Ted, First of all, I am a fan of your FreeBSD and the Corporate Networking Guide. You have done an excellent job writing that book and I often refer to it for suggestions on specific topics.
Regarding self-contained webcams, I realize that these gizmos are out there. But so far none of them have the two criteria I am looking for: 1) Wireless connectivity (802.11g preferred), and 2) VPN / IPsec capable. The reason is that I want to be able to move the camera at a moment's notice, and I don't want the images of my bedroom / study / backyard to be broadcast in the clear. However, I have not seen any webcam that has those two capabilities, so that's why I am trying to get them to work with Free and OpenBSD. SC On 2/1/06, Ted Mittelstaedt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The reason there's little interest in this is that webcams are > rapidly becoming completely self-contained. Lots of them today > have an ethernet port, and integrated webserver in the camera. > The need for a PC to be involved here for anything other than > running a web browser to display output is pretty questionable. > > When network address translation first came out the only way you > could get it was to used a modded open source UNIX on a PC with > 2 nics. Then Cisco came out with it so you could use their routers > to get it. Then linksys came out with cheap routers that had > it. Nowadays, only the diehards are running FreeBSD nat routers > with 2 nics in them. The same thing is happening with webcams. > > Ted > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Simon Chang > >Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 12:49 PM > >To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > >Subject: Regarding QuickCam webcams and FreeBSD > > > > > >Howdy, > > > >I happen to have been doing quite a bit of research in this area. > >What I wanted to do was to set up a *nix box with a webcam and a > >wireless NIC, so that I can mount the headless machine in the bedroom > >to keep an eye on our seven-month-old baby. (Link between the *nix > >box and the home private network will be encrypted using IPsec VPN.) > > > >What I have found so far are the following: > > > >1) The apps that I have found do not work with a wide variety of more > >recent makes of webcams. If you do a Google search on "FreeBSD > >webcam" or "OpenBSD webcam", you actually see some tools that > >purportedly work with QuickCam Express or QuickCam B/W (or Color), and > >a handful of other models. > > > >2) Logitech, the maker of QuickCam, used to make available technical > >specs and docs for the developers to write drivers with. > >Unfortunately, the company does not do that anymore, and anyone who > >wants to make a QuickCam-series work has to either reverse-engineer > >it, use available drivers and hope for the best, or run it under > >Windows. > > > >3) By contrast, NetBSD and some Linux distros (so far I've heard > >promising things about Fedora Core 4 and I think Gentoo) have more > >development work going on for webcams. If FreeBSD doesn't work for > >you, try some of the other *nixes. > > > >HTH, > > > >SC > > > >- Hide quoted text - > > > > > >On 1/29/06, Xn Nooby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I bought a fancy Quickcam (face-tracking), though I have no > >idea how to make > >> it work with FreeBSD. I installed qcamview, but when I run > >it as root, it > >> says "Not found Quickcam, or Permission denied". > >> > >> Anyone know anything about Quickcams on FreeBSD? I don't > >expect it to work, > >> but it would be cool if it did. There seems to be very > >little information > >> on the net about qcamview. > >> > >> I'd be happy to just snapshots with it. I'm using FreeBSD > >6.0 and Fluxbox. > >> The cam is USB 2.0. > >> > >> Any suggestions? > >> _______________________________________________ > >> freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > >> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > >> To unsubscribe, send any mail to > >"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > >> > >_______________________________________________ > >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > >http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > >To unsubscribe, send any mail to > >"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > > > >-- > >No virus found in this incoming message. > >Checked by AVG Free Edition. > >Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.23/240 - Release > >Date: 1/25/2006 > > > _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
