Inorp

This is rather old news, however since I found guides from people explaining how they have spend 10 hours to get this working, I just might have an ubuntu-related guide that does this faster..

Given my local dev-server (1000mhz, 400mb ram) running the latest ubuntu server installation together with my cheap usb1.1 webcam.

Since I’m using the server version, this is the text-based install guide.

• Given that you have ubuntu installed.
• Make sure the /etc/apt/sources.list have both universe and backports enabled. (also run “apt-get update” after any change)
• Run “apt-get -s install motion” and have a quick lock so that any unwanted parts your system installation won’t be removed.
• run “apt-get install motion”
• run “apt-get install ffmpeg” (add -s if you which to look over the changes..)
• plug-in your usb-webcam.
• run “dmesg” and check if the plug and play detection went ok. It should probably be in any of the later rows if you just recently plugged it in.
• open /etc/motion/motion.conf (for instance: “pico /etc/motion/motion.conf”)
• change the settings of your choosing (also check the video-device link).. check the motion website for a good explanation of the settings.. http://www.lavrsen.dk/twiki/bin/view/Motion/WebHome
• after completing the config, run “motion”.. Any errors will display.
• Check the given directory for image/video-files. given that the camera install went fine.
• Your installation is complete. Run motion in deamon mode next time (”motion -d”)