PUBLIC MARKS from camel with tags debian & usb

First and foremost, be prepared to have some patience when trying to get a USB cam to work under Linux. In trying to get mine to work, I searched many a newsgroup thread only to find there was only one message in the thread, the original question stating the problem. i.e. no one had an answer for the person who posted the question so you may be on your own trying to get your cam to work. Often times the same camera model will use different drivers for different sub-models (ex: not all QuickCam Express sub-models use the same driver). However, my trials and tribulations were a good learning experience and I'll share what I learned here to hopefully make your setup easier.