4 ms·

Tell HN: My Webcam works in Manjaro, not Windows 11

• fuzzfactor 2y ago
  Sounds pretty frustrating for a new PC, you would think there would be W11 webcam drivers already in place by ASUS. With older webcams built-in or not that do need drivers, I've had good luck going back as far as Vista drivers and manually "installing" the INF, the drivers load but the W1x Camera app still fails. Using the Ispy cam software or VLC works good though. Just had good luck adding Mint 22 to a SSD already having W11 24H2, using a previously prepared 16GB partition following after the Windows volume. I had already used Diskpart in CMD when booted to Recovery (or Install) media, to assign a volume letter to the ESP partition, so I could robocopy the original (Windows-only at this point) EFI folder to a backup location. The 16GB was partitioned by Windows but not formatted by Windows, it was confirmed totally zeroed before starting the Mint install and directing the "advanced" option to format as EXTx and use that existing final partition alone as / (root). The Linux installer then correctly created the EFI\ubuntu folder to exist alongside the unchanged EFI\Microsoft folder. Automatically included a bootentry to the existing Windows install onto the Grub boot menu, of which the main boot configuration files and kernels actually are stored within the EXT filesystem and are only "referenced" from the EFI\ubuntu folder.[0] The only true Windows-breaking change is a nothingburger, the fully-expected replacement of the previous EFI\boot\bootx64.efi file (which was a Windows-specific version when first-written to the folder, targeting EFI\Microsoft and the boot files contained therein) with a Linux-specific EFI\boot\bootx64.efi file of the same name, replacing it in the same folder. The newly-written EFI\boot\bootx64.efi (and its associates) are Linux-specific and target the EFI\ubuntu folder, which now contains a boot menu giving you a choice between Linux and Windows each time you restart, with Linux being the new default OS. This is the next point where an essential backup of the evolving EFI folder needs to be made, this time containing the now Linux-specific EFI\boot (with its new bootx64.efi and associates) as well as the new EFI\ubuntu folder along with the still-unchanged EFI\Microsoft folder. If a Mint installation was so broken that it failed to detect and add a bootmenu choice for the existing Windows volume, it would seem like so much of a disaster since Linux can still replace the (normally hidden) bootx64.efi file with its own and it could boot to Mint just fine but with no straightforward way to boot Windows any more. This is what people are really afraid of. In that case you would need to boot to the same Recovery media you used to access and back up the EFI folders, and simply overwrite (the Linux-specific) EFI\boot\bootx64.efi using the functional Windows-specific bootx64.efi backup made originally before subjecting it to wizardly manipulation. After that UEFI should smoothly act just like the regular Windows machine it was before, with no sign of Linux even though a perfectly viable Mint install is still present on the EXT volume and the EFI\ubuntu folder remains in position ready to spring into action if needed. The EFI\Microsoft folder remains unchanged by design, and ideally the EFI\ubuntu folder boots not only Linux, but also put the existing Windows on the Linux bootmenu itself. Either way with fully functional EFI OS startup folders like these in position, if desired (or if necessary) the firmware itself can be made to enter either the EFI\Microsoft or the EFI\ubuntu folder directly with higher priority than EFI\boot\. With a bit of UEFI configuration. . [0] I really prefer it when the kernels and fully-formed main grub.cfg file is actually stored on the EFI partition like some distros have, which is more advanced when you think about it since it's FAT32 and you can then do file-handling and editing for Linux boot parameters, plus Linux kernel upgrades completely from Windows if you want to.
  • 999900000999 2y ago
    In my case I think the Mint installer did something stupid to the Secureboot keys on my computer, and even with secure boot disabled, it's somehow still trying to read those keys ? I don't particularly like Manjaro, but I do find it's the most up to date distro for the most part. Dualboot continues to be a struggle( I would LOVE for more OEMs to start supporting dual SSDs on laptops), but it's worth it when I don't care to engage in the world of targeted advertising via Windows.
    • vednig 2y ago
      Dual SSDs would be great. More Storage Two systems working irrespective of crashes(each able to handle it's own). Unless world starts migrating to M1 like systems where memory and storage are integrated to processor, it would again become a dream.
      • 999900000999 2y ago
        I think some of the thinkpads have 2 SSD. Most new laptops have soldered in Ram, but I haven't seen any soldered in SSDs yet outside of Apple. SSDs are wear parts, give it 3 or 4 years and these first gen M1 laptops will start turning into E-Waste.
  • vednig 2y ago
    > The only true Windows-breaking change is a nothingburger, the fully-expected replacement of the previous EFI\boot\bootx64.efi file (which was a Windows-specific version when first-written to the folder, targeting EFI\Microsoft and the boot files contained therein) with a Linux-specific EFI\boot\bootx64.efi file of the same name, replacing it in the same folder. The newly-written EFI\boot\bootx64.efi (and its associates) are Linux-specific and target the EFI\ubuntu folder, which now contains a boot menu giving you a choice between Linux and Windows each time you restart, with Linux being the new default OS. This is the next point where an essential backup of the evolving EFI folder needs to be made, this time containing the now Linux-specific EFI\boot (with its new bootx64.efi and associates) as well as the new EFI\ubuntu folder along with the still-unchanged EFI\Microsoft folder. idk but to me this seems like a horror story, much scary than any existing horror movies.
• IronWolve 2y ago
  Maybe fn-f10 or app perms, enable camera perms so all apps can access camera.
  • 999900000999 2y ago
    I tried this for about an hour. I got to a point where I assumed it's a hardware defect. The only situations where I really need a camera would be an interview. I guess later Asus might release updated drivers though... It's possible they just pre-install them on the OEM SDD( I swapped in my 4TB SSD) and don't have them on Windows update yet.
• brudgers 2y ago
  If your webcam requires drivers, there’s a nontrivial likelihood the problem is the webcam. Typically webcams have been plug and play for quite some time. And software bundled with most (but not all) webcams is typically sludgeware. Based on your description, it doesnt sound like a clean install of windows. So that’s a whole nother vector of broken system components. My advice is clean install Windows, plug the webcam in, and see what happens. Good luck.
  • 999900000999 2y ago
    I did clean install Windows. I initially tried to just move and install. The built in Web cam isn't working. I assumed a hardware defect, but it's fine on Manjaro. No secure boot for me though...
    • brudgers 2y ago
      Windows 11 without secure boot might be what is making your life interesting. Might not be of course. Either way, I’d not call it a clean install. But that’s me.
      • 999900000999 2y ago
        I deleted all the old partitions and created a new one to install Windows 11 on. Unless I literally buy a new SSD you can't get much cleaner. I only disabled Secureboot when I needed to install Manjaro. Anyway, it's working for my needs.
  • efilife 2y ago
    What's sludgeware? I only found a pokemon of this name
• throwaway1194 2y ago
  Linux handles USB devices a lot better than other systems, it also has built-in drivers for pretty much every hardware out there. I'm not surprised.