"Visopsys (VISual OPerating SYStem) is an alternative operating system for PC-compatible computers, developed almost exclusively by one person, Andy McLaughlin, since its inception in 1997. Andy is a 30-something programmer from Canada, who, via Boston and San Jose ended up in London, UK, where he spends much of his spare time developing Visopsys. We had the great fortune to catch up with Andy via email and ask him questions about Visopsys, why he started the project in the first place, and where is it going in the future."
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Member since:2010-01-21
Did they say "USB Video Class", "UVC", or something along the lines of "Designed for Windows Vista/7"?
If not, they may be older designs. If so, then your problem is Windows's approach to drivers.
There are some devices where they will work with one of the drivers Windows has built-in, but because of the metadata their USB microcontrollers report, you need to craft your own INF file to make Windows aware of that.
Member since:2005-07-06
"if"? They're out there, for better part of a decade ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_video_device_class#Revision_Histor... & when I was shopping for a webcam 5 years ago or so, there were certainly some USB video class models available; few on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_USB_video_class_devices or http://www.ideasonboard.org/uvc/#devices list are at least that old)
I guess some noname models might still use oldish innards, not modified for a long time ...as usual with hardware, you check if it fulfils your criteria before buying (but, if you care about such "total" plug'n'play in a webcam, how did you miss the existence of USB video class?), and/or get something very popular - hence widely supported (that example I gave, when the default Windows drivers worked better than manufacturer-provided - it wasn't even a USB video class webcam; it was about pre-UVC, but as standard as they come, classic QuickCam Express)
Member since:2011-01-28
Yes, I say "if" because clearly some new webcams are not supported by windows 7 out of the box. I'm looking now at newegg and I can't tell which ones are and which are not, they don't list their usb classes or identification numbers. To be honest, I don't mind installing drivers the old-school way, it was never really a criteria for me.
The only device type where not having built in drivers really hurts is network cards - since there's no way to go online and download new drivers.
Member since:
2011-01-28
zima,
I've purchased a few webcams, one this year. I have yet to own a webcam where windows drivers weren't necessary...but then it's a noname brand. If what you are saying is true and they are becoming standardised, that's a very welcome change!