Intel’s new “MIPI IPU 6” webcams are still in the half-supported stage on
Linux. They are wired through a little image-processing block (the IPU) that
needs firmware, a kernel driver, and a userspace camera-HAL. Most of that
code is only just landing upstream, so on Ubuntu it works only if all three
pieces line up:
OEM or HWE kernel that contains the IPU 6 media driver
(for Noble this is linux-oem-24.04* or linux-oem-6.11).
DKMS package that glues the driver to that kernel
intel-ipu6-dkms
Camera HAL / libcamera back-end
libcamhal-ipu6, libcamera, libcamera-ipa-dyn.
Canonicals oem-kernel PPA provides those packages for a handful of Dell and
Lenovo models; HP’s Spectre uses the same IPU6 stack but its sensor IDs
haven’t been whitelisted yet, so the HAL loads but won’t deliver frames.
Cheese then throws the “device wants 2:0:0:0 colorimetry” message and exits.
What you can (realistically) do today
Keep the USB webcam for meetings – the Spectre’s built-in camera will
light up only once the HAL recognises its sensor ID.
Stay on the OEM/HWE kernel and keep intel-ipu6* packages installed so
future updates can pick the camera up automatically. You can check with
sudo dmesg | grep -i ipu6
– when support lands you’ll see the sensor probed without errors.
Try libcamera directly (sometimes works even if Cheese fails):
sudo apt install libcamera-apps
libcamera-hello
If you get a preview window, you can stream into video-conference software
via v4l2loopback.
Why there’s no “one-line” fix yet
Support depends on exact sensor model + ACPI table entries HP used in
that Spectre revision. Upstream maintainers add them one laptop at a time
because every vendor wires the IPU6 differently. Until HP submits (or
Canonical back-ports) your machine’s quirks, the driver loads but the HAL
refuses to start – exactly what you’re seeing.
Bottom line
For now the behaviour is “expected”: the IPU6 stack is present but doesn’t
know your HP sensor. Keep the OEM kernel and intel-ipu6 packages, watch
for future updates, and use a USB webcam in the meantime. Once the Spectre’s
sensor is merged upstream, your built-in camera should just start working
after a normal apt upgrade.
