[sclug] Security cameras/Web Cams

[Alan Pope]

On 08/05/05, Neil Owens <neil_o at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> I've been looking at installing a couple of cameras at home and using the
> Motion software :-
> http://www.lavrsen.dk/twiki/bin/view/Motion/WebHome
> 
> to do the motion capture etc.  I've got a box but will need a capture card
> and some cameras (USB or plain video)
> 

You don't necessarily need a capture card at all. If you get a USB
camera then you just need a USB port and the necessary support in your
kernel for USB and the camera you want to use.

I've got a Philips Toucam 740K webcam which works under Ubuntu using
camstream or webcam (another bit of webcam software). I've never used
motion but understand it works as designed.

The one thing to watch out for is support for your camera. Before you
buy one go online and have a mooch about with google and the model
number of the camera and see what turns up.

> Has anyone got this or something similar going?  I'm still too new to Linux
> to feel like I'll get this working without some help and the nearer the
> better :-)
> 

I know a bunch of people who all use webcams in linux and for the most
part they just work. Some people have had driver issues or
incompatibilities between driver and capture software, which were
ironed out with patches and/or kernel recompiles.

Cheers,
Al.