internal webcams of HP Elite X2 G2 not supported

[Lukas Werner]

Both internal webcams of my HP Elite X2 G2 work well in Windows, but don't work in Ubuntu 20.10 or Manjaro. The driver seems to be missing or misconfigured. According to linux-hardware.org, it's a "Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Imaging Unit". Guvcview recognises the Cameras as "Intel IPU3 CIO2", but doesn't show an image.
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ProblemType: Bug
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu50.3
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: elis 6420 F.... pulseaudio
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-01-28 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" - Release amd64 (20201022)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 044e:1216 Alps Electric Co., Ltd
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2422 Microchip Technology, Inc. (formerly SMSC)
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: HP HP Elite x2 1012 G2
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcFB: 0 i915drmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-41-generic root=UUID=8e01b873-3dab-4fbf-86ce-04c4932b3c0a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-41.46-generic 5.8.18
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-5.8.0-41-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-5.8.0-41-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.190.3
Tags: groovy
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-41-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin lxd plugdev sambashare sudo video
_MarkForUpload: True
dmi.bios.date: 10/20/2020
dmi.bios.release: 1.37
dmi.bios.vendor: HP
dmi.bios.version: P87 Ver. 01.37
dmi.board.name: 82CA
dmi.board.vendor: HP
dmi.board.version: KBC Version 50.72
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 5CG7272QT5
dmi.chassis.type: 32
dmi.chassis.vendor: HP
dmi.ec.firmware.release: 80.114
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHP:bvrP87Ver.01.37:bd10/20/2020:br1.37:efr80.114:svnHP:pnHPElitex21012G2:pvr:rvnHP:rn82CA:rvrKBCVersion50.72:cvnHP:ct32:cvr:
dmi.product.family: 103C_5336AN HP Elite x2
dmi.product.name: HP Elite x2 1012 G2
dmi.product.sku: Y5E21AV
dmi.sys.vendor: HP

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1913809

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

apport information

[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

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[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

It requires userspace support. I am unsure how mature it is.

[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

Thanks for the suggestion! I installed libcamera already, but no success. The webcams still don't work.

[You-Sheng Yang (vicamo)]

Hi, with libcamera, you'd have to either recompile camera apps with libcamera support, which is very unlikely so far, or use libcamera LD_PRELOAD lib to hijack v4l2 open/ioctl calls. No easy solution AFAIK.

[Lukas Werner (lu-kas)]

I think this does not work, because the camera is not recognised/listed when i run "sudo cam -l". So libcamera does not seem to know the camera exists.

[Kieran Bingham (kieranbingham)]

If this device uses an IPU3 we have a chance to support it with the new CIO2 IPU3 layers in the kernel - but it likely needs confirmation on the Sensors and will certainly require kernel updates (as well as updates to libcamera if the sensor is not yet supported).

If someone wants to work through this with this device, contact us on the libcamera mailing list. (https://lists.libcamera.org/listinfo/libcamera-devel) or #libcamera on irc.oftc.net

Essentially you will be facing the same issues as experienced on the Microsoft Surface range of devices, which has had a lot of community involvement:

See :
  https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/issues/91
and
  https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Camera-Support

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Malcolm Reynolds (captainreynolds)]

Is there any progress on this? Haven't found a workable solution elsewhere, either.