Yes, I read the howto but I could not get it to work even after removing the ubuntu drivers.

There was a problem with ift-load on ubuntu since usbfs wasn't mounted.

Once I had mounted usbfs with

$ sudo mount -t usbfs /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb/

I could run ift-load (after checking the bus/device id with lspci):

$ sudo ./ift-load -f /lib/firmware/isight.fw -b 005 -d 006
ift-load: Firmware loaded succesfully to 005:006

Now, I tried to modprobe uvcvideo from the SVN repository but got another error:

[ 3706.366474] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Built-in iSight (05ac:8501)
[ 3706.369141] uvcvideo: Failed to query (135) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -32 (exp. 26).
[ 3706.371099] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[ 3706.371109] USB Video Class driver (SVN r182)

Or with modprobe uvcvideo trace=65536:

[ 3178.990711] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Brightness to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/2.
[ 3178.990722] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Contrast to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/3.
[ 3178.990729] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Hue to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/6.
[ 3178.990735] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Saturation to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/7.
[ 3178.990742] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Sharpness to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/8.
[ 3178.990748] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Gamma to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/9.
[ 3178.990755] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Backlight Compensation to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/1.
[ 3178.990762] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Gain to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/4.
[ 3178.990768] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Power Line Frequency to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/5.
[ 3178.990776] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Hue, Auto to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/16.
[ 3178.990783] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Exposure, Auto to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001/2.
[ 3178.990791] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Exposure, Auto Priority to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001/3.
[ 3178.990798] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Exposure (Absolute) to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001/4.
[ 3178.990806] uvcvideo: Adding mapping White Balance Temperature, Auto to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/11.
[ 3178.990815] uvcvideo: Adding mapping White Balance Temperature to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/10.
[ 3178.990823] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Focus (absolute) to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001/6.
[ 3178.990831] uvcvideo: Adding mapping Focus, Auto to control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001/8.
[ 3178.990881] uvcvideo: Probing known UVC device 4 (05ac:8501)
[ 3178.990897] uvcvideo: Found format YUV 4:2:2 (UYVY).
[ 3178.990901] uvcvideo: - 640x480 (30.0 fps)
[ 3178.990904] uvcvideo: - 352x288 (30.0 fps)
[ 3178.990907] uvcvideo: - 320x240 (30.0 fps)
[ 3178.990913] uvcvideo: Found a Status endpoint (addr 81).
[ 3178.990917] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Built-in iSight (05ac:8501)
[ 3178.990924] uvcvideo: Added control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/2 to device 4 entity 2
[ 3178.990931] uvcvideo: Added control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/7 to device 4 entity 2
[ 3178.990937] uvcvideo: Added control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/8 to device 4 entity 2
[ 3178.990943] uvcvideo: Added control 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000101/9 to device 4 entity 2
[ 3178.990951] uvcvideo: Scanning UVC chain: OT 3 <- PU 2 <- IT 1
[ 3178.990957] uvcvideo: Found a valid video chain (1 -> 3).
[ 3178.996651] uvcvideo: Failed to query (135) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -32 (exp. 26).
[ 3178.998970] uvcvideo: UVC device initialized.
[ 3178.998994] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[ 3178.999000] USB Video Class driver (SVN r182)