Webcam ricoh
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I would like to configure my webcam and according this url http://www.arakhne.org/ricoh/index.html r5u87x is under GPL but I'm not so sure about the firmware, if It is free software.
I'm thinking to use this PPA https://launchpad.net/~r5u87x-loader/+archive/ubuntu/ppa .
The instructions you found to "manually compile" say:
You must also copy the microcode files (r5u870_*.fw) to /lib/firmware.
Those files in r5u870-0.11.6.tar.gz (themselves inside http://download.tuxfamily.org/arakhne/pool/universe/r/ricoh-webcam-r5u870/ricoh-webcam-r5u870_0.11.6-0arakhne0.tar.gz ) are binary. Their source code looks unavailable (the Makefile just use those .fw files, no rule are present to build them). In the absence of source code, the firmware is a blob that does not respect your freedoms. Even if those .fw files are along with the GPL license (file named "copying").
The description of the PPA you found does not say otherwise:
The packages provided (both source and binary) include only the loader software and do not contain the microcode, whose copyright and license status is unclear. Instead, a simple shell script is provided that can download and install the microcode directly from the upstream repository.
So it's better to avoid that, any way to make the webcam work with freesoftware ?
You could get a 720p webcam for less than US$ 30...
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