mkaz.com : How I couldn't get my Blink camera to work on Mac OS X

Introduction

The SiPix Blink II is a tiny digital camera, about 2"x2" in size, it takes 640x480 images and less than $40. One problem, the camera is not recognized by iPhoto.

The following is my unsuccesful attempt at getting it to work on my Mac OS X using gPhoto2. I went through the pain and maybe this will help others get further compiling something else, which is how I pieced together what to do.

Solution: gPhoto2

gPhoto2 is a free, redistributable, ready to use set of digital camera software applications for Unix-like systems, written by a whole team of dedicated volunteers around the world. It supports over 300 cameras

My Environment: (Your mileage may vary)

I'm running Mac OS X 10.2.4
I have the December Developer Tools installed
I use the bash shell
I've enabled sudo/root access

Building gPhoto2

Step 1: Download and Install pkg-config (ver 0.15.0)
http://www.freedesktop.org/software/pkgconfig/
Unpack the latest package version. I had to set the CFLAGS environment variable to get it to build properly.

$ export CFLAGS="-no-cpp-precomp"
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Step 2: Download and Install dlcompat (ver 2002-11-17)
http://www.opendarwin.org/projects/dlcompat/
Unpack the latest package version and change to directory. No problems building.

$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Step 3: Download and Install libgphoto2 (ver 2.1.1)
http://gphoto.sourceforge.net/download/
Unpack the latest package version and change to directory. Big problems building. Required dlcompat and setting the CFLAGS and --disable-nls options below. Build error on nikon cameras so I commented them out in ./camlibs/Makefile

$ export CFLAGS="-no-cpp-precomp"
$ ./configure --disable-nls

Hand edited ./camlibs/Makefile
Removed all cameras I did not want from SUBDIRS_CAMLIBS and SUBDIRS

$ make
$ sudo make install

Step 4: Download and Install gPhoto2 (ver 2.1.1)
http://gphoto.sourceforge.net/download/
Unpack the latest package version and change to directory. Required pkg-config.

$ ./configure
$ make
FAILS

Error Message:

gcc -no-cpp-precomp -g -Wall -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-prototypes -g -Wall -o gphoto2 -export-dynamic options.o actions.o foreach.o gp-params.o main.o version.o range.o shell.o -lpthread -L/usr/local/lib -lgphoto2 -lm
ld: unknown flag: -export-dynamic
make[2]: *** [gphoto2] Error 1
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

At this point it was 1:30am and I called it quits. I took my camera and software into work and attempted on my Linux box there, which was quite easy to install gPhoto2 BUT it would not recognize the camera. I think a USB error of sorts. I haven't had too much time to troubleshoot it.

I have a Windows box there which I was able to install and view the photos. Not too bad for a $40 camera. Reminds me of the Holga or other toy cameras. Gallery to come soon.