I've been running Orb in an XP virtual machine for a couple of weeks now and it runs great.

But when I try to get the webcam working, it's been a nightmare.

Using Parallels with hardware virtualization enabled, I can see the webcam just fine in the Parallels VM. But when I try to connect from another machine on the local network, all I get after the flash player connects is the green Orb logo with an error about codecs.

The Virtual machine is running Windows 7.

I have used a "real" Windows 7 box to stream the webcam on the local network, so that makes me think it's not a Windows 7 issue but am open to all suggestions at this point

The webcam is a Logitech C120. I tried a Microsoft Lifecam too.

I'm wondering if I need to disconnect the webcam from the host OS. The box is running Fedora 10 - which is a requirement, not an option. This needs to work on Fedora 10.

Maybe someone has solved this problem, or at least knows how to disconnect a webcam from a Fedora 10 OS?

So your host is Fedora and guest is Windows.. Trying to use paravirtualization.. Good luck.. I work with virtualization daily.. and paravirtualization gets really buggy when you start switching OS vendors.. I don't think it is a Windows 7 issue.. I think it is a virtualization issue.. I tried to do the same, but I even tried a USB device, because I could use USB pass-through.. Like you said.. I could get the guest OS to see the device.. But whenever i tried to use it locally or over the network.. It would not work.. Sometime i would get codec error.. and others just a blank screen.. I used the same USB device on a physical host... VIOLA.. no problems at all... FYI I tried Fedora with XEN and VMware (on linux host and windows host) SO three different physical host setups.. and all failed.. Some hardware devices just are not good choices for virtualization right now IMO..

The webcam works flawlessly in a win7 VM I created with VMWare server, for anything except Orb.

I used the instructions here to disconnect the webcam from Fedora.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... ost3724980

Any application *except* Orb can access the camera just fine, but Orb complains.

I've also tried Parallels running on VTx enabled hardware, no difference, Orb just freaks out and can't control the camera.

Which seems odd because other Windows apps can control the camera in the virtual machine.

Oh well. Web cam streaming doesn't seem to work anyway, even when I run it on a "real" Win7 box, the video is inaccessible from work (my music and other videos stream through the firewall(s) just fine so I'm about ready to give up on the whole idea.

Cool.. I understand your setup.. I tried VMware and XEN, but that was it.. I never used a webcam, but I did try a USB tuner.. And i always got the guest OS to see the device, and I could launch other apps, but they never worked either (choppy picture and other weird effects).. It sounds like you have a different case as you state it works flawless in other apps, that being the case i would expect it to work. Have you ever got this cam + Orb to work on physical box? Orb may have issue with the cam itself..

Yeah, that's what's so frustrating. I've tried the low end MS Lifecam and also the Logitech C-120, both work with Orb on a real Win7 box.

Oh well. It was a nice idea, and a free app. Can't complain for the price. Unfortunately I think because of my experiences, that it's current value, for me anyway, is also what I paid. Maybe one day they'll figure it out and make it into something usable for the rest of us.