Setting up your camera

For USB webcams, go ahead and plug it in and boot up the Pi; we'll take a closer look at what makes it tick.

Note

If you experimented with the dwc_otg.speed parameter to improve the audio quality during the previous chapter, you should change it back now by changing its value from 1 to 0, as chances are that your webcam will perform worse or will not perform at all, because of the reduced speed of the USB ports.

If you're the lucky owner of a Raspberry Pi camera module, follow these steps to get your camera connected (there's a video available at http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/camera-module-setup/ if you need a more visual walkthrough):

1. Before handling the camera module, ground yourself to get rid of any static electricity you might have picked up, by touching a radiator or a PC chassis.
2. The flexible flat cable connects to the CSI connector located between the Ethernet and HDMI ports on the Pi board.
3. Open up the connector by pulling the plastic tab upward...