[Sussex] [OT] Running a server from home

[Nic Ferrier]

"Rob Malpass" <rob at malpass133.fsnet.co.uk> writes:

> I have 2Mb (downlink) and presumably 256kb uplink ADSL.   I also (am lucky 
> enough to) have 1Mb download and again presumably 256kb uplink
> cable.

256kb very probably.


>> Mostly a webcam just drops files into a directory. Normally an ISP
>> just gives you some filespace that you can ftp into...
>
> Oh - I didn't know that.   So is it not possible to stream using a webcam? 
> If it's as simple as the webcam just providing files, then all I need to do 
> (as you say) is get something to periodically upload them to my webspace and 
> bob's my uncle.
>>
>> thus you can normally do this with lftp or some other ftp client that
>> supports mirroring a directory.
>>
>> It's a lot quicker than setting up your own box. Though you might want
>> to set up your own box simply as a learning experience.
>>
>
> Thanks for this.   I had thought I'd be streaming - hence the thought of 
> having my own server.   However, come to think of it, one "photo" every 10 
> minutes - or even 10 seconds I guess should be fine for my purposes.
>
> Any thoughts on the best tool for the job?   

If you search around I wouldn't be suprised if there aren't specific
programs that can either handle the synchronization or handle the
taking of pictures and uploading.

But in fact it's very easy. Set the camera software to save into a
particular directory and write a cron job to mirror the directory
to your webserver every minute (or however often).


> How do webcams work with (say) Debian?   

Pretty well. I have one that I use on sarge and etch.


Nic