This is a follow up of this question: Merlin U740 USB 2.0 camera not working

Basically I have Merlin U740 USB 2.0 camera. I managed to make it work on Ubuntu 18.04 and it was working well until I upgraded to 19.10. A subsequent upgrade to 20.04 didn't make any difference and now the camera doesn't work.

It's recognised by the system and starts in Zoom, Slack and Cheese only to fail a few seconds later, causing Zoom to freeze / become unresponsive for a moment (up to 30s, other apps seem to handle it better). I tried all the USB ports available on my PC and it made no difference.

I ran the usual commands and here are the results:

lsmod | grep video

uvcvideo               98304  0
videobuf2_vmalloc      20480  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       20480  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_v4l2         24576  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_common       49152  2 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo
videodev              225280  3 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
mc                     53248  5 videodev,snd_usb_audio,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common

lsusb

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 010: ID 1410:1410 Novatel Wireless Merlin U740 (non-Vodafone)
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1ea7:0064 SHARKOON Technologies GmbH 2.4G Mouse
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

dmesg -H

[May26 08:07] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  +0.001971] uvcvideo: Failed to resubmit video URB (-19).
[  +0.003994] uvcvideo: Failed to resubmit video URB (-19).
[  +0.004001] uvcvideo: Failed to resubmit video URB (-19).
[  +0.003998] uvcvideo: Failed to resubmit video URB (-19).
[  +0.004001] uvcvideo: Failed to resubmit video URB (-19).
[  +0.334387] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 9 using xhci_hcd
[  +0.113622] usb 3-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1410, idProduct=1410, bcdDevice= 0.00
[  +0.000003] usb 3-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[  +0.000001] usb 3-4: Product: USB 2.0 Camera
[  +0.000001] usb 3-4: Manufacturer: Sonix Technology Co., Ltd.
[  +0.010509] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB 2.0 Camera (1410:1410)
[  +0.025696] uvcvideo 3-4:1.0: Entity type for entity Extension 4 was not initialized!
[  +0.000002] uvcvideo 3-4:1.0: Entity type for entity Processing 3 was not initialized!
[  +0.000001] uvcvideo 3-4:1.0: Entity type for entity Camera 1 was not initialized!
[  +0.000059] input: USB 2.0 Camera: SD webcam 5160 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:09:00.3/usb3/3-4/3-4:1.0/input/input31
[  +0.013231] usb 3-4: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
[  +0.022373] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 9
[  +0.342659] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 10 using xhci_hcd
[  +0.118345] usb 3-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1410, idProduct=1410, bcdDevice= 0.00
[  +0.000002] usb 3-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[  +0.000001] usb 3-4: Product: USB 2.0 Camera
[  +0.000002] usb 3-4: Manufacturer: Sonix Technology Co., Ltd.
[  +0.009629] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB 2.0 Camera (1410:1410)
[  +0.025813] uvcvideo 3-4:1.0: Entity type for entity Extension 4 was not initialized!
[  +0.000002] uvcvideo 3-4:1.0: Entity type for entity Processing 3 was not initialized!
[  +0.000001] uvcvideo 3-4:1.0: Entity type for entity Camera 1 was not initialized!
[  +0.000058] input: USB 2.0 Camera: SD webcam 5160 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:09:00.3/usb3/3-4/3-4:1.0/input/input32
[  +0.013238] usb 3-4: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
[  +0.203878] usb 3-4: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
[  +0.012130] usb 3-4: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84

The camera doesn't seem damaged in any way, but maybe there's something wrong with the hardware itself?

I have a USB camera: Novatel Wireless Merlin U740 (https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=usb:1410-1410) and unfortunately it doesn't seem to work (Ubuntu 18.04, everything up to date).

Here is what I get from lsusb:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 007: ID 1410:1410 Novatel Wireless Merlin U740 (non-Vodafone)
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1ea7:0064  
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

dmesg after plugging it in:

[  667.771452] usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[  668.012445] usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1410, idProduct=1410, bcdDevice= 0.00
[  668.012447] usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[  668.012449] usb 3-2: Product: USB 2.0 Camera
[  668.012450] usb 3-2: Manufacturer: Sonix Technology Co., Ltd.
[  668.021479] option 3-2:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[  668.023851] option 3-2:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[  668.025476] option 3-2:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[  668.025536] option 3-2:1.3: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected

lsmod | grep video

uvcvideo               94208  0
videobuf2_vmalloc      20480  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       20480  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_v4l2         24576  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_common       49152  2 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo
videodev              208896  3 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
mc                     53248  5 videodev,snd_usb_audio,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common

ls /dev/video*

ls: cannot access '/dev/video*': No such file or directory

I switched to proprietary Nvidia drivers but that didn't help (rebooted afterwards). Given that I'm out of ideas, did anyone had similar issues with this particular cam or one from that manufacturer?

It's probably worth pointing out that the same cam works on my laptop with the same distro and kernel installed.

while waiting for a PC to arrive I started looking into driver issues (this is my first PC I'm going to use Ubuntu on, previously I only dealt with it on laptops) and couldn't find much info on the mentioned wireless adapter.

I found some conflicting information on the plug-and-play support and now I'm confused. Will it work out of the box on Ubuntu (18.04, 20.04 in a few months) or do I need to manually install drivers?

If I'm not mistaken it has Realtek RTL8812AE chipset on board and I were only able to find Windows drivers (official).

Since the upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 (from 17.10) I started experiencing huge performance issues with video playback, both using VLC and the browser (Youtube).

The problem gets more apparent the higher quality the video is (starts at 480p, 1080p is completely unwatchable). The video is choppy to say the least.

I had no such problem using Ubuntu 17.10.

I wonder if there's someone who also had same problem and found a potential cause and perhaps a solution?

cpuinfo:

AMD A6-6310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics

glxinfo (tidied up):

name of display: :1
display: :1  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
GLX version: 1.4
GLX extensions:
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: VMware, Inc. (0xffffffff)
    Device: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits) (0xffffffff)
    Version: 18.0.0
    Accelerated: no
    Video memory: 10965MB
    Unified memory: no
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 3.3
    Max compat profile version: 3.0
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.0
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 6.0, 128 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00
OpenGL ES profile extensions:
264 GLXFBConfigs:

UPDATE:

It seems that it's a general issue with hardware acceleration / rendering not enabled / recognised / working.

The things I have tried so far:

1. Reboot.

2. Add xorg.conf configuration file with:

   Section "Device"
       Identifier     "Device0"
       Driver         "radeon"
   EndSection
   

3. Reinstall xserver-xorg-video-radeon.

None of these things had any effect unfortunately.

Update #2

Output produced by ubuntu-drivers debug:

=== log messages from detection ===
DEBUG:root:_get_db_name: output
ID_PCI_CLASS_FROM_DATABASE=Network controller
ID_PCI_SUBCLASS_FROM_DATABASE=Network controller
ID_VENDOR_FROM_DATABASE=Broadcom Limited
ID_MODEL_FROM_DATABASE=BCM43142 802.11b/g/n


DEBUG:root:_get_db_name(/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.3/0000:01:00.0, pci:v000014E4d00004365sv000017AAsd00000621bc02sc80i00): vendor "Broadcom Limited", model "BCM43142 802.11b/g/n"
DEBUG:root:Loading custom detection plugin /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/detect/sl-modem.py
DEBUG:root:plugin /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/detect/sl-modem.py return value: None
DEBUG:root:Loading custom detection plugin /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/detect/arm-gles.py
DEBUG:root:plugin /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/detect/arm-gles.py return value: None
DEBUG:root:Loading custom detection plugin /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/detect/open-vm-dkms.py
DEBUG:root:plugin /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/detect/open-vm-dkms.py return value: None
=== modaliases in the system ===
acpi:PNP0103:
pci:v00001022d00001566sv000017AAsd00003801bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001022d00001584sv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
usb:v0BDAp0129d3960dcFFdscFFdpFFicFFisc06ip50in00
platform:rtsx_usb_ms
platform:rtsx_usb_sdmmc
usb:v0438p7900d0018dc09dsc00dp01ic09isc00ip00in00
usb:v1D6Bp0002d0415dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00in00
pci:v00001022d00001582sv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001002d00009840sv000017AAsd00003801bc04sc03i00
input:b0000v0000p0000e0000-e0,5,kramlsfw6,8,
hdaudio:v1002AA01r00100500a01
pci:v000010ECd00008168sv000017AAsd00003812bc02sc00i00
pci:v00001022d00001580sv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001022d0000780Dsv000017AAsd00003801bc04sc03i00
hdaudio:v14F1510Fr00100100a01
input:b0000v0000p0000e0000-e0,5,kramlsfw2,
input:b0000v0000p0000e0000-e0,5,kramlsfw4,
pci:v00001022d00007801sv000017AAsd00003801bc01sc06i01
pci:v00001022d0000156Bsv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001022d0000780Bsv000017AAsd00003801bc0Csc05i00
pci:v00001022d00001585sv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001022d00001537sv000017AAsd00003801bc10sc80i00
pci:v00001022d00001583sv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001022d00007813sv000017AAsd00003801bc08sc05i01
usb:v1D6Bp0002d0415dc09dsc00dp01ic09isc00ip00in00
usb:v1D6Bp0003d0415dc09dsc00dp03ic09isc00ip00in00
pci:v00001022d00001581sv00000000sd00000000bc06sc00i00
pci:v00001002d00009851sv000017AAsd00003801bc03sc00i00
pci:v000014E4d00004365sv000017AAsd00000621bc02sc80i00
usb:v5986p0652d3652dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00in00
input:b0003v5986p0652e3652-e0,1,kD4,ramlsfw
usb:v5986p0652d3652dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00in01
usb:v105BpE065d0112dcFFdsc01dp01icFFisc01ip01in01
usb:v105BpE065d0112dcFFdsc01dp01icFFiscFFipFFin02
usb:v105BpE065d0112dcFFdsc01dp01icFFisc01ip01in00
usb:v105BpE065d0112dcFFdsc01dp01icFEisc01ip01in03
pci:v00001022d0000780Esv000017AAsd00003801bc06sc01i00
acpi:PNP0800:
acpi:PNP0C04:
acpi:PNP0C09:
acpi:VPC2004:
input:b0019v0000p0000e0000-e0,1,4,k94,95,BA,BE,C0,C1,CA,CB,D4,E3,F0,F7,ram4,lsfw
acpi:PNP0C0A:
acpi:ACPI0003:
platform:regulatory
platform:microcode
acpi:PNP0C0D:
platform:vboxdrv
platform:pcspkr
platform:Fixed MDIO bus
acpi:PNP0C0C:
serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
input:b0011v0002p000Ee0000-e0,1,3,k110,111,145,14A,14D,14E,14F,ra0,1,18,1C,2F,30,35,36,39,3A,mlsfw
input:b0011v0001p0001eAB83-e0,1,4,11,14,k71,72,73,74,75,76,77,79,7A,7B,7C,7D,7E,7F,80,8C,8E,8F,9B,9C,9D,9E,9F,A3,A4,A5,A6,AC,AD,B7,B8,B9,D9,E2,ram4,l0,1,2,sfw
cpu:type:x86,ven0002fam0016mod0030:feature:,0000,0001,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,0009,000B,000C,000D,000E,000F,0010,0011,0013,0017,0018,0019,001A,001C,0020,0021,0022,0023,0024,0025,0026,0027,0028,0029,002B,002C,002D,002E,002F,0030,0031,0034,0036,0037,0038,0039,003A,003B,003D,0064,0068,006E,0070,0072,0073,0074,0075,0078,0079,007A,007C,0080,0081,0083,0089,008D,0093,0094,0096,0097,0099,009A,009B,009C,009D,009E,00C0,00C1,00C2,00C3,00C4,00C5,00C6,00C7,00C8,00C9,00CA,00CC,00CD,00D6,00D8,00DA,00DB,00DC,00E2,00E8,00EC,00ED,00F3,010F,0123,0140,01C2,01E0,01E1,01E2,01E3,01E4,01E6,01E7,01EA,01EB,01EC,0220
acpi:LNXSYSTM:
acpi:LNXSYBUS:
acpi:LNXCPU:
input:b0019v0000p0001e0000-e0,1,k74,ramlsfw
acpi:PNP0C0F:
acpi:PNP0A08:PNP0A03:
acpi:LNXVIDEO:
acpi:PNP0100:
acpi:PNP0C01:
acpi:PNP0000:
acpi:PNP0C02:
acpi:ETD0624:ETD0000:PNP0F13:
acpi:MSFT0001:PNP0303:
acpi:PNP0B00:
acpi:PNP0200:
input:b0019v0000p0006e0000-e0,1,kE0,E1,E3,F1,F2,F3,F4,F5,ramlsfw
input:b0019v0000p0005e0000-e0,5,kramlsfw0,
dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrA2CN36WW(V2.04):bd04/30/2015:svnLENOVO:pn80E3:pvrLenovoG50-45:rvnLENOVO:rnLancer5B2:rvrNotDefined:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrLenovoG50-45:
=== matching driver packages ===
bcmwl-kernel-source: installed: 6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu4   available: 6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu4 (auto-install)  [distro]  non-free  modalias: pci:v000014E4d00004365sv000017AAsd00000621bc02sc80i00  path: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.3/0000:01:00.0  vendor: Broadcom Limited  model: BCM43142 802.11b/g/n

Output produced by sudo lspci -nnk | grep -i vga -A3:

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [1002:9851]
Subsystem: Lenovo Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [17aa:3801]
Kernel driver in use: radeon
Kernel modules: radeon, amdgpu

Output produced by sudo lshw -c display:

  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics]
       vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
       physical id: 1
       bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=radeon latency=0
       resources: irq:37 memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f0000000-f07fffff ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f0c00000-f0c3ffff memory:c0000-dffff

Let be start by giving you some background. I'm currently using Ubuntu as my OS, but I also recently installed Windows 10 using VirtualBox. I needed Windows to create WindowsService in C#. So far so good. Unfortunately my laptop have huge trouble running Windows in VM and I'd like to move that installed Windows 10 to a partition on my hard drive (I have 100GB~ on one of my partitions that I no longer use).

What I would like to achieve is the ability to dual-boot into that Windows 10 from Grub.

The first question is - is that even possible? The second question is - what do I do to make it work?

I would like to learn on how I can make a copy of system to be moved to another machine. My laptop started to fail at few things, most likely hardware issue, and I must send it to manufacturer's technical service. Before I do so, I'd like to make a copy of what I have in case they format/replace my disk or just send me a new piece of equipment. I will hold the backup on two external drives (just to make sure).

What I would like to "save":

• my home directory obviously (without .cache dir and one other)
• all installed packages and applications (compilers, parsers, utility apps, libraries, etc.)
• configuration for several things like local web server, PHP-FPM
• drivers, drivers, drivers, because last time I tried to make a fresh install, I had to use Ethernet cable because there was no drivers for my wireless card

I have few applications that were installed using .deb package, but these I can lose (NetBeans and QtFramework with QtCreator), the rest of them I'd like to keep.

I think it would be much easier to include whole /etc directory to deal with configurations, rather than selecting them one by one. Are there any other directories that may contain stuff like configs, settings?

Is there any reliable tool I could use for that? It may be command-line tool, I don't mind, as long as it allows me to specify what I want to include, exclude and that would generate a single file, most probably compressed - so simply copying won't work.

If it helps you, my home director y is about 42GB, but I only need about 25-30% of that to be backed up.

EDIT

Just thought I would also mention it in the question itself. It is fair to assume I will not move to another hardware configuration. This is only for the case where configuration is exactly the same. I'm not sure if that changes anything.

EDIT 2

Alright, I figured out the way to backup my applications list using this "tutorial": https://gist.github.com/brpaz/6d5bbcb5231cae2132ff

Now I'm only looking for some nice GUI application that would let me to backup my home directory excluding few subdirectories. I would much more prefer if it created a compressed file instead of just copying files, but if there's nothing out there, I will take anything really :) Deja dup does not work for me (it does not exclude directories I want to exclude, no matter what I do). I want to emphasize the need to exclude certain directories (either by selecting them or using a pattern), because 70% of my home directory can be recreated other way (e.g. local git repositories).