Looking For Cheap Webcam To Use Under Linux

[Cyde Weys]

I'm kind of inexperienced in this area, so I thought I'd defer to your
expert guidance.

I currently run a website on my Linux system and I'd like to add a
webcam. Refreshing a little 320x240 picture every minute is good enough
for my purposes. So I'm looking for a cheap webcam that plays well with
Linux. Connectivity via USB1.1 is preferred (though I suppose I could
live with a serial port interface). USB2 or FireWire are no-go: my
server doesn't support those standards.

So, what do you guys suggest? It should be cheap and have good open
source Linux support. As a follow-up question, anyone know a good
program for Linux that automatically updates, say, an image in my htdocs
folder every minute with the current view of the webcam?

Thanks a lot guys! When I get the webcam all set up, I'll be sure to
post a link for you guys (if anyone is interested in seeing University
of Maryland, College Park).

 

[@drian]

So, what do you guys suggest? It should be cheap and have good open
source Linux support. As a follow-up question, anyone know a good
program for Linux that automatically updates, say, an image in my htdocs
folder every minute with the current view of the webcam?

It may be easier to check your vendor for the Linux distribution to see what
they support. After going to Google and typing in "web cam linux
compatible", I saw some nice expensive Axis web cams, compatible with Linux
but costing $400 to $1000. As a suggestion, I'd look at Intel web cams, as
Intel has provided Linux drivers for quite a few of their hardware products
in the past.

@drian.

 

[Lane Lewis]

I'm kind of inexperienced in this area, so I thought I'd defer to your
expert guidance.

I currently run a website on my Linux system and I'd like to add a
webcam. Refreshing a little 320x240 picture every minute is good enough
for my purposes. So I'm looking for a cheap webcam that plays well with
Linux. Connectivity via USB1.1 is preferred (though I suppose I could
live with a serial port interface). USB2 or FireWire are no-go: my
server doesn't support those standards.

So, what do you guys suggest? It should be cheap and have good open
source Linux support. As a follow-up question, anyone know a good
program for Linux that automatically updates, say, an image in my htdocs
folder every minute with the current view of the webcam?

Thanks a lot guys! When I get the webcam all set up, I'll be sure to
post a link for you guys (if anyone is interested in seeing University
of Maryland, College Park).

Check with some of the Linux groups, some probably have set that up.

Here's one link for a driver.
http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/


Sure post the link when your ready.
Is that a coed :O)

Lane

 

[Cyde Weys]

@drian wrote:

It may be easier to check your vendor for the Linux distribution to see what
they support. After going to Google and typing in "web cam linux
compatible", I saw some nice expensive Axis web cams, compatible with Linux
but costing $400 to $1000. As a suggestion, I'd look at Intel web cams, as
Intel has provided Linux drivers for quite a few of their hardware products
in the past.

Wow, $400 to $1000 is way too expensive for a poor college student
I'm thinking more like the kind of stuff that shows up on eBay when you
search for "webcam", half of which doesn't even go about $20. Anyone of
those crap webcams would be fine, as long as the driver support is
available.

 

[Cyde Weys]

Check with some of the Linux groups, some probably have set that up.

Here's one link for a driver.
http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/

Thanks. If I can find one of those on eBay for relatively cheap I guess
I'll go with that.

Sure post the link when your ready.
Is that a coed :O)

Well, yes, my dorm is coed But I'm going to be pointing the webcam
outside of my room to get a view of the outside of my dorm. So the link
may not be as interesting as you would like.