[Techtalk] zoneminder, motion fail on ubuntu 13.10, no /dev/video0

[Carla Schroder]

Ok then, /dev/video0 is not the whole answer. I configured my webcam in
Zoneminder, and still no live view, even though the ZM logs are clean
and indicate that it is capturing the webcam stream. As they do for the
IP camera, too.

I'm back to wishing violence would help.

Carla

On Sun, 2 Feb 2014 12:50:17 -0800
Carla Schroder <carla at bratgrrl.com> wrote:

> I'm nearly certain that the key here is the missing /dev/video0. Does
> anyone know how Ubuntu 13.10 creates it? On my older Mint system
> (based on Ubuntu 12.04) it is created at boot, so it is always
> available. I have no idea how 13.10 handles this, other than poorly.
> Is this my welcome to the fun new ever-encroaching world of Upstart?
> 
> This is how I created it manually:
> 
> mknod /dev/video0 c 81 0
> 
> NFI why that doesn't make buntu happy.
> 
> Carla
> 
> On Sun, 2 Feb 2014 11:31:36 -0800
> Carla Schroder <carla at bratgrrl.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > hey all,
> > 
> > I swear the more I use computers the more I swear at them. I have a
> > Foscam FI8905W wireless IP camera. 
> > Just a nice outdoor cam with its own embedded Web server and wifi
> > so I can spy on my driveway from any Web browser.
> > 
> > Theoretically.
> > 
> > I can log in directly to the Foscam via Web browser, see the live
> > stream, and access the admin panel from any of my computers and
> > smartphones. Easy peasey.
> > 
> > So the next step is to set up Zoneminder or Motion for recording and
> > alerts. There is something batshit screwy with Ubuntu 13.10-- I have
> > an old Linux Mint 13 installation, and with both Zoneminder and
> > Motion it's ten minutes from installation to viewing the live
> > stream from the camera in a browser. But not Ubuntu 13.10.
> > 
> > Motion gives the error message 'Failed to open video
> > device /dev/video0: No such file or directory' So I
> > created /dev/video0 with good old mknod. Same error message. So I
> > deleted the dratted thing.
> > 
> > I can plug in a USB webcam, which creates /dev/video0, and then
> > Motion picks up the webcam images. (Cheese and luvcview also
> > display the webcam stream.) But still no live view, only a series
> > of jpgs in /tmp.
> > 
> > Naturally the motion, Zoneminder, and Ubuntu forums are full of sad
> > posts with the same problem, but no solution. I'm not even sure
> > where to start troubleshooting. Bright ideas anyone? Besides going
> > on a killing spree until all computers are eradicated and we can
> > live happy and free in an agrarian paradise? 
> > 
> > Carla
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 



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Ace Linux guru                         +
carlaschroder.com                      +
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