Webcams
There’s a USB standard called UVC that defines streaming video, which makes webcams as easy to use as memory sticks and hard drives by allowing one driver to work with many webcams. Therefore, most (if not all) webcams work automatically in Ubuntu.
For a quick way to ensure that your webcam is working, you can install and run the Cheese program by selecting the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and then entering:
sudo apt-get install cheese cheese

Figure 3-42. MythTV up and running
The first command installs the program (and will prompt you for your Ubuntu password), whereas the second (which you should issue only after installation finishes) will run the webcam program and bring up a window similar to the one shown in Figure 3-43. Once you have satisfied yourself that your webcam works, you can close Cheese, but it’s worth leaving on your computer because it’s a great utility for recording video and taking photos.

Figure 3-43. Testing a webcam using the Cheese program—and yes, I do need to tidy up my office!