Webcam tester for Haiku OS. Useful for testing and debugging USB webcam drivers.
- Live video preview with FPS, frame count, and drop stats
- MJPEG decompression via libjpeg-turbo
- YUV422, YUV420, NV12, NV21, UYVY format conversions (SSE2-optimized)
- Zoom (1x-8x) with mouse wheel, pan with click-drag
- RGB histogram overlay (Cmd+H)
- A/B format comparison (capture reference, split-view side-by-side)
- Grid overlay (rule of thirds, center crosshair)
- Fullscreen mode (Enter)
- Floating always-on-top preview window
- Video recording to AVI (Motion JPEG) with audio
- Time-lapse capture with configurable interval
- Circular buffer for retroactive "save last N seconds"
- Screenshot capture (PNG)
- Audio VU meter for built-in microphones
- Audio source selection (webcam mic, system input, or none)
- Audio recording integrated into AVI output
- Stress test (repeated start/stop cycles)
- Latency test (capture-to-display timing)
- Format benchmark (compare performance across formats)
- Memory leak test
- Cycle test (connect/disconnect hot-plug robustness)
- Export test results as CSV or JSON with timestamps
- Diagnostic report generation for bug reports
- Driver and USB device info display
- UVC descriptor parsing
- Syslog monitor (filtered for USB/webcam messages)
- USB packet inspection
- Webcam controls (brightness, contrast, etc.)
- Export driver info (text/JSON)
- Raw frame export for driver debugging
- MCP server (port 9847) for Claude Code integration
- Deskbar replicant with status LED
- Desktop replicant with live preview
- MJPEG HTTP streaming server for browser viewing
- Virtual webcam (BMediaAddOn) as source for other apps
- System notifications for events
heyscripting support- Localization (EN, IT, DE, ZH, JA)
- Headless command-line mode (
bubicam --headless) - System theme support (adapts to dark/light themes)
libwebcam.soreusable shared library with public API inlib/libwebcam/include/
makemake installOr copy objects.x86_64-cc13-release/BubiCam to ~/config/apps/.
- Select a webcam from the Webcam menu
- Click Start to begin preview
- Check Driver Info tab for device details
- Use Controls tab to adjust settings
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Cmd+R | Refresh devices |
| Cmd+S | Start preview |
| Cmd+T | Stop preview |
| Cmd+P | Screenshot |
| Cmd+E | Export info |
| Cmd+H | Toggle histogram |
| Cmd+G | Toggle grid overlay |
| Cmd+B | Capture reference frame |
| Cmd+Shift+B | A/B compare mode |
| Cmd+0 | Reset zoom |
| Cmd+L | Clear syslog |
| Cmd+Shift+M | Restart media services |
| Enter | Fullscreen video |
| Escape | Exit fullscreen |
No webcams found: Check listusb output and syslog for driver messages.
"Name not found" error: Use Tools > Restart Media Services.
Preview not working: Check syslog for errors. Try restarting media services.
No video frames (bandwidth issue): The UVC driver may have selected insufficient USB bandwidth. BubiCam will detect this after 4 seconds and offer to switch to a lower resolution. Check syslog for WaitFrame TIMEOUT messages.
Kernel panic on stop/start: Haiku's USB stack can panic with "USB object did not become idle!" when isochronous pipes are torn down too quickly. BubiCam includes a 1-second settle delay to mitigate this, but the root cause is a kernel bug.
App appears frozen / unkillable: BubiCam has three levels of safety nets. If the UI stops responding, wait up to 15 seconds -- the emergency exit watchdog will force-terminate the process. If you don't want to wait, kill -9 works once the watchdog has done its job.
- Developer Guide -- architecture, internals, build details
- Roadmap -- planned features and direction
- Comparison -- BubiCam vs Cortex vs CodyCam
- libwebcam API -- reusable capture library
MIT