Ubuntu Elgato Facecam

Elgato VirtualCam for Linux

A professional desktop application for using the **Elgato Facecam** as a virtual webcam on Ubuntu Linux. This unified application creates a virtual webcam device (e.g. `/dev/video10`) that works seamlessly with Chrome, OBS, Zoom, and other video applications.

**✅ NEW: Desktop Application Architecture** - Replaces the problematic systemd approach with a reliable, single-process desktop application.

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📦 Features

• 🎥 Auto-detection of Elgato Facecam
• 🔄 Automatic transcoding to browser-friendly yuv420p format
• 🖥️ Single desktop application - No systemd permission issues
• 🖱️ Integrated system tray with real-time status indicators
• 🎨 Dynamic status icons (green=streaming, gray=ready, red=error)
• 📱 Desktop notifications when streaming starts/stops
• ⚙️ JSON configuration with GUI settings (coming soon)
• 🏗️ Professional packaging ready for PyPI distribution

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🚀 Installation

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/ubuntu-elgato-facecam.git
cd ubuntu-elgato-facecam
./install-desktop-app.sh

The script will:

• Install system dependencies (v4l2loopback-dkms, ffmpeg, python3-pyqt5)
• Set up Python dependencies
• Configure desktop autostart integration
• Test camera detection

**What you get:**

• 🎥 Virtual webcam available at /dev/video10
• 🖱️ System tray camera icon for easy control
• 🚀 Auto-starts on login via desktop integration
• ⚙️ Professional configuration management

**After installation:**

• Refresh your shell: exec bash
• Start the app in background: python3 virtualcam_app.py &
• Look for the camera icon in your system tray
• The app will auto-start on future logins

🗑️ Uninstalling

To completely remove the desktop application:

./uninstall-desktop-app.sh

This will:

• Stop the running application
• Remove autostart entry
• Remove configuration (with confirmation)
• Remove sudoers permissions
• Optionally remov