DIY Security Camera System
If you are in the market for an inexpensive security DVR/CCTV system, I might have a solution for you. First, you’ll need a computer to install the video surveillance software on. If you need something compact and low powered, I would suggest going with a computer like the decTOP. You can pick up a decTOP computer for around $100. I modified my decTOP by removing the 10GB hard drive that comes with it, and instead used a 32GB compact flash card. However, if you want to keep costs down, the standard 10GB drive will work just fine. The other piece of hardware you’ll need is a USB webcam. I’ve had great luck with the Logitech Pro 4000 series. I’ve also used the Orbit and Pro 9000 cameras, but they require a little more work to get running.
For the software, head on over to Zoneminder.com and check out the documentation and wiki. I used Debian to run the Zoneminder software, but there are several how to’s for other Linux distributions. If you do use Debian and a decTOP, be aware the only way I could get Debian installed on the decTOP was to make a bootable network install of Debian on a USB drive. For some reason, the Debian installs I tried from an external CD-ROM drive always failed. I would highly recommend using Debian with Zoneminder, because once you have Debian running, installing Zoneminder is simply a matter of adding a repository to your sources.list file, and doing an ‘apt-get update;apt-get install zoneminder’ command. If you run into any problems, be sure to check the Zoneminder forums and wiki for help.
Since Debian and Zoneminder are free and developed by volunteers, be sure to make donations to both projects if you find the software useful.
Debian Donations: http://www.debian.org/donations
Zoneminder Donations: http://www.zoneminder.com/donate.html
