How to setup a webcam server using webcam-server (Includes daemon script)

[duceduc]

I am also having issue with the setup. I get a black screen when connecting via the web.

I am running ubuntu 10.4 server edition. How can I check if my webcam is working on the server? I've read the line in the OP where you can use two different apps to test, but I am using a server ubuntu and not a client.

[loothi]

Hi All. Thanks for the tutorial. I had a problem with the init script.. the -f flag of the pkill command wasn't killing the webcam-server process, even though it was removing the lock file. I knocked another one up which I'll paste below. Works for me on ubuntu 9.10

#!/bin/sh

SERVER_NAME=webcam-server
SERVER_BIN=/usr/bin/webcam-server
LOCK_FILE=/var/lock/$SERVER_NAME
RTRN=0
OPTIONS='-v -g 320x240 -p 8888'

start() {

    if [ -f $LOCK_FILE ] ; then
        echo "$SERVER_NAME appears to be running"
        return
    fi

    echo "Starting webcam streamer: $SERVER_NAME."
    export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so
    nohup $SERVER_BIN $OPTIONS > /dev/null 2>/dev/null &
    RTRN=$?

    if [ $RTRN -eq 0 ]; then
        touch $LOCK_FILE
    else
        echo "Error starting $SERVER_NAME: returned $RTRN"

    fi
}

stop() {
    if [ ! -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
       echo "$SERVER_NAME is not running"
       return
    fi

    echo "Stopping webcam streamer: $SERVER_NAME."
    pkill -f "$SERVER_BIN" 
    RTRN=$?

    if [ $RTRN -eq 0 ]; then
        rm -f $LOCK_FILE
    else
        echo "Error stopping $SERVER_NAME: returned $RTRN"
    fi
}

case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
restart)
stop
start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
RTRN=1
esac

exit $RTRN

[ubudog]

Thank you, this works great! I built an app in REAL Studio that refreshes it with an HTML Socket (whatever it's called), and now I have a nice little security system.

[NoSalt]

Hello All

I was wondering if anybody has ever been able to successfully get webcam-server to work? I have been trying for a while now, and I just cannot get it to work for me.

I am running XUbuntu 10.04 on a Dell PowerEdge T110. I am using a Logitech C250 Webcam. First, I tried Cheese, and that worked great, so I know my webcam is supported. Next, I installed webcam-server using apt-get, no problems there either. I have been reading information on how to get this set up in several locations:

http://hacktivision.com/index.php/2009/06/16/setting-up-an-ubuntu-webcam-server?blog=2
http://webcamserver.sourceforge.net/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1194630

I can successfully point my browser to http://localhost:8888 and see myself on the page. The issue comes with accessing the cam from an html document. I copied all of the files from usr/share/doc/webcam-server/applet/ to /var/www/webcam/ , but there is no success. Whenever I attempt to view it from localhost, I get an Apache error message stating:

[Sat Apr 23 19:23:16 2011] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: /var/www/webcam/WebCamApplet.class, referer: http://127.0.0.1/var/www/webcam/webcam.html

And, when I attempt to access the page from another computer, all I get is the init.jpg file, no Apache error either.

This is becoming really frustrating, so I was hoping somebody out there actually got this to work, and could help me out. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day.

[dmizer]

First, I tried Cheese, and that worked great, so I know my webcam is supported.

Actually, I have learned that Cheese accepts direct input from the webcam, whereas webcam-server works through video4linux2 which may or may not support your camera.

Check to see if your camera works in a video4linux capable program rather than in Cheese. VLC uses video4linux2 as does camorama.

This may not be your problem, but it's worth investigating.

Also keep in mind that the webcam-server project appears to be dead and hasn't received any updates to the code since around 2004.

[NoSalt]

dmizer

Yes, my camera works through VLC. I went to Media -> Open Capture Device, I entered "/dev/video0" for my video device name, and it works great.

[NoSalt]

Just checking in ... anybody have any ideas for me?

Thanks

[feeblminds]

Hi, just picked up this thread trying to solve my problem with webcam-server. Im running XFCE on Ubuntu 10.04. When I run the script above it seems to work but the localhost link just hangs on loading screen, if I remove 'export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so' I get unable to connect through browser.

If I run webcam-server -d /dev/video0 -p 8888 I get the following:
ioctl (VIDIOCGCAP): Invalid argument
ioctl (VIDIOCSPICT): Invalid argument
error setting video device parameters, using defaults
ioctl (VIDIOCGCAP): Invalid argument
ioctl (VIDIOCSPICT): Invalid argument
not a valid video device? quitting.

I can run VLC server using vlc v412:///dev/video0 which works fine, also Cheese works fine.

Any thoughts?

[mo7ard]

Brilliant tutorial... worked like a charm with my Ubuntu 10.10!

I'm just trying to customize the html and conf to my needs... if I have any doubts, I'll be posting here

Thanks!!!!

[mo7ard]

I'm having trouble in port forwarding to the web...

In the webcam-server config file, I have "-p 9999" set, and in the index.html file in Apache (yes, I replaced the index content with the webcam.html one) I have set "<param name=URL value="http://localhost:9999">"

So...

. if I open my web browser in http://localhost/ I can see my webcam feed
. if I open my web browser in http://localhost:9977/ I can see a static image

... but no matter what I do, I can't port forward this feed. I tell my browser that my machine IP with port 9999 is to be open at port 9999, and when I try to open via my public IP (e.g. http:// 12.34.56.78:9977) all I get is the static image.

I've even replaced the "localhost" in the index.html with my IP address but I get the same problem... no matter what I do, I can't see my feed outside my network... what am I doing wrong? Help, please...

Thanks!!

EDIT: I disabled my firewall to let any incoming traffic to my PC, so the problem isn't there.