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Finding a Customizable Webcam (and Other Devices)?
MankyD asks: "I'm in the market for a webcam. Wireless is preferred, but Internet connectivity is a must. I've found some OK-looking products, but nothing fantastic. The best-looking cam I've found we already have at work and it's not that great. The cam we have at work would be awesome if I could open up the code — customize the built-in web pages and/or write my own Java viewer — but that doesn't look like its going to happen any time soon. Has anyone ever found an IP camera that will allow you to customize it? Whats the best way to go about finding one? What about hackable devices in general — how do you find gadgets that let you tinker with their software?"
I like the Axis cameras. Write a quick script to grab the images and display them in your custom webpage, it's a 10-minute job. Plus, I think the cameras actually run Linux, which I know is a big selling point in some crowds.
I'm pretty certain Linksys makes a Linux-based 802.11g / ethernet webcam and posts the firmware source for it.
"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb." -- Dark Helmet
Check out Spook an open source, highly customizable or embeddible streaming server. It is best paired with a firewire camera, but those can be had easily for $100; I love my UniBrain Fire-i camera. There is also a Freshmeat page on the project.
have you checked out linuxdevices.com ? they've got info on a bunch of different linux based devices, including some webcams as I recall.
Linksys makes a new WRT series router, the WRTSL54GS, with a USB 2.0 port. By loading a distribution like OpenWRT on it, you can attach a Linux-supported webcam to it and make some CGIs to be served up by one of the available web servers for OpenWRT.
Asus also makes some OpenWRT compatible routers, the WL-500g series, which also have USB ports, but you can serve up webcam images using the default Asus firmware.
-- thalakan
Rabbit Semiconductor makes a nifty Camera Application Kit. But at $500 you may want to try hacking a commercial unit. The nice thing about this one is that it has pan, tilt, and all the software comes with the kit along with a compiler and other tools needed to customize it. Yes, I'm affiliated with them, no I don't make any money from this shameless plug.
-Adam
We have a bunch of Canon VB-C10 's at work... full pan/tilt/zoom, and it runs embedded linux. The zoom works really well (you can read license plates in the parking lot from a camera mounted in a 4th floor office). The embedded webserver dishes out java viewers as well as several examples on how to embed still captures and preset captures into your own web pages. Ultimately these beasts will run you well over a grand USD, though.
If it was for me, I would simply attach a $150 USB Logitech Quickcam Orbit (there are Linux drivers for rudimentary PTZ) to a $250 USB-over-IP dongle, and have it run to a configured server. This would only give you USB1.0 framerates, though, so you might consider running a long USB2.0 extension cord (if you're within, say 10m) or a USB2.0-over-CAT5 extender (though these might be hard to come by too).
Anyway, have fun... I'm still pining for my wifi-controlled webcam robot with manipulator arm.
Just bought the basic 802.11-enabled Hawking model...
In an unusual turn for them, the networking part of it actually works great... Setting it up goes exactly as they describe it in the manual, and (unlike every other Hawking product I've used), it doesn't shit the bed and require a manual reset after even a momentary loss of connectivity.
The image quality and convenience of getting snaps from it - Ugh. Without some work, you have no choice but to use either a browser and their built-in Java app, or their very custom (and all but useless) software.
With a bit of work (read: You need NetCat and something like dd that can extract byte ranges from the raw crap it send to nc), you can convince it to send you snapshots, but you get very low quality images (as in, under 20k for a 640x480 still).
And for something in the $100 range, you might think it would include at least basic autofocus or even a cheap 18"-to-infinity lens - Nope. Turn the stupid little ring on the lens, and pray your subject doesn't move outside a certain magic box.
Now, see, I have the opposite problem. I'm looking for a webcam that can't connect to the internet. Can anyone help me with that?
There are 11 types of people in the world: those who can count in binary, and those who can't.
This is, by now means, a linux solution (flame away), but there is a great article on MSDN about a webcam project. Includes motion detection, wired/wireless, and a few other hacks.
Enjoy!