Hi Ted,
I'm interested in this as well (e.eg., for use with vic [1];
other suggested conferencing software for Linux?).
My only previous experience with a Web cam and Linux involved
a Sony product I bought in Japan that never worked for me.
I gave it to Martin Duerst to use (with a Japanese version of
Windows).
I've not tried to use my USB port(s) ever, I think...
- Ian
[1]
http://www-nrg.ee.lbl.gov/vic/
Ted Guild wrote:
> So I'm moved into my new digs and my workspace is nicely away from the
> activity of the rest of the house, but there's a cost to that as
> well.
>
> We've got this large German Shepard who spends most of these warm
> summer days in the garage for a number of reasons including all the
> dog hair he's shedding and to let himself out when nature calls.
> We're set back a bit from the road so normally it's ok that he has
> free rein. The problem is when someone or something comes up the
> driveway he starts barking and I need to investigate and see if
> intervention is necessary. I don't think he'd maul anyone (another
> dog if it didn't respect his authority, sure) but they don't know that
> and I might not get my UPS package or that fat Publisher's Clearing
> House check from Ed McMann.
>
> I have a decent route to run cable between where my desktop is and a
> window looking out the front where it occurred to me a webcam would
> provide me the view I need without the need of having to stand up.
> Only trick would be capturing what I should have seen while it was in
> the field of vision of the camera. There are a couple efforts under
> linux to sense motion from image differences, [1] (debian packaged as
> well) looks the most promising and it's commandline based with a web
> cgi interface instead of strictly gui. Plus motion generates events
> when it detects movement so I could do one of a number of things
> including pop a tab in my browser of the image when there's something
> coming, maybe before even the dog catches on.
>
> I've never bothered at all with webcams and figured someone on this
> list may have done some product comparisons under linux or know of
> sites that have - I haven't turned up much in my search. I figured
> USB (I only have USB 1.0 at present) for the IO throughput and not a
> custom pci card so I could attach it to the lapper if I ever want to
> video conference or something. Since I'll probably have to shell out
> ~80-120 USD for the 2 USB cables (5m max USB cable length [2]) and hub
> (to get beyond 5m [3]) I don't want to spend much on a higher end
> webcam. I think at least 640x480 resolution would be good for some
> clarity of details.
>
> Anyone have any recommendations on webcams? Partial list [4] of linux
> supported in the "drivers" section. I'm leaning towards Logitech's
> middle of the line QuickCam Web [5] [6] since the only difference I
> noticed in the features lists was additional [MS Windows only]
> software and more stylish packaging for their "Pro" version neither of
> which I care about.
>
> 1.
http://motion.technolust.cx/
> 2.
http://www.usb.org/faq/ans5.html#q2
> 3.
http://www.usb.org/faq/ans5.html#q4
> 4.
http://www.exploits.org/v4l/
> 5.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm?page=products/details&contentid=5036&crid=4&detail=2&countryid=19&languageid=1
> 6.
http://qce-ga.sourceforge.net/
>
--
Ian Jacobs (
[email protected])
http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel: +1 718 260-9447