Ian Singerdale
Well-Known Member
OK so recently I expanded the op to another room, caretaken by a good friend who was interested in growing but had no experience. Although relatively close by, I couldn't always be there to answer his questions so I came up with an awesome solution, that also provides some modest security. I put this together with a spare pc I had lying around. a single core pentium 4 machine from like 2006
I can currently access the feed from anywhere, even my cell phone.
Things you'll need:
1. shitty PC or laptop (sorry mac, this software doesn't work on you)
2. good quality webcam. I got this one used for under $20
3. FTP server. This one might be a little complicated, but it's way more secure than my other method, which I'll explain below. I already have an FTP server setup for my website so it's free and easy. You probably have a friend who'll lend you some space on their server. Ask any nerds you know. Even better if you are a nerd.
4. The software. If you have your own server, http://www.yawcam.com/. If not, there's still this program http://www.gotocamera.com/ but I'm not sure how secure it is. I doubt anyone is monitoring feeds or anything, and you can password protect, but it is probably a bit riskier than a secure ftp server. It is also very finicky in which cameras work with it.
Yawcam can even use the PS3 eye camera
That's it, besides the obvious like mouse, monitor and keyboard. You can probably put the whole system together for like $200 or less depending on what you've got lying around. It doesn't need to be a good machine at all.
I won't go through every step, but basically, yawcam looks at your webcamera and uploads a still image (or live stream) every few seconds or minutes straight to your ftp, depending on what you want. I prefer this to the live stream for security reasons... I like the archive but don't have room for longterm video storage. Here's an example below.
This is truly awesome. I can actually tell the humidity and temp from anywhere, as well as how healthy they look, how fast they're growing (another bonus is cool stop-motion archive of their growth!) even how moist the soil looks and if they need watering.
I can currently access the feed from anywhere, even my cell phone.
Things you'll need:
1. shitty PC or laptop (sorry mac, this software doesn't work on you)
2. good quality webcam. I got this one used for under $20
3. FTP server. This one might be a little complicated, but it's way more secure than my other method, which I'll explain below. I already have an FTP server setup for my website so it's free and easy. You probably have a friend who'll lend you some space on their server. Ask any nerds you know. Even better if you are a nerd.
4. The software. If you have your own server, http://www.yawcam.com/. If not, there's still this program http://www.gotocamera.com/ but I'm not sure how secure it is. I doubt anyone is monitoring feeds or anything, and you can password protect, but it is probably a bit riskier than a secure ftp server. It is also very finicky in which cameras work with it.
Yawcam can even use the PS3 eye camera
That's it, besides the obvious like mouse, monitor and keyboard. You can probably put the whole system together for like $200 or less depending on what you've got lying around. It doesn't need to be a good machine at all.
I won't go through every step, but basically, yawcam looks at your webcamera and uploads a still image (or live stream) every few seconds or minutes straight to your ftp, depending on what you want. I prefer this to the live stream for security reasons... I like the archive but don't have room for longterm video storage. Here's an example below.
This is truly awesome. I can actually tell the humidity and temp from anywhere, as well as how healthy they look, how fast they're growing (another bonus is cool stop-motion archive of their growth!) even how moist the soil looks and if they need watering.
