The main camera is returning useful pictures now: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux-next/-/issues/44#note_145053
It’s the last stretch for taking at least some photos, although focusing will still be unavailable for some time.
15 Likes
Thank you for being busy with getting the phone to work, even though you devs sometimes face poor documentation that makes your jobs more difficult than they should be.
3 Likes
I would put the limited resourcing on something other than the camera. I keep tape over the cameras on my Note 9 to protect my privacy. Peeling the tape off and finding a new piece of tape later to replace it is bothersome. It’s just easier to not use the cameras at all. Maybe five or six years from now, Purism will get the camera to work. It’ll then be a new feature for me. In the meantime, I won’t miss it.
We’re all different though.
I live in a country where you need to scan a QR code just to scratch your %$#*. So lack of a working camera is absolutely a blocker from becoming a daily driver. (If the camera were working, I can install the command line QR code decode and handle the rest myself, I hope … Clunky As, but good enough until something smoother is available.)
Even after the pandemic, I would be keen to have a working camera.
3 Likes
I’m not sure if you read my post earlier, but if I wanted, the camera would be working next week (very zoomed in, blurry 800x600 but it would). So no way it’s 5 years.
10 Likes
I wonder, even if this isn’t satisfactory to most people for regular picture-taking, is it good enough to build a functioning QR code reader?
1 Like
It might. Does there exist an app for that so that I could test before committing to making it useable before it’s properly working?
1 Like
I see a flatpak called Decoder. “Scan and Generate QR Codes.”
One commenter in the store wrote: “Great GUI - would be good for Linux on Phone.”
Doesn’t launch for me, though.
You could try zbarcam (from zbar-tools), I tested it in a byzantum VM it works very well
2 Likes
There is also coBang flatpak, and it does launch on the L5.
1 Like
On the PinePhone I have, mobian comes pre-installed with an app called Megapixel. Might also be worth trying on the Librem 5?
1 Like
This is the default camera app on Pinephone isn’t it? Would be interesting.
Martijn Braam, who is the postmarketOS developer that created Megapixels, is in contact with the Purism developers. He gave some advice to the Purism devs in the bug report about implementing the Librem 5’s back camera.
At this point Megapixels has only been tested with the PinePhone hardware, so I’m not sure how hard it would be to add support for the Librem 5’s cameras. Maybe @dcz can comment on Purism’s plans for the camera app.
3 Likes
to this. I have it installed on a different Linux computer. Does the job.
So if the camera software so far is capable of creating a JPEG, it would be worth running it through zbar* to see whether the image so far is usable for decode.
Thank you! I tried searching for this software to see what it is like (I remembered the name correctly at least), but it’s 100% unsearchable in web search engines.
The general plan is to let people use what they want, and then include the best one (so far Megapixels is the top contender). Other than that, there will be something small in nani purely to help with development.
5 Likes
Another small breakthrough today: all camera scales have been verified to work: 1:1, 1:2, 1:4. Now it’s time to mop up and expose that to app developers. Then focusing remains.
The camera supports 10-bit RAW output, but that’s left as an exercise for the community, at least in the current plan.
17 Likes
“Pics or didn’t happen…” 
Or more like, take pics of L5 with L5.
1 Like
So… Where can I host a 20MB picture :P?
EDIT: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux-next/-/issues/44#note_146983
5 Likes