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Playing with my new webcam under Linux - watch me work!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:10:00 GMT

I made an impulse buy this past week ordering a Tripp-Lite clip-on webcam for my laptop. My wife and I are leaving next weekend to go on a week-long cruise without our kids, and I thought it might be fun to post some video blog entries for them while we are gone so they (and ultimately you as well) can see what we are up to.

I chose the Tripp-Lite camera due to pretty consistently positive cost/value reviews, although I was a bit worried that I couldn't find a single instance of anyone on the internet actually using one under Linux. Why should that stop me, huh? When it arrived I plugged it in and... nada... nothing! Although my laptop could see the device, I couldn't seem to get the drivers to work. After doing some digging around I found that it uses the Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. ZC0301 WebCam chipset, which seems to be very common in the cheapo-Chinese-made webcam space. There is an unbelievably awesome project out there where a guy named Michel Xhaard has written drivers for tons of webcam chipsets, and although mine was included I just couldn't seem to get it to work, no matter what I did.

Eventually it hit me that since I am using an Alpha version of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron), perhaps I should roll to a release version and see what happens. Given how easy it is to swap distros in Linux, I decided to roll back to a 7.04 (Feisty) remaster disc that was laying around. Upon plugging in my camera on the new distro it just worked natively! YAY.

So, now I am playing with the apps a bit. I found Camorama which does video captures and can FTP them to a server at regular intervals. I thought it might be fun to create a custom pod on my blog that shows a current picture of me working - or zoning out... picking my nose... whatever. So, the pic of me you see on the left is the most recent of those. The timestamp text is a little small when I resize the pic, but if you view it in full size (or pull out your magnifying glass), you can see the date.

As for recording video in Linux, I created a launcher that allows me to record AVI files with audio using mencoder. For those interested in doing that, you will first need to install mencoder:
$ sudo apt-get install mencoder

I then created a shortcut icon that starts the recording:
mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l:width=320:height=240:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/dsp -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o /home/dshuck/Desktop/webcam.avi

Then I have another shortcut icon to stop the video:
killall mencoder

Look for pointless videos in the near future...

You know who else was a Cowboys fan? Hitler, thats who!

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:37:00 GMT

Warning.... there is coarse language in this video, but it is hilarious and well done!

Christmas Light Show 2007

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:59:51 GMT

Some of you may remember me posting these videos of my next door neighbor's Christmas light show last year. Well even though I would swear that was about a week or two ago, here we are in 2007 for the second year of it. This time, rather than 10,000 lights on a single house, he enlisted our neighbor's on the other side Wendy and Dave McKim. They have their house decorated as well, and by chaining the controllers together, they run off of the system in Darren's house that is broadcasting on an FM station so that it runs as a single synchronized show. Combined they are running about 40,000 lights, in addition to a very unique virtual Santa in an upstairs window of Darren's house.

Last year there was a pretty steady flow of neighbors checking it out, but this year is a bit bigger. WFAA Channel 8 of Dallas was out here yesterday, with both a broadcast van and a helicopter. They recorded a story, then ran live from the yard during the 10pm news. My baby girl Cassidy got a lot of face time in the story along with some quick shots of my boys and the other neighbor kiddos, so it was fun to watch. Apparently we weren't the only ones watching as it has been pretty wild out there tonight. A couple of hours ago a big tour bus came from a city named Allen about 30 minutes from here!

Darren has assured me that I will have some videos to post soon of the multi-house show. Speaking of Darren, he has researched and found the current record is 15 houses in a row chained together. I have to give him credit for persistence, but I did decline (a few times) joining the chain this year. Who knows... maybe they can twist my arm enough for 2008.

Very cool illusion image!

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:14:46 GMT

This is a very cool illusion. First, look at this image at a normal distance from your monitor. Then back up about 5-7 feet (helps if you squint) and watch the faces switch. Awesome!

Next door neighbor's Christmas Light Show

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:49:27 GMT

My next door neighbor, Darren Vader, just sent me some video of his Christmas light show. "Light show?" You ask... Well, "Christmas lights" just doesn't cut it. It is seriously amazing. The contrast between his house and the little string of lights on mine to the left is comical. He sent a description of all the components in his own words:

So, this is what we've been up to for the past month or so - thought we'd share with you with the hope that my complete insanity might bring a little joy by forcing at least an "oh dear god' kinda smile :)

The following are a few choice video clips (although none of them do the situation any real justice - it's much more impressive in person) of our house this holiday season.

Vital stats:

- over 10,000 lights
- 10 strobe lights
- virtual snow machine made of a rotating disco ball
- more than one 15 amp circuit
- 2 months in the making
- 1 virtual santa clause (he's in the upper right hand window which is really hard to see in the videos, but has been the big hit live)
- 14 synchronized christmas hits
- 1 FM transmitter broadcasting on 107.3 FM
- 1 high power wireless speaker system
- hundreds of smiling faces
- longest line of cars at any one time to date: 4 with expectiations of hitting 20 by weeks end...

So without further delay... on with the show:

TSO Carol of the bells
[youtube s8wywgQqldw]

Jingle Bells - Brian Setzer
[youtube Y7NyVwm6vDA]

Still wanting more? I have posted the rest of the videos here.

We have landed

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 05:00:00 GMT

Well, I have installed my blogging software. Time to play. :)