Quick install guidelines at Arducam website outdated

Raspberry Pi Cameras
1
  1. Where did you get the camera module(s)?
    Funduino
  2. Model number of the product(s)?
    18MP AR1820HS (Arducam Pivariety)
  3. What hardware/platform were you working on?
    RPi
  4. Instructions you have followed. (link/manual/etc.)
    Quick Start Guide - Arducam Wiki
  5. Problems you were having?
    The link to the Github repository is outdated.
    install_pivariety_pkgs.sh does not exist and even the tree is different than in the link you provided. ==> installing the drivers does not work.
    Using the install_driver.sh arducam_camera_selector.sh scripts instead results in file not found errors.
    Any support appreciated.
2

Hi there,
Could you post the output of the commands below?

uname -a 
dpkg -l | grep libcamera
3

Thanks Dion,
before your response I started from scratch with a new install (Raspi OS Trixie [Dec 4, 2025], 32Byte, Light). Installation of the libraries now went smoothly. However, now

 rpicam-still --list-cameras

results in

No cameras available!

For completeness, I add the response to the commands you provided:

uname -a
Linux PiTrixieLight 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-v7 #1 SMP Raspbian 1:6.12.47-1+rpt1 (2025-09-16) armv7l GNU/Linux

 dpkg -l | grep libcamera
ii  libcamera-dev                        0.6.0+rpt20251203-2                     armhf        complex camera support library (development files)
ii  libcamera-ipa:armhf                  0.6.0+rpt20251203-2                     armhf        complex camera support library (IPA modules)
ii  libcamera0.6:armhf                   0.6.0+rpt20251203-2                     armhf        complex camera support library
ii  python3-libcamera                    0.6.0+rpt20251202-1                     armhf        complex camera support library (Python bindings)
ii  rpicam-apps                          1.10.1-2                                all          Camera based applications for Raspberry Pi using the libcamera framework
ii  rpicam-apps-core                     1.10.1-2                                armhf        Camera based applications for Raspberry Pi using the libcamera framework

Thanks for any supportive response!

4

May be relevant as well:

dmesg | grep -E "imx477|imx219|arducam"
[    0.028968] /soc/csi@7e801000: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c
[    0.029073] /soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /soc/csi@7e801000
[    0.030498] /soc/csi@7e801000: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c
[    0.031884] /soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /soc/csi@7e801000
[    2.869318] /soc/csi@7e801000: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c
[    2.873702] /soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/arducam_pivariety@c: Fixed dependency cycle(s) with /soc/csi@7e801000
5

Hi @KaBu
Thanks for the update.
Could you please send us pictures of the hardware connection? Besides, it’d be appreciated if you post the output of the command cat /boot/firmware/config.txt here?

6

Unfortunately, I can’t upload the photos. The websites complains: ‘Sorry, new users can only put one embedded media item in a post.’

Anyways. The hardware setup is minimal. Imagine a bare Pi3 board, with just the flatbandcable in the camera slot (between HDMI and headphone sockets), the power supply connected and a wifi stick for SSH connection. That’s it. Nothing else.

As far as I can see, ‘config.txt’ has been modified according to the quick start instructions at your website.

# For more options and information see
# http://rptl.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented
# /boot/firmware/overlays/README

# Automatically load overlays for detected cameras
camera_auto_detect=0

# Automatically load overlays for detected DSI displays
display_auto_detect=1

# Automatically load initramfs files, if found
auto_initramfs=1

# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

# Don't have the firmware create an initial video= setting in cmdline.txt.
# Use the kernel's default instead.
disable_fw_kms_setup=1

# Disable compensation for displays with overscan
disable_overscan=1

# Run as fast as firmware / board allows
arm_boost=1

[cm4]
# Enable host mode on the 2711 built-in XHCI USB controller.
# This line should be removed if the legacy DWC2 controller is required
# (e.g. for USB device mode) or if USB support is not required.
otg_mode=1

[cm5]
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

[all]
dtoverlay=arducam-pivariety
# enable_uart=1

(Without these modifications, the conventional Pi-Cam worked fine.)

7

Dear Dion,
From extensive internet research I understood that the hardware of the U-721 adapter isn’t compatible with the Pi interface. (i2cdetect doesn’t provide an address - the Pi and the adapter aren’t able to talk to each other.) Nothing to do about that. Please, correct me if I am wrong (I have been struggeling for days and hours as well without success).
If I am correct, some clear communication from the Arducam team would be helpful and save us users from a lot of frustration. The questions I got so far didn’t touch the adapter version at all.

8

Hi @KaBu
We understand your frustration, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience.

You mentioned that your camera board is labelled with UC-721, which has been discontinued for a long time.

To help us confirm it, could you please send us the link to the camera module you purchased?

9

Thanks Dion,
I bought the module at Microelectronics and 3D printing specialist dealer | Funduinoshop

Responding to my reply, funduino removed the module from their website yesterday. So you won’t find it any more.

Regards,
Karsten