Hi everyone, I recently picked up a set of B0202 cameras (2MP) and I’m trying to figure out how to actually operate them. I saw they’re listed as Linux compatible, which is why I got them. Right now I’m just testing on Windows with the AMCap application to get a feel for the settings, but my end goal is to connect the camera to a drone running a Linux SBC.
A few things I’m stuck on:
What Linux version is actually supported for this camera?
Using AMCap on Windows, what’s the highest FPS setting I can get out of it?
Since it’ll be on a drone with a Linux SBC, is real-time streaming of the footage even possible?
I’m also noticing the image doesn’t look quite right when I preview it, but let me know where to start. Any guidance appreciated.
Quick note on Linux support first, since that seems to be the big one: the B0202 is a UVC (USB Video Class) camera. Compatibility isn’t tied to a specific Linux version—it uses the standard UVC protocol, which basically every modern Linux system supports out of the box via the uvcvideo kernel module. So as long as your SBC’s kernel has UVC enabled, it should just show up as a /dev/video device. What SBC are you planning to use?
On the FPS question—the max frame rate is determined by which resolution and pixel format you run in AMCap. You can figure it out from the camera’s supported modes. What resolution/format are you currently set to?
And for streaming, yes, it’s definitely possible. But before I go further, you mentioned the image doesn’t look right—can you describe what you’re seeing?
Thanks, that helps. For the image issue: when I preview/stream, the picture isn’t uniform. It looks uneven, almost like parts of the frame are shifting or tearing. It’s not a clean, stable image. In AMCap I’m just on the default settings. I tried poking around the buffer options in AMCap and tweaked them a bit, but it didn’t really change anything—still looks uneven.
Is this a faulty camera? Or something I’m doing wrong?
That non-uniform image is almost certainly not a camera fault, so don’t worry about it being defective.
What’s happening is on the software side. The application you’re using does cache/buffer processing when it grabs frames, and that buffering is what causes the image to appear uneven or non-uniform. It’s a software artifact, not the camera hardware. That’s also why tweaking the buffer options in AMCap didn’t fix it—the caching behavior is baked into how it handles the stream.
To confirm this, try VLC instead of AMCap:
Open VLC
Go to Media → Open Capture Device
Select your camera as the video device
Set the resolution and frame rate you want under Advanced Options
Click Play
VLC doesn’t do the same kind of caching, so if the image looks clean and uniform there, that confirms the camera itself is fine and it was the software all along.
Great, glad VLC confirmed it—that pretty much closes out the image issue.
Quick summary of where we landed:
Linux: the B0202 is standard UVC, so there’s no single specific Linux version requirement. It works on most Linux systems as long as UVC is enabled. On your SBC, just verify the uvcvideo module is loaded and the camera enumerates as a video device.
Non-uniform image: this was a software cache/buffer artifact, not a camera issue. Use VLC to confirm, and it also works as a streaming client for your testing.
FPS: the maximum frame rate is determined by the resolution/format you select and the available USB bandwidth—you can determine the ceiling from the camera’s supported modes.
On your question about recommended similar-size cameras for real-time transmission, I’ll need to have a check and get back to you with some options. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.