Allow websites access to webcam on Ubuntu

In this social-media world of the Internet, being able to snap picture with your cellphone, or digital camera is convenient but what if you simply want to use your laptop's built-in webcam. "Keep it simple" you may say but some things just don't work out of the box when it comes to Ubuntu.

I was updating my status on Facebook by adding a picture using my laptop's web-cam . The circle thing kept moving but nothing happened. No camera controls showed up. So I tried something that I had never thought about.

My specs:

Firefox 10.0.2
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS kernel 2.6.32-38-generic
Adobe Flash Player: 
Laptop: 

• Gateway ID49C07u 
• i3 processor
• 1.3 mp camera

Here is what you have to do to grant websites access to you camera.

1) Switch to picture mode.
2) Right click on the flash uploader / preview.
3) Click 'Global Settings'.

4) Go to "Camera and mic" tab.
5) Click the "Camera and Microphone Settings by Site..." button.
6) Add/ edit the website which you would like to grant access to.
7) From the dropdown select Allow.

Close both dialog boxes and retry to capture your picture.

Enjoy your status updates.

As I was wrapping up this post, I tested video capture and it works fine.



For much better quality consider this camera.
 
I have the LifeCam that records at 720p; very nice camera.