USB digital cameras for the total n00b?
I've never used USB for anything, even though I've had it for years. I have
no idea how any of this is supposed to work.
I borrowed a digital camera from Dad. An Olympus some flummy.
I plugged it in. Hotplug reacted and did something. From there, I couldn't
figure out what to do with it. I googled around, and found some instructions
from 1999, explaining how to mount /dev/something and cd into the camera.
Sorry I'm being vague. I actually did this a couple weeks ago, and I don't
remember the details very well.
I did ultimately get the pictures out of it no problem, but it was a bit of a
hunt and peck thing. I have a strong feeling that it's supposed to be easier
than this now; that I'm supposed to be able to plug the stupid thing in and
have some magical graphical thing happen. I notice KDE now has (or maybe
always has had) a Peripherals -> Digital Camera. The Olympus some flummy
(750 something) is on the list. However, I don't have the first clue on
earth what to do with this.
OK... Peripherals -> Digital Camera -> Add. Pick Olympus C 750 UZ. Click
the USB radio button. It says "No further configuration required."
Fine. OK. Now what? I have a camera icon now. I can't actually test this
at the moment because I don't have the camera. However, I tried this same
process when I did, and I never got it to do anything. Vague. I know. I
guess I'll borrow the camera again and take another crack at it so I can
report more useful findings. My underlying question is: how is this little
icon supposed to know under which directory I want to mount the camera? I
never saw any way to set that up. For that matter, am I going to have to go
through this every time I plug the camera in? The little icon doesn't seem
to be persistent.
While I'm asking, what about USB joysticks? I've got Mom running Linux now.
We installed a video game emulator and loaded a ROM into it. She was excited
until she saw that she had to move the cursor around with the arrow keys.
(So why not play the Super Nintendo that's in the closet, Mom?) Her box has
i810 audio, and no joystick port. I figure in this day and age I'm probably
supposed to buy her a USB gamepad. I don't have a clue how to set any of
that up, and I feel like asking stupid questions instead of STFWing.
Anyone want to whack me in the head with a clue? I really don't know the
first thing about USB. Somehow, I've just never needed any of those silly
looking gadgets, but I gather from the 50,000 USB accessories at Wal-Mart
that it's some big thing now. (USB hubs? I have six useless ports on my
computer already. Why do I need more?)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <dmmcintyr@users.sourceforge.net>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
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