The second part of this week’s 2-Bullet Tuesday! See the first part here. You can subscribe to the newsletter on the 2-Bullet Tuesday page!

Omega Tip

Streaming Video over WiFi

This week we’ll show you how to stream video over your WiFi network using the Omega and a USB webcam. We’ll be using the mjpg-streamer program to help us out with this endeavor. This method is actually used in the Webcam app on the Onion Console!

First, let’s install the program. Run the two commands below:

opkg update
opkg install mjpg-streamer

Now we need to configure the program and change some default settings. Open up the mjpg-streamer configuration file:

vi /etc/config/mjpg-streamer

First, to make our initial testing and implementation easier, let’s remove the need for a username and password by deleting the following lines:

option username 'openwrt'
option password 'openwrt'

You can add these back in later if you want the additional security!

Now let’s increase the frames per second (FPS) from the default. Change the option fps ‘5’ line to option fps ‘15’ .

We’re almost ready! Enable the webcam by changing option enabled ‘0’ to option enabled ‘1’. Save the file and move on to the next step.

Now we’re set! Start the stream by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/mjpg-streamer start

The main event: let’s watch the video stream now! On your computer, open up a web browser and navigate to:

http://omega-xxxx.local:8080/?action=stream

Replace the XXXX with the bolded digits on your Omega’s shielding. You’ll now see the video feed. Wave to the camera! Also, try pointing it at your computer screen and see what happens!

Now you can use your Omega to wirelessly stream video on your WiFi network!

You can also take snapshots with the webcam using the web interface. Navigate to:

http://omega-xxxx.local:8080/?action=snapshot

Try refreshing the page; every time it loads, it will take a snapshot and display it in your browser!

Going Further

As a bonus, you can also set up the webcam to start streaming automatically whenever the Omega boots. Run the following command once to enable this:

/etc/init.d/mjpg-streamer enable

To close the stream, stop the webcam service by running:

/etc/init.d/mjpg-streamer stop

You can also stop the stream by disabling the webcam in the configuration file, then restarting the service: Open up the configuration file with vi /etc/config/mjpg-streamer, then change option enabled ‘1’ to option enabled ‘0’. Then restart the service with /etc/init.d/mjpg-streamer restart.

And that’s it! Happy streaming!

 

Thanks for reading & have a great week!

Let us know what kind of stuff you would like to see featured on 2-Bullet Tuesday! Send a tweet to @OnionIoT with your suggestions!

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P.P.S. The Onion Summer ‘17 Omega-thon Contest is underway on Hackster.io for students of all ages in North America! Check out the Contest Page for more info.