[WebCam] Using OpenWRT to record WebCam snapshots to USB drive

[WebCam] Using OpenWRT to record WebCam snapshots to USB drive

With this tutorial you'll be able to take snapshots from a WebCam every second and save them to your USB drive.

Prerequisites

• Asus WL-500G Premium (important note: it must not be the V2 version!)
• USB thumb drive (to save WebCam snapshots on) - either 4 GB (holds approx. 12 hours of snapshots) or 8 GB (holds approx. 24 hours)
• Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 (for other supported WebCams, see this and this list)
• (Optional) Tp-Link TL-WN560G Mini PCI card (the one that comes with the router doesn't work with our firmware)

Installing OpenWRT firmware

• Download this OpenWRT firmware and save it to desktop
• Connect the router to your PC using port 1 - also disconnect any other LAN connections to your PC
• Change the IP of your NIC to 192.168.1.10 and the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0
• Push and hold the restore button and power on your router - the ON light should blink once a second
• Use the command line and navigate to the folder with the .trx file in it with
  
  Code:

  ---

  cd [folder]

  ---

  and execute the following command:
  
  Code:

  ---

  tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT openwrt-brcm47xx-stamcar-2.6-squashfs.trx

  ---

  Please note: Vista users must manually install tftp and telnet: Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off -> check "Telnet Client" and "TFTP Client" -> OK
• Wait 40 seconds and pull the power cord from the router
• Change your PC's NIC IP settings to automatic (DHCP); you can also reattach any other connections
• Turn on your router - the ON light shouldn't blink anymore - if it does, upload the firmware again and this time wait a little bit longer
• When the router finishes booting, type this into the command prompt:
  
  Code:

  ---

  telnet 192.168.86.1

  ---

  and then
  
  Code:

  ---

  passwd

  ---

  then type your desired password twice - this password will be used to login into your router after this point
• Connect the internet connection to router's WAN port and execute:
  
  Code:

  ---

  reboot

  ---

• After rebooting the router, you can no longer connect via telnet - you must use SSH; use PuTTY to connect to your router (its IP is 192.168.86.1) and login with "root" as username and with the passwod you chose

WLAN configuration

• If you wish to use WLAN to connect to your router, you must open it and replace its wireless card
• Edit the file /etc/config/wireless: add "#" before "option disabled 1"
• Change the SSID at "option ssid", set "option encryption" to "psk2" and add "option key [your-password]"
• Then execute
  
  Code:

  ---

  /etc/init.d/network restart

  ---

  to restart the network

Preparing the USB drive

• Connect the USB drive to one of the router's 2 USB ports and wait approx. 10 seconds for the drive to initialize
• First, run the fdisk utility with
  
  Code:

  ---

  fdisk /dev/sda

  ---

  and delete any existing partitions as instructed, then type in the following commands (press "enter" after each letter or number):
  
  Code:

  ---

  n -> p -> 1 -> "enter" -> "enter"

  ---

  You can now save the changes with "w"
• To format the USB drive for data storage, type
  
  Code:

  ---

  mke2fs /dev/sda1

  ---

• You can access the files on your USB drive with any FTP client - use 192.168.86.1 for IP, username is "root" and the passwod is the one you chose earlier

Making the startup script

• To avoid manual mounting and to automatically start recording each time the router starts we need to create a startup script - edit the "/etc/init.d/done" file and add the following in a new line after "set_state done":
  
  Code:

  ---

  umount /dev/sda1
e2fsck /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
killall httpd
while true; do
mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -f 15" -o "output_http.so -p 80 -w /webcam_www" -o "output_file12h.so -f /mnt -d 1000"
done

  ---

  If you possess an 8 GB USB drive, type output_file24h.so instead of output_file12h.so
• Now reboot your router and the recording should start automatically
• On your PC, visit http://192.168.86.1/java_simple.html and enjoy live streaming video :)

Additional

• ntpclient is integrated into the firmware. If you wish to change its timezone, execute the following:
  
  Code:

  ---

  echo GMT-1 > /etc/TZ

  ---

Sources:

• http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/...e/Asus/WL500GP
• http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=14186
• http://wiki.openwrt.org/UsbStorageHowto
• http://wiki.openwrt.org/webcam
• http://naaa.de/programme/uvc_streame...ikaze-7.09.txt

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KoMar

[WebCam] Using OpenWRT to record WebCam snapshots to USB drive

With this tutorial you'll be able to take snapshots from a WebCam every second and save them to your USB drive.

Prerequisites

• Asus WL-500G Premium (important note: it must not be the V2 version!)
• USB thumb drive (to save WebCam snapshots on) - either 4 GB (holds approx. 12 hours of snapshots) or 8 GB (holds approx. 24 hours)
• Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 (for other supported WebCams, see this and this list)
• (Optional) Tp-Link TL-WN560G Mini PCI card (the one that comes with the router doesn't work with our firmware)

Installing OpenWRT firmware

• Download this OpenWRT firmware and save it to desktop
• Connect the router to your PC using port 1 - also disconnect any other LAN connections to your PC
• Change the IP of your NIC to 192.168.1.10 and the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0
• Push and hold the restore button and power on your router - the ON light should blink once a second
• Use the command line and navigate to the folder with the .trx file in it with
  
  Code:

  ---

  cd [folder]

  ---

  and execute the following command:
  
  Code:

  ---

  tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT openwrt-brcm47xx-stamcar-2.6-squashfs.trx

  ---

  Please note: Vista users must manually install tftp and telnet: Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off -> check "Telnet Client" and "TFTP Client" -> OK
• Wait 40 seconds and pull the power cord from the router
• Change your PC's NIC IP settings to automatic (DHCP); you can also reattach any other connections
• Turn on your router - the ON light shouldn't blink anymore - if it does, upload the firmware again and this time wait a little bit longer
• When the router finishes booting, type this into the command prompt:
  
  Code:

  ---

  telnet 192.168.86.1

  ---

  and then
  
  Code:

  ---

  passwd

  ---

  then type your desired password twice - this password will be used to login into your router after this point
• Connect the internet connection to router's WAN port and execute:
  
  Code:

  ---

  reboot

  ---

• After rebooting the router, you can no longer connect via telnet - you must use SSH; use PuTTY to connect to your router (its IP is 192.168.86.1) and login with "root" as username and with the passwod you chose

WLAN configuration

• If you wish to use WLAN to connect to your router, you must open it and replace its wireless card
• Edit the file /etc/config/wireless: add "#" before "option disabled 1"
• Change the SSID at "option ssid", set "option encryption" to "psk2" and add "option key [your-password]"
• Then execute
  
  Code:

  ---

  /etc/init.d/network restart

  ---

  to restart the network

Preparing the USB drive

• Connect the USB drive to one of the router's 2 USB ports and wait approx. 10 seconds for the drive to initialize
• First, run the fdisk utility with
  
  Code:

  ---

  fdisk /dev/sda

  ---

  and delete any existing partitions as instructed, then type in the following commands (press "enter" after each letter or number):
  
  Code:

  ---

  n -> p -> 1 -> "enter" -> "enter"

  ---

  You can now save the changes with "w"
• To format the USB drive for data storage, type
  
  Code:

  ---

  mke2fs -j /dev/sda1

  ---

• You can access the files on your USB drive with any FTP client - use 192.168.86.1 for IP, username is "root" and the passwod is the one you chose earlier

Making the startup script

• To avoid manual mounting and to automatically start recording each time the router starts we need to create a startup script - edit the "/etc/init.d/done" file and add the following in a new line after "set_state done":
  
  Code:

  ---

  umount /dev/sda1
e2fsck /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
killall httpd
while true; do
mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -f 15" -o "output_http.so -p 80 -w /webcam_www" -o "output_file12h.so -f /mnt -d 1000"
done

  ---

  If you possess an 8 GB USB drive, type output_file24h.so instead of output_file12h.so
• Now reboot your router and the recording should start automatically
• On your PC, visit http://192.168.86.1/java_simple.html and enjoy live streaming video :)

Additional

• ntpclient is integrated into the firmware. If you wish to change its timezone, execute the following:
  
  Code:

  ---

  echo GMT-1 > /etc/TZ

  ---

Sources:

• http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/...e/Asus/WL500GP
• http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=14186
• http://wiki.openwrt.org/UsbStorageHowto
• http://wiki.openwrt.org/webcam
• http://naaa.de/programme/uvc_streame...ikaze-7.09.txt

---

KoMar, this worked like magic!!! thanks for the hardwork. do you know how to make the wifi to work.. i am seeing that for the brcm, kamikaze 2.6 does not support wifi.. there was one post about using kmod-b43.. i do not know how to proceed.. i am a newbie.. any help will be appreciated.