# Install somagic-tools with Homebrew

Tools to extract firmware from EasyCAP. Version 1.1 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:somagic-tools
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install somagic-tools
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:somagic-tools
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.1
- **Source summary:** Tools to extract firmware from EasyCAP
- **Homepage:** <https://code.google.com/archive/p/easycap-somagic-linux/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- somagic-extract-firmware (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.1
## Project history and usage

somagic-tools is the firmware-extraction companion for the archived easycap-somagic-linux project. Its main command, `somagic-extract-firmware`, extracts Somagic EasyCAP firmware from a Windows driver file so Linux capture tools can initialize the USB video device.

### Project history

The source tarball for somagic-easycap-tools 1.0 records an initial release on 24 February 2012, followed by version 1.1 on 10 March 2013 with a new verbose option. The README and man page describe a deliberately small utility: search a Windows driver file, verify the CRC32 signature, and write `/lib/firmware/somagic_firmware.bin` by default.

### Adoption history

The project lived in Google Code and is now available through the Google Code Archive. Homebrew packages `somagic-tools` as a separate formula because the firmware extraction step is useful before running the companion `somagic` capture program; formula analytics show low but continuing niche use.

### How it is used

Users obtain the Windows driver from the EasyCAP installation CD, often through Windows or Wine, then run `somagic-extract-firmware` on the driver file. The output firmware file is consumed by `somagic-init`, separating firmware extraction from actual capture.

### Why package nerds care

This is the kind of tiny hardware-enablement utility package managers preserve well: one command, a legal/technical firmware boundary, and a dependency relationship that keeps the capture package from embedding vendor firmware.

### Timeline

- 2012: somagic-easycap-tools 1.0 initial release.
- 2013: somagic-easycap-tools 1.1 adds verbose output.
- Current: Homebrew packages version 1.1 as `somagic-tools`.

### Related projects

- `somagic` consumes the extracted firmware and performs capture.
- The toolchain targets Somagic variants of EasyCAP USB video capture devices.
- libgcrypt is used by the tools package.

### Sources

- <https://code.google.com/archive/p/easycap-somagic-linux>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/somagic-tools.json>
- <https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-archive-downloads/v2/code.google.com/easycap-somagic-linux/somagic-easycap-tools_1.1.tar.gz>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for somagic-tools. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.



## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/somagic-tools.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/somagic-tools.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph