skype - Hipchat 2.2.1080 on ubuntu 64bit 12.04 flashes webcam on startup

08
2014-07
  • dm03514

    I recently updated to hipchat version 2.2.1080 and everytime I start it up it flashes the webcam. By this, I mean the light on my cam flashes. It flashes only for a second then turns off. Does anyone experience this? Does anyone know why this happens? It is rather unerving because other applications that support video chat, like skype, do no such thing.

    I have filed a help ticket directly with hipchat but until they respond I was hoping that someone knew what was going on

    Thank you

    • Answers
  • BrianAdkins

    Atlassian is early in the development of the screen and camera sharing parts of hipchat, so I'm not too surprised.

    However, it looks like they've just fixed this in the Windows version (May 28, 2014 v2.2.1131) -

    https://www.hipchat.com/release_notes/qtwindows

    Delay video initialization until it is used the first time - no blinking web cam lights -
  • dm03514

    The response I receieved from Hipchat Help was:

    Thanks for the heads up on this issue. Our Linux dev is aware of it and we have a bug open to fix it. Thanks for your patience.


    • Related Question

    ubuntu - webcam problem with skype on linux
  • Ayoub

    I am runing ubuntu 9.10 and the latest version of skype but I have problem with webcam. When I trie the webcam with cheese it works fine but when I try to use the web on skype , skype crashes. can any body help me


    • Related Answers
  • Benjamin Bannier

    Skype cannot directly interact with video4linux. You need to load an extra library (v4l1compat.so) for the compatibility layer:

    # LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

    Maybe you need to adjust the library path for your setup.

    To make this permanent just add this variable to /usr/bin/skype: add

    LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so; export LD_PRELOAD

    e.g. on the 2nd line there.

    Maybe you also want to report this in your distribution's bugtracker.

  • Frepa

    The question is old but the problem still exists. As honk says, setting LD_PRELOAD to the v4l1compat.so library works.

    On my 64-bit ubuntu 12.04, this worked:

    LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

    I have a 32 bit skype, so the library should match that.

    I want to launch skype with a panel icon. I put this in the command field:

    bash -c "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype"

    This avoids creating a separate script file. Without bash however, it does not work.

  • Todd Harris

    I couldn't add to the /usr/bin/skype file either (it is a binary file). Anyhow here is my workaround:

    1) in my home folder I made a file (using gedit) that contained - 

    #! /bin/bash

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

    2) then added an application link to my menus -

    bash /home/yourusername/skype_with_video.sh

    (the Skype icon should be in the /usr/share/icons/ folder for the link)

    Not elegant, but it works.