The website suggests building from source – I attempted this but there are currently a couple of issues with compilation mentioned in the wiki, and even with the fix suggested I couldn’t quite get it to work – although I didn’t try too hard it must be said; instead I found another method which I will walk you through now.

Installing and Trying It Out

The method I ended up using (thanks to my buddy Matt for figuring this out) revolves using binaries from the Debian experimental repository, which seem to work perfectly. First, you can download the awesome 3.1-1 package (N.B. The binaries I’m linking to here from Debian’s website are for i386, for others just search for them on the site), and try and install it with:

wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/a/awesome/awesome_3.1-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i awesome_3.1-1_i386.deb

However, it will spit out a list of dependencies it couldn’t manage – these are packages that are also outdated in the current Ubuntu repos. So next, fetch the ones you need which are listed below:

wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-atom1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-aux0_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-event1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-icccm1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-keysyms0_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-property1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/pool/main/x/xcb-util/libxcb-render-util0_0.3.2-1_i386.deb

Then try and install them all with dpkg:

sudo dpkg -i awesome_3.1-1_i386.deb libxcb-atom1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb libxcb-aux0_0.3.2-1_i386.deb \
libxcb-event1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb libxcb-icccm1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb libxcb-property1_0.3.2-1_i386.deb \
libxcb-render-util0_0.3.2-1_i386.deb libxcb-keysyms0_0.3.2-1_i386.deb

At this point, it might spit out that it needs some extra packages – these are packages that you should just be able to install normally with synaptic or apt: I had to install menu for example,  you may have to install some others as I had a few other dependencies installed from trying to build from source earlier on.  Once you have all the packages, run the above command again to install awesome.

Once awesome is installed, we need a configuration file. A default config file is provided, so go ahead and copy it to your home dir:

mkdir ~/.config/awesome
cp /etc/xdg/awesome/rc.lua ~/.config/awesome/rc.lua

Now we can see if awesome works – kill your current window manager (in my case compiz), then fire up awesome:

killall compiz.real && awesome&

Hopefully everything has gone to plan, and awesome should now be running! Hooray! Have a little play around with it, mess with the config file a bit and see if you like it. Some useful key-bindings are:

• Win + Enter – launch a terminal
• Win + F1 – run a command
• Win + J/K – switch windows (à la vim)
• Win + H/L – resize major/minor divide
• Win + Shift + J/K – move windows
• Win + Space – change layout
• Win + Ctrl + r – restart awesome, for example to update if you change the config file

There are loads more keybindings that you can find/change in the config file if you wanna know what they all do exactly.

If after using awesome for a while you decide you want to keep it, there are a few loose ends to tie up.

Setting awesome as the Default Window Manager

First, fire up gconf-editor:

gconf-editor

On the list on the left, goto:

 desktop > gnome > session

First of all, we’ll get rid of the gnome-panels – awesome already has its own. On the right, there is a name/value pair with name ‘required_components_list’, containing “[windowmanager, panel, filemanager]“. Remove panel, so it becomes “[windowmanager, filemanager]“.

Next we actually tell gnome to load in awesome instead of compiz. On the list on the left, choose the folder required_components. Change the windowmanager field from ”compiz’ to ‘awesome’.

Finally, you’ll probably wan’t to disable nautilus’s desktop (where the desktop icons live etc.) as it can do funny things, and with your magical new tiling windows you will probably never see the desktop. To do this, from the list on the left choose

apps > nautilus > preferences

and when here, uncheck show_desktop.

Now you can kiss sweet goodbye to all the remnants of your old desktop – log out of your system and log back in again to see it take effect. WARNING: If something has gone wrong and awesome doesn’t load (maybe you mispelt it in gconf-editor or something), you should still be able to find a way to edit the gconf preferences, but it took me a while to figure out how to logout when the normal gnome logout button had disappeared. To logout in this situation, type gnome-session-save –kill.

Customising and Configuring

Due to the highly keyboard oriented nature of awesome, you may now want to install a launcher. A couple of good ones are Gnome-Do (if you opt for this, you will have to change the binding from Win+Space in the awesome preferences, or reconfigure awesome’s binding for this combination), an all singing all dancing affair which I used for a while, or dmenu which is quite a lot simpler and I’ve opted for in this case.

To install dmenu:

sudo apt-get install dmenu

Next we setup a keybinding for it to launch in the awesome config file. Underneath the line:

-- {{{ Keybindings

Add (here it is mapped to Win+P – change this if you like):

-- dmenu
keybinding({ modkey }, "p", function () awful.util.spawn("`dmenu_path | dmenu -b`") end):add()

Also, as awesome is aimed at uber geeks the time is displayed by default as…. unix time_t. Unless you’re some kind of magician, hunt down the section in the config file that looks like this, and comment/uncomment accordingly:

-- For unix time_t lovers
--mytextbox.text = " " .. os.time() .. " time_t "
-- Otherwise use:
mytextbox.text = " " .. os.date() .. " "

Finally, I missed my CPU monitor. There is however a set of widgets you can get that adds functionality like this called wicked.

Install wicked:

git clone git://git.glacicle.com/awesome/wicked.git
sudo cp wicked/wicked.lua /usr/share/awesome/lib/
sudo cp wicked/wicked.7.gz /usr/share/man/man7/

in config file, underneath:

-- {{{ Wicked Widgets

Add in:

-- {{{ Wicked Widgets
-- CPU Usage Graph
cpugraphwidget = widget({
type = 'graph',
name = 'cpugraphwidget',
align = 'left'
})
cpugraphwidget.height = 0.85
cpugraphwidget.width = 45
cpugraphwidget.bg = '#333333'
cpugraphwidget.border_color = '#0a0a0a'
cpugraphwidget.grow = 'right'

cpugraphwidget:plot_properties_set('cpu', {
fg = '#AEC6D8',
fg_center = '#285577',
fg_end = '#285577',
vertical_gradient = false
})
wicked.register(cpugraphwidget, wicked.widgets.cpu, '$1', 1, 'cpu')

Then add in the cpugraphwidget into the mywibox[s].widgets line:

mywibox[s].widgets = { mylauncher,
mytaglist[s],
mytasklist[s],
mypromptbox[s],
cpugraphwidget,
mytextbox,
mylayoutbox[s],

For full instructions on how to use wicked, and configure awesome, check out the awesome wiki. Have fun!

The gspca drivers are available from here, I was using a specific version dated 20071224 to work with a patch file I found – many thanks to redeye on the QuickCam team forums. If you use a different version of the drivers, you can just examine the patch file and insert the changes manually.

First, download the drivers and the patch:

wget http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca50x/Download/gspcav1-20071224.tar.gz
wget http://forums.quickcamteam.net/attachment.php?aid=86 -O patch.tar.gz

Then extract and apply the patch:

(UPDATE: For Ubuntu 8.10 users, this patch may no longer work. Try downloading the patch here instead, and then extract it using gzip -d gspcapatch.gz. Apply the extracted file in the same was as below, just neglect the -p1 switch, (so do: patch < gspcapatch), you can just ignore the tar -xvf patch.tar.gz command).

tar -xvf gspcav1-20071224.tar.gz
tar -xvf patch.tar.gz
cd gspcav1-20071224
patch -p1 < ../quickcamE2500.diff

There’s a handy build script included with the drivers so just run that (requires root):

sudo ./gspca_build

This generates the file

gspca.ko

which we use to replace the old gspca module.
Check to see if the old module is loaded, you should see something like:

dave@baracus:~$ lsmod | grep gspca
gspca                 680656  0
videodev               29440  1 gspca
usbcore               146028  9 gspca,snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,usb_storage,usbhid,libusual,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd

We want to find out where it is, so do the following:

sudo rmmod gspca
sudo modprobe -v gspca

You should see something like:

insmod /lib/modules/2.6.24-20-generic/ubuntu/media/gspcav1/gspca.ko

That is the location of the file we’re looking for, so, replacing where appropriate with what was output for you above, type:

sudo rmmod gspca
sudo rm /lib/modules/2.6.24-20-generic/ubuntu/media/gspcav1/gspca.ko
sudo mv gspca.ko /lib/modules/2.6.24-20-generic/ubuntu/media/gspcav1/
sudo modprobe gspca

This should have loaded the new module in place of the old one. See if you have a video device:

dave@baracus:~$ ls /dev/video*
/dev/video0

You can try and run Skype now, and in fact, if you’re not using the camera for Skype, this may well be enough. But for the Skype users: see if you get any picture by testing in the video devices option menu (be warned, it can take a little while to show up there after skype loads, and a little while for the picture to show when you press the test button, so be patient). If anything show’s up at all that’s a plus. (UPDATE: If you’re using Ubuntu 8.10, and have used the alternative patch I posted in the other “UPDATE:” bracket above, the webcam may still not work in Skype at this point. There seems to be some issue with permissions in this version of the driver, so you may need to run skype as root if it doesn’t appear to be working. In a terminal type “sudo skype” and hit enter. It’ll ask for your root password, then launch skype. See if the webcam works now).

Originally, I had a black image, so I assumed the camera wasn’t working, but I soon realised that the image was there, just very dark – shining a light on it showed this was the case. I tried fiddling around with gstfakevideo for a while to try and alter the output, but there was a much simpler solution. The gspca driver itself can take options, and an autoexposure setting was ruining my lighting. To fix this, edit the file /etc/modprobe.d/options, and add a line at the bottom:

options gspca gamma=1 autoexpo=0

The gamma=1 may not be necessary, but if it still appears too dark or too light for your taste you can change this parameter as you like. Finally, reload the module:

sudo rmmod gspca
sudo modprobe gspca

and try out skype again. Hopefully it works!

I ran into quite a lot of other problems while I was trying this out, so if you come across any errors, drop a comment below and I’ll try and get back to you asap.

UPDATE: I found a large problem when using the camera in Skype was that CPU usage would shoot up to 100%, causing things to freeze up and conversations to crash after a while. I had played around with gstfakevideo a bit when trying to get the camera to work originally, and it seems using this when the camera already ‘works’ means it uses up far less CPU. I haven’t had a chance to test it for a long period yet but it seems like it should do the trick. Here’s what I did:

First, download gstfakevideo using subversion (you may need to install the subversion package, sudo apt-get subversion probably does the trick, and then the command below will make a directory called gstfakevideo in your current location, so make sure it’s somewhere nice), then compile and install it:

svn checkout http://gstfakevideo.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ gstfakevideo
cd gstfakevideo
make
sudo make install

gstfakevideo creates a new video stream using your webcam, which is formatted differently and skype seems to get along with it more. The only problem is, it outputs its stream to /dev/video0 which is where our webcam currently lives. So we have to move the webcam, but this is easy enough:

sudo mv /dev/video0 /dev/video1

(Actually, gstfakevideo seems to work for me with lower CPU without moving this – but try it moved first anyway). Watch out though, every time you reboot, your webcam will probably go to /dev/video0 by default, assuming you have no other video devices, so you will have to move stuff about to make a space in video0 each time. Now we see if it works:

gstfakevideo v4lsrc device=/dev/video1 ! ffmpegcolorspace

What this does is runs gstfakevideo, telling it that the source we’re using is a v4l source, and its from /dev/video1. The ffmpegcolorspace argument seems to be for making the stream YUV instead of RGB for some cameras so may not be necessary. It then launches skype, with hopefully the output below:

dave@baracus:~$ gstfakevideo v4lsrc device=/dev/video1 ! ffmpegcolorspace
gst.c create_pipeline (155): pipeline created
gst.c create_pipeline (159): pipeline linked

If you look in the skype video options now there will be no camera listed. You have to wait a while (it can take 30s or so), until you get some output, ending with something like:

gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=803c7601 nr 1
gst.c shim_ioctl (208): VIDIOCGCAP
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success

Now a camera should show up in the video menu in skype, with a name like GStreamer fake video (/dev/video0). Try it out, and compare your CPU performance to before. Also try exiting skype, and moving your video source from /dev/video1 back to video0, and running gstfakevideo again, only with device=/dev/video0, and see if it works (and let me know your findings below!).

Finally if gstfakevideo works, we can clean it up so the command isn’t so long to type. The script should be stored in:

/usr/local/bin/gstfakevideo

(Can check this using):

dave@baracus:~$ whereis gstfakevideo
gstfakevideo: /usr/local/bin/gstfakevideo

So we edit this file (requires root):

sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/gstfakevideo

Now, find the line that looks like this:

export GST_PIPE="videotestsrc is-live=true ! video/x-raw-yuv,width=640,height=480,framerate=10/1 ! videoscale ! ffmpegcolorspace ! vertigotv ! ffmpegcolorspace"

and change it to (remember where you put your webcam source – if you moved it back to /dev/video0, change the device parameter accordingly):

export GST_PIPE="v4lsrc device=/dev/video1 ! ffmpegcolorspace"

and finally look a bit further down, and delete the line:

export GST_PIPE="$*"

Now Skype will launch with your faked video stream, just from the command gstfakevideo. Good luck! Let me know how you get on.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one with the problem, and I found a solution here. (Thanks to wieman01 on the Ubuntu forums for this.)

What was happening was Ubuntu’s power management was a bit over zealous and was making the hard drive spin up and down far too often. By changing the power settings this can be fixed, using the command:

hdparm -B 254 /dev/xxx

replacing xxx with your drive name, in my case for my SATA drive it was /dev/sda.

254 here is the lowest level of power management, and 255 is off completely. You can try playing with higher values if you like some kind of power management.

To make this run every time the computer starts, add it to a startup script. For example, save a plain text file containing the above line to:

/etc/init.d/local_settings

Then:


cd /etc/init.d
sudo chmod +x local_settings
sudo ln -s local_settings /etc/rc2.d/S99local_settings


This makes the file executable, and creates a symbolic link to it in the folder which contains the start-up scripts, giving it priority 99.

Hopefully your clicking noise will now be gone!