I've tried everything in

apt-cache search webcam |sort -u

and everything has some problem. Correcting any syntax mistakes, showing how to use a "GUI only" from the CLI or a good ffmpeg/mencoder/vlc one-liner would answer my question. Or since I know how to make ffmpeg take a short MJPEG, showing how to strip off the first jpeg would work, I guess. Still, this ought to be more straightforward than that.

$ camgrab

/dev/video0: no v4l device

(camgrab probably doesn't handle v4l2)

$ fswebcam --list-inputs

--- Opening /dev/video0...

Trying source module v4l2...

/dev/video0 opened.

--- Available inputs:

0: Camera 1

No input was specified, using the first.

Adjusting resolution from 384x288 to 352x288.

--- Capturing frame...

Premature end of JPEG file

Captured frame in 0.00 seconds.

--- Processing captured image...

There are unsaved changes to the image.

$ fswebcam --input 0 boo.jpg

--- Opening /dev/video0...

Trying source module v4l2...

/dev/video0 opened.jjjjjjjjj

Adjusting resolution from 384x288 to 352x288.

--- Capturing frame...

Premature end of JPEG file

Captured frame in 0.00 seconds.

--- Processing captured image...

Writing JPEG image to 'boo.jpg'.

produces this

$ motion

is beyond me.

$ uvccapture -oboo.jpg 

$ file boo.jpg        

boo.jpg: data

$ qiv -t boo.jpg 

Unable to read file: Failed to load image 'boo.jpg': Error interpreting JPEG image file (Not a JPEG file: starts with 0x8f 0x5a)

not really an image.

$ /usr/bin/vgrabbj -d /dev/video0 -f boo.jpg

Could not open configfile /usr/etc/vgrabbj.conf, ignoring

Reading image from /dev/video0

produces this

$ webcamd

RTFM, missing template (/home/$USER/.webcamd/index_up.html)

$ man webcamd |cat

WEBCAMD(1)                                                                     WEBCAMD(1)

NAME

    webcamd - Take a image from your webcam

SYNOPSIS

    webcamd [ start | stop | refresh ]

DESCRIPTION

    This manual page documents briefly the webcamd daemon.

    This manual page was written for the Debian distribution because the original pro‐

    gram does not have a manual page.

    webcamd is a program that take images from your webcam and put it on a ftp  server

    on a local (web) directory

OPTIONS

    start  Start the daemon.

    stop   Stop the daemon.

    refresh Take a shot !

AUTHOR

    This  manual  page  was  written by Julien Danjou <[email protected]> for the Debian

    system (but may be used by others).  Permission is  granted  to  copy,  distribute

    and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,

    Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software  Foundation;  with

    no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts.

                                  2002 april 21                            WEBCAMD(1)

$ webcamd start

RTFM, missing template (/home/$USER/.webcamd/index_up.html)

$ webcamd refresh

RTFM, missing template (/home/$USER/.webcamd/index_up.html)

webcam seems to demand that I set a config file to ftp the images somewhere and seems to do nothing by default

$ /usr/bin/webcam 

reading config file: /home/$USER/.webcamrc

video4linux webcam v1.5 - (c) 1998-2002 Gerd Knorr

grabber config:

  size 320x240 [none]

  input (null), norm (null), jpeg quality 75

  rotate=0, top=0, left=0, bottom=240, right=320

• GUI only
  
  
  
  
  • camorama
  
  
  • cheese
  
  
  • kamoso
  
  
  • luvcview