Hi, I’m trying to get a couple of Arducam cameras working on my Jetson and having no luck. I’ve got the B0165 and B0224 models. I even tested on the official Jetson development kit and still couldn’t get them working. One thing I noticed while comparing with a B0223 I had around: the B0223 has a small integrated circuit under the camera module, but the B0224 doesn’t have that chip at all. Could the missing IC be the reason these don’t work on the Jetson platform?
Thanks for the details. That chip difference is interesting, but before jumping to conclusions, can you share a bit more about your setup? Which Jetson module are you on, what carrier board, and which Jetpack/BSP version? Also, which driver did you install for these cameras?
Sure. Platform is a Jetson Xavier NX on an Avermedia EN751 carrier board, running Jetpack 4.6 rev.3. For drivers, I followed the Arducam Jetvariety quick start guide and the OV9281 install tutorial:
https://docs.arducam.com/Nvidia-Jetson-Camera/Jetvariety-Camera/Quick-Start-Guide/#install-driver
https://docs.arducam.com/Nvidia-Jetson-Camera/Jetvariety-Camera/OV9281/
I installed the Arducam drivers per those instructions.
Got it. One thing to flag early: the Avermedia EN751 is a third-party carrier board, and we’ve seen it be incompatible with some Arducam cameras. What errors are you actually seeing when you try to initialize the cameras?
I get these errors:
“error during i2c probe, board setup failed”
“error during i2c read probe”
I also tried the cameras on the official dev kit and still couldn’t make them work, so I don’t think it’s just the carrier board. Here are photos of the B0224 vs B0223, you can see the IC is missing on the B0224:
Could the missing chip be why these won’t work on Jetson?
That IC you’re pointing at on the B0223 is the Jetvariety chip, and that’s the key difference here. The B0224 and B0165 are the Raspberry Pi versions of the camera. They’re designed to work with the native ov9281 driver on a Pi, and they do not include the Jetvariety IC. On Jetson, the Jetvariety driver is what handles these cameras, and without that chip the driver can’t talk to the sensor. That’s exactly why you’re seeing the i2c probe failures. So yes, the missing IC is the root cause, not your carrier board (though the Avermedia EN751 can still have its own compatibility quirks with some Arducam cameras).
Ah, that explains it. So to use an OV9281 on Jetson I should be using the B0223 module instead?
Right. For Jetson OV9281 cameras, use the B0223 module, which has the Jetvariety chip. You can find it here:
For setup, the same driver steps you already followed apply:
https://docs.arducam.com/Nvidia-Jetson-Camera/Jetvariety-Camera/Quick-Start-Guide/#install-driver
https://docs.arducam.com/Nvidia-Jetson-Camera/Jetvariety-Camera/OV9281/
Quick summary: B0224/B0165 = Raspberry Pi versions with native ov9281 driver, no Jetvariety chip. B0223 = Jetson-compatible OV9281 module with the Jetvariety chip. The physical presence or absence of that IC under the camera is what distinguishes Jetson-compatible modules from Raspberry Pi modules.