

Code: Select all

xhci_pci        : Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series USB xHCI Controller [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:22b5 subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)
Card:Intel 810 and later: Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller [DISPLAY_VGA] (vendor:8086 device:22b0 subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)
processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy: Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Power Management Controller [SIGNAL_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:22dc subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36
)
mei_txe         : Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine [CRYPT_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:2298 subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)
intel_atomisp2_pm: Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Imaging Unit [MULTIMEDIA_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:22b8 subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SoC Transaction Register [BRIDGE_HOST] (vendor:8086 device:2280 subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)
lpc_ich         : Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCU [BRIDGE_ISA] (vendor:8086 device:229c subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)
hub             : Linux 6.6.43-desktop-1.mga9 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0002)
hub             : Genesys Logic, Inc.|USB2.0 Hub [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:05e3 device:0608)
usbhid          : LIZHI Flash IC|USB Keyboard [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Keyboard] (vendor:1c4f device:0063)
hub             : Linux 6.6.43-desktop-1.mga9 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0003)
hid_multitouch  : FTSC1000:00 2808:50AB



[morgano]

Anyway we usually only provide LTS kernels in stable release updates, but intermediate versions may appear in backports if needed.

[dreamer88]

That's ok, I don't mind using a Cauldron kernel once a newer than 6.6.xx kernel becomes available in Cauldron.

[doktor5000]

here is the output of lspcidrake -v:

Sure that this is the complete output? That looks too short.

[dreamer88]

Yes that's the complete output, what are you missing?

The webcam is listed: intel_atomisp2_pm: Intel Corporation|Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Imaging Unit [MULTIMEDIA_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:22b8 subv:8086 subd:7270) (rev: 36)

But not found by any application, such as "cheese" and some others I tried.

[doktor5000]

That webcam should be supported since a really long time: https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id ... -8086-7270
You may need to check journal logs what firmware it tries to load, and maybe get a different firmware version.

[dreamer88]

I saw that page during my research related to this webcam before but it shows "failed" on almost all distros, a few show "detected" but none that I could see show "works".

That's why I was looking for kernel 6.7 because, according to the Phoronix article I linked in my first post, in 6.7 the driver was greatly improved (according to the article before 6.7 it had compile time options that made it work either with one specific hardware or another but not both).

The only references to the camera I was able to find in dmesg and journalctl are lines like the following two that appear during every boot up, nothing related to loading of firmware:

Code: Select all

[   15.197795] intel_atomisp2_pm 0000:00:03.0: Unable to change power state from D3cold to D0, device inaccessible
[   34.576685] intel_atomisp2_pm 0000:00:03.0: Unable to change power state from D3cold to D0, device inaccessible


BTW, i have both firmware packages installed (free and non-free).

[doktor5000]

Out of curiosity, could you please also post the output of lsusb ?

[dreamer88]

I think the following bug discussion from Ubuntu explains the situation before kernel 6.7:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/2017444
Basically the driver before 6.7 was causing serious problems on several machines so it was disabled.

The kernel module intel_atomisp2_pm.ko that is used instead (also by Mageia with the current 6.6 kernel) is only a dummy / power-management driver to disable the camera so that it doesn't consume battery power unnecessarily.

With kernel 6.7 the driver was improved and should be usable, but I tried booting from USB the Live image of Linuxmint 22 which uses kernel 6.8 but they still have the dummy module enabled and the real driver disabled at compile time.

Basically what is needed is a kernel >= 6.7 with the dummy module (intel_atomisp2_pm.ko / CONFIG_INTEL_ATOMISP2_PM) disabled and the real driver (atomisp.ko / CONFIG_INTEL_ATOMISP) enabled.