2008.1 can't use Panasonic camera

[neddie]

...if it were being treated as a mass storage device, nothing would be talking to you about a 'camera', because nothing would *know* it was a camera.

That was an error message from digikam - maybe it assumes that when you go to the Camera menu and choose "Mass storage camera" then it assumes it's a camera and shows an appropriate error message if it fails.

I'll try your X-less suggestion, thanks! :)

[neddie]

So I tried it out again, and made some snapshots.

Firstly, this is what 2007.1 does (correctly).

 

I plug in the camera, switch it on, and get a popup, so:

If I choose the default option, it opens in Konqueror, and shows me the directory tree:

Alternatively, if I choose Digikam, it opens Digikam and goes straight to a thumbnail view of all the photos on the camera.

 

dmesg says:

usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 4
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
 Vendor: MATSHITA  Model: DMC-FZ5		   Rev: 0100
 Type:   Direct-Access					  ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sda: 990864 512-byte hdwr sectors (507 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 04 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sda: 990864 512-byte hdwr sectors (507 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 04 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: sda1
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete

 

So far so good. Now try the same in 2008.1 One (running from the live CD). I plug it in, switch on, and get the same prompt. Now I choose the default again, open with Konqueror, and get this:

So then I go to services, and camera, and get this:

dmesg, in amongst a flood of Shorewall messages, just says this:

usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 2
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
unionfs: new lower inode mtime (bindex=0, name=scsi)
unionfs: new lower inode mtime (bindex=0, name=storage)

which doesn't quite inspire confidence.

 

When I launch Digikam manually and try to browse to the camera (Camera - Browse Media - usb mass storage interface), it just says "connecting to camera..." for a couple of seconds and then gives this:

(I also tried auto-detecting the camera, and manually adding a "directory browse" camera, and neither worked.)

 

So I try to check if it's been mounted, or see if I can mount it myself, but I'm snookered:

# ls /dev/s*
/dev/sequencer   /dev/sg0  /dev/slamr0  /dev/slusb0  /dev/snapshot  /dev/sr1  /dev/st1	 
/dev/stdin@   /dev/sequencer2  /dev/sg1  /dev/slamr1  /dev/slusb1  /dev/sr0   /dev/st0
/dev/stderr@  /dev/stdout@

so no /dev/sda1 :unsure:

 

Then I notice I've got a camera icon on the taskbar (neat) - and click on it, to see more or less the same message as before:

But clicking the properties of this icon shows that it's been properly recognised:

I can't use the "Digikam detect and download" option on this menu because digikam "detects" it as an FZ20 or something else and then that fails (2007.1 also fails this autodetect). Similarly on the popup which is shown when I switch on the camera, the second option is no longer "download pictures with digikam" but "detect and download", so that also doesn't work.

 

I noticed as the boot messages were flying by that it said something about mass storage device detection, and it waits a few seconds to detect what's connected. So I tried switching the camera on during boot, and at this time it was detected and mentioned that it had found a mass storage device called MATSHITA DMC-FZ5, but after booting was complete all the symptoms were the same as before.

 

So then I tried to do an X-less boot, but couldn't figure it out. I tried appending "init=3" to the options line (ignored), I tried replacing the options with "init=3" (kernel panic), I tried just having the initrd and init=3 (ignored). So I don't know how to start One just to the command line without starting X - any clues?

[So_it_goes]

Maybe I misunderstood it but, doesn't 'init 3' as su in a console do the trick.

 

Or are trying to hack the rc scripts ?

 

//

Edited April 17, 2008 by So_it_goes

[neddie]

Maybe I misunderstood it but, doesn't 'init 3' as su in a console do the trick.

Aha, I didn't think of that!

I thought adamw meant that just KDE starting was throwing things off, so I should only boot until the console. With Knoppix you can just boot to the console with an option, much faster if you just want to do something quick. But indeed, doing an init 3 proved interesting...

 

Switching on the camera this time, without X running, gave more messages than before - instead of stopping at

usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
unionfs: new lower inode mtime (bindex=0, name=scsi)
unionfs: new lower inode mtime (bindex=0, name=storage)

It carried on to say something about device attached. Now when I look in /dev/ I have an sda and an sda1, and as root I can manually mount this sda1 and look at the contents! Success!

So just to make sure I boot again into KDE, no /dev/sda1, switch on the camera, still no /dev/sda1, init 3, switch off camera, switch on camera, and hey presto there's dev/sda1!

 

As an aside, I also bought today a PCMCIA card which works as an adaptor for SD cards. Both 2007.1 and 2008.1 are immediately completely happy with this, and automount it at sda1, I can open Konqueror, I can see the thumbnails in Digikam and so on. Minor faff to have to take the card out of the camera but on the plus side I don't have to go looking for the cable as the adaptor sits flush in the side of the laptop.

 

I don't want to mark this thread as 'solved' though, as the PCMCIA trick is a workaround, and not a fix.

How come 2008.1 can mount a USB stick no problem, a memory card in the PCMCIA no problem, but not a camera via USB? When 2007.1 can do all three?

[adamw]

Because, I suspect, Digikam is futzing with it. Here's the sledgehammer solution: uninstall Digikam. Does that make it work?

[neddie]

Because, I suspect, Digikam is futzing with it. Here's the sledgehammer solution: uninstall Digikam. Does that make it work?

Oooh, that is indeed a big hammer. I can certainly try it but that will be next week. I didn't think that Digikam was even running at this point though, if I've never selected it from the menu and I don't select to download using Digikam, then /dev/sda1 still isn't created.

 

My other thought was to try a Gnome version of 2008.1 One, then it hasn't got digikam or KDE on it. Maybe I can try that next week.

[neddie]

uninstall Digikam. Does that make it work?

Tried it, and the answer is no. :(

 

I uninstalled digikam and libdigikam0, but it didn't change anything - open with Konqueror just gives the same error as before, and there's still no /dev/sda*.

[neddie]

Update: I downloaded the Gnome One version of 2008.1, and lo and behold when I plug in my camera it creates an icon on the desktop (as well as a "warning" that a USB backup device has been connected) - and double-clicking this icon opens Nautilus and shows the contents of the camera normally :) And I can see /dev/sda1 while the camera is switched on.

 

So I tried F-spot, and it too could show thumbnails, but not much else. So I bit the bullet and installed Digikam (along with all the kde stuff), and whaddayaknow? Not only does it correctly auto-detect it as a "Mass storage camera", but Digikam can browse the thumbnails and download photos without so much as a murmur.

 

So It looks like it's something KDE-specific, rather than Digikam-specific. Can you think of anything else I might try?

[neddie]

Maybe this'll help - I just tried a Kubuntu live CD, and it also couldn't connect to my Panasonic camera. Same symptoms, except this time it was auto-detected as a Panasonic LMC-1. But it still gave the same errors.

 

I tried to test again without KDE running but couldn't figure out how to kill it - sudo init 3 and su, init 3 both did nothing. Oddly I found I did have a /dev/sda1 device, but it turned out to be pointing to my first hard drive partition - no idea why they were all sda instead of hda under Kubuntu...