Editing qcam-Linux.c

To: linux-connectix@crynwr.com
Subject: Editing qcam-Linux.c
From: Steve Philp <sphilp@mail.alliance.net>
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 1996 03:01:15 -0500
From mail.alliance.net!sphilp Tue Jan 9 04: 07:24 1996
Organization: Great Lakes Linux, Inc.
Sender: root

Howdy all, just noticed the qcam stuff and FINALLY
got to purchase one of those buggers.  Didn't see much point in
getting one until Linux support was available, since I don't ever
run Windows.

	Anyways, the point of this message...  I was playing
around with the qcam-Linux.c file, since the performace of the
camera was very slow on my computer.  FPS was averaging around 1
at 80x60.  The details of the computer:

		IBM Blue Lightning 486DX2/66 (overclocked to 80)
		QuickCam connected at 0x378
		16MB RAM, 30MB Swap
		#9 Motion 771 w/ 2BM VRAM
		XFree86 3.1.2
		Linux 1.3.55
		RedHat v2.1 ELF dist.

	So, I played around w/ xqcam and xfqcam trying to find
out where the slowdown might be.  Traced it all back to the
wait function at the bottom of qcam-Linux.c.  The value of 50000
seemed to be slowing things down.  I played around with the value,
and finally ended up settling on a value of 650.  There is a bit
of flicker in the picture (seems VERY touchy to X activities), but
the framerate is now ~23.  A HUGE improvement.

	And now, the question.  If I load up xload and set the 
update for 1 sec, the system levels out at around .05 for a load.
When I start Xqcam, the load rises beyond control.  It doesn't crash
the system, but the load seems WAY higher than it should be.  Is
there something that I'm missing here?

	Finally, should parallel printer support be included in the
kernel or not?  I haven't seen a definitive answer on it here, so I
thought I would ask...  would it increase performance?

	Oops.. not actually finally...  What do I need to do to add
bi-directional port support?  I noticed mention of it, but wasn't
able to find code for it.  I ended up just changing the jumper on my
IO card to uni-directional to run anything...

			-Steve Philp
			-sphilp@mail.alliance.net
			-Great Lakes Linux, Inc.