First things first, warnings. I only tested this on an EeePC 701 that I'd already mucked around with alot. It might or might not work on other models, I don't know.

OK, now the real intro. I really like the EeePC, but one thing was always missing: A countdown on the webcam. This meant that you could only take pictures with one hand on the trackpad, an irritating fact. So, to have your hands free in a photo, you would have to change to Ubuntu, or XP, or Fedora or something of the like. I didn't want to change, and so found a way to get an alright countdown onto my Xandros EeePC.

One last thing before we get going, most of these instructions have been taken from Unicap-Imaging, where the webcam application on the EeePC was taken from.

Open a terminal (Alt+Ctrl+T). Type in or copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Shift+Insert) this

wget http://www.unicap-imaging.org/downloads/public.key
sudo apt-key add public.key
rm public.key

and wait (briefly) for it to finish.

After this, make a backup of the file we're about to edit, so

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup

Next, you need to add the unicap repository to the file we just backed up. To do this, open the file with a text editor:

sudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list

and add this line

deb http://unicap-imaging.org/packages/ eeepc main

When I did this whole procedure, I had problems that I believe stemmed from having too many lines in this file. So, to prevent this from happening, before each line in the file (except the one you just added) type a

#

to make the computer ignore it.

Then you may save the file and close the editor. Back on the command line, you can update the package info on the eeepc:

sudo apt-get update

Then, update to the latest version of the webcam apps.

sudo apt-get install libunicap-2 libunicapgtk-2 libucil-2 ucview ucview-asus-icons

When that has finished, we need to cover our tracks, otherwise apt-get could get very angry and ruin your system. To undo all the changes to the file we edited, just copy the backup we made to the original file-

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.backup /etc/apt/sources.list

If you were naughty and didn't backup the file, don't fret, you'll just have to remove the line you typed and the # if you did it.

To continue, run the webcam application. Do this by clicking the button in the launcher, or by typing

ucview

in the terminal.

There will be quite a long pause, and then a dialog will come up with options for the device to choose. Select

UVC Camera

and

YUV 4:2:2 (either if there are 2 of the same)

and

640x480

then check the “Remember Selection” button and press OK.

You will now see a slightly updated interface, and, most importantly, a 'Time Lapse' button. To set up our countdown, click 'Preferences'. Next, click the 'Time Lapse' tab. Change the options to as follows:

Video Lapse Action: Image Sequence

Time between capture events: 3 seconds

Check the 'Automatically Stop Recording' button, and set it to Number of frames: 2

Press close, and we're done!

When you click the Time Lapse button, there will be one photo taken, then 3 seconds later (with no notification before hand) another will be taken. Feel free to change the time between capture events setting to make longer or shorter waiting times.

Enjoy an updated and countdown-ing UCView!