Issues with AR0234 Wide Angle Pivariety Camera Module on Ubuntu 24.04, Raspi5

Raspberry Pi Cameras libcamera
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1

I have Ubuntu 24.04 on my Ras pi 5. i have to use this os. Connected Arducam HD Pivariety Camera Module AR0234 to my pi. Setting up this camera on Raspi OS bookwarm seems pretty straight forward. but Ubuntu 24.04 doesn’t have camera handles by default. Drivers repo they provided in the product page, seems to be for raspi 0S and are failing in Ubuntu24.04. after confirming raspi is recognising the cam electronically. i installed Libcamera and rpicam-apps from source, which are apparently need, to work with this camera. with repos like

LIbcamera: git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/libcamera.git

rpicams: git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpicam-apps.git

But when i type “rpicam-hello --list-cameras” i got (No cameras available!). But rpicam-hello was able to find cam by hardware, as when i type “rpicam-hello”, i got

([0:01:23.378755736] [3648] INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:327 libcamera v0.4.0+53-29156679

[0:01:23.406594310] [3649] INFO RPI pisp.cpp:720 libpisp version v1.0.7 28196ed6edcf 26-04-2025 (04:30:49)

[0:01:23.432891260] [3649] WARN CameraSensorProperties camera_sensor_properties.cpp:473 No static properties available for ‘arducam-pivariety’

[0:01:23.433053826] [3649] WARN CameraSensorProperties camera_sensor_properties.cpp:475 Please consider updating the camera sensor properties database

[0:01:23.467133403] [3649] ERROR IPARPI ipa_base.cpp:140 Could not create camera helper for arducam-pivariety

[0:01:23.467220910] [3649] ERROR RPI pipeline_base.cpp:814 Failed to load a suitable IPA library

[0:01:23.467245008] [3649] ERROR RPI pisp.cpp:947 Failed to register camera arducam-pivariety 4-000c: -22

Made X/EGL preview window

*ERROR: *** no cameras available **)

I crux is rpicam is recognising the cam but unable to register it, as it need to know the properties of the cam. from AI i got to know it is looking for a file named arducam-pivariety.json. i am unable to find this file, i have rebuilt the repos with no success. I am not sure what exactly is the problem. kernal seems to be new enough, I want to output this camera in ubuntu 24.04, with ISP thats why i am using Libcamera.

I have make sure there are no problems hardware wise, and below information can provide some clarity to you.

→ rpicam-hello --version

rpicam-apps build: v1.6.0 4d6da1b30fd7 26-04-2025 (04:44:17)

rpicam-apps capabilites: egl:1 qt:1 drm:1 libav:1

libcamera build: v0.4.0+53-29156679

→ sudo dmesg | grep arducam

[ 0.702170] platform 1f00128000.csi: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /axi/pcie@120000/rp1/i2c@80000/arducam_pivariety@c

[ 4.314258] arducam-pivariety 4-000c: firmware version: 0x10003

[ 4.321688] rp1-cfe 1f00128000.csi: found subdevice /axi/pcie@120000/rp1/i2c@80000/arducam_pivariety@c

[ 4.489596] rp1-cfe 1f00128000.csi: Using sensor arducam-pivariety 4-000c for capture

and my boot/firmware/config.txt includes( among other things):

dtparam=audio=on

dtparam=i2c_arm=on

dtparam=spi=on

disable_overscan=1

dtoverlay=arducam-pivariety

dtoverlay=arducam-pivariety-ar0234

camera_auto_detect=0

display_auto_detect=1

start_x=1

gpu_mem=256

2

Hi,
You can refer to the guide below:
Pi 5 + Ubuntu OS + Pivarity Camera.pdf (668.8 KB)

3

ThankYou First of all, but PDF notes “Pivariety camera modules(B0444)”. but will this work for a AR0234 Camera Module.?

4

Hi,
Of course.
They are using the same Pivariety camera driver, aka, this guide is also working for your AR0234 camera module.

5

Yes, it worked in my ubuntu 24.04. but when i tried to install it on my ubuntu 20, that is in my docker. i am facing trouble. can this technically work on ubuntu 20. or am i doing anything wrong?

6

Hi,
Regarding compatibility with Ubuntu 20, I haven’t had the chance to test the camera modules on that specific version myself. So, I’m unable to confirm definitively whether they will function correctly.

As a first step in troubleshooting, could you please check if the necessary camera driver file (arducam-pivariety.dtbo) is located within the /boot/overlays directory? You can use the ls command in your terminal to list the files there.

If that driver file is not present in the directory, it’s unfortunately quite challenging, and potentially impossible, to get the camera operational on this particular system. Without that specific driver overlay, compatibility is highly unlikely.

7

ok, So after some effort i was able to work with the camera in docker with ubuntu 20. rpicam-apps is working. but ISP was not working as apparently arducam-pivariety.json is missing.there is on in ubuntu 24 in /usr/local/share/libcamera/ipa/rpi/pisp, but its empty. can you help me with sourcing

8

Hi,
The arducam-pivariety.json file is flashed onto the camera module. It doesn’t depend on the system.