What is it and why is it important?

I have had this crazy idea of creating a time-lapse video for the lat few years now, so recently I got myself an ESP32-CAM module, as well as the program module which is used to actually upload code to the module (there are other ways to upload code to the module but using the camera programming module makes things, reading pin-out diagrams and hooking it all up, so much easier).

What has been my experience with it?

If you are here because you are a few hours into the search term “CH340 [your operating system here] drivers” then you’ve come to the right place.

I spent a weekend wondering why my Linux desktop and my Windows 11 latop devices were not recognising my camera programming module when I plugged it in. I was having a really bad experience thinking I was sold a dud board.

It turns out that the kind of USB cable you use it extremely important. Most cables are of the charging kind.

If you use a cable that can handle both data and charging then your computer will instantly recognise the device. There is no need for a driver since for at least 10 years now the driver has been included with Linux and Windows.

How have I operationalized this knowledge?

Check my USB cables! If I am going to transfer data between devices then I really need to use a cable that supports data transfer.

The wildest possibilities this knowledge might enable

  • Now that I can continue on my coding journey I will be able to complete my wild project.
  • Build a time-lapse camera of that photos of me working here in the office.
  • Build a web or security camera where I process the video feed and match faces/objects and the times they are seen.
  • Add a camera to the robot kit I’m assembling next.
  • Since the camera does not automatically adjust for things like lighting conditions, add a lux meter sensor and so on and adjust the camera settings before snapping the images. It might be images to have a database of reference images which the camera compares against and then infers the correct settings based on the reference image and what the settings for that image would have been had it been taken with the correct settings.