crowsnest

A webcam daemon for Raspi Lite images like mainsailOS

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It inherited his name from Sail ships Crow's nest.

A crow's nest is a structure in the upper part of the main mast of a ship or a structure that is used as a lookout point.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crow's_nest

So, this will be the 'lookout point' for your Printer.

Install on MainsailOS 0.5.0 as update

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/mainsail-crew/crowsnest.git
cd crowsnest
./installer_ms050.sh

An installer for other Distribution than MainsailOS will come. Give me some time to prepare!

NOTE: This project has WIP Status! Changes may occure and possibly break things!

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Simple Configuration

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All you need to get your Camera up and running is a small block of code in your webcam.conf
In MainsailOS you can do that in mainsail Web Interface.
Open the 'config' section, there should be the mentioned file.

By default it look like this:

[webcamd]
log_path: ~/klipper_logs/webcamd.log
log_level: quiet                        

[cam 1]
streamer: mjpg                          
port: 8080                              
device: /dev/video0                     
resolution: 640x480                     
max_fps: 15

What that basicly means is:

log_path: ~/klipper_logs/webcamd.log

Where crowsnest (webcamd) should store its Logfile.

You can choose:

log_level: quiet

This Option shows a bare minimum Logfile.
For example:

[11/02/21 20:47:52] webcamd: webcamd - A webcam Service for multiple Cams and Stream Services.
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: Version: v0.1.3-9-g7e278cd
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: Prepare Startup ...
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: INFO: Checking Dependencys
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: Dependency: 'crudini' found in /usr/bin/crudini.
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: Dependency: 'mjpg_streamer' found in /usr/local/bin/mjpg_streamer.
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: Dependency: 'ustreamer' found in /usr/local/bin/ustreamer.
[11/02/21 20:47:53] webcamd: Dependency: 'v4l2rtspserver' found in /usr/local/bin/v4l2rtspserver.
[11/02/21 20:47:54] webcamd: INFO: Detect available Cameras
[11/02/21 20:47:54] webcamd: INFO: Found 2 available Camera(s)
[11/02/21 20:47:54] webcamd: /dev/v4l/by-id/usb-USB_Camera_USB_Camera_SN0001-video-index0 -> /dev/video1
[11/02/21 20:47:54] webcamd: Detected 'Raspicam' Device -> /dev/video0
[11/02/21 20:47:54] webcamd: Try to start configured Cams / Services...
[11/02/21 20:47:55] webcamd: INFO: Configuration of Section [cam 1] looks good. Continue...
[11/02/21 20:47:55] webcamd: Starting mjpeg-streamer with Device /dev/video0 ...
[11/02/21 20:48:03] webcamd: INFO: Configuration of Section [cam usb_black] looks good. Continue...
[11/02/21 20:48:04] webcamd: Starting ustreamer with Device /dev/v4l/by-id/usb-USB_Camera_USB_Camera_SN0001-video-index0 ...
[11/02/21 20:48:11] webcamd: ... Done!

The next option is

log_level: verbose

This gives you a little more Informations. It prints out you existing webcam.conf and shows a detailed info about your configured ( and connected ) cams.
Like that:

[10/24/21 02:46:00] webcamd: INFO: Detect available Cameras
[10/24/21 02:46:00] webcamd: INFO: Found 1 available Camera(s)
[10/24/21 02:46:00] webcamd: Detected 'Raspicam' Device -> /dev/video0
[10/24/21 02:46:00] webcamd: Supported Formats:
[10/24/21 02:46:00] webcamd: 		[0]: 'YU12' (Planar YUV 4:2:0)
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		[1]: 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		[2]: 'RGB3' (24-bit RGB 8-8-8)
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		[3]: 'JPEG' (JFIF JPEG, compressed)
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		[4]: 'H264' (H.264, compressed)
[10/24/21 02:46:01] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		[5]: 'MJPG' (Motion-JPEG, compressed)
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		[6]: 'YVYU' (YVYU 4:2:2)
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		[7]: 'VYUY' (VYUY 4:2:2)
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		[8]: 'UYVY' (UYVY 4:2:2)
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:02] webcamd: 		[9]: 'NV12' (Y/CbCr 4:2:0)
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		[10]: 'BGR3' (24-bit BGR 8-8-8)
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		[11]: 'YV12' (Planar YVU 4:2:0)
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		[12]: 'NV21' (Y/CrCb 4:2:0)
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		[13]: 'RX24' (32-bit XBGR 8-8-8-8)
[10/24/21 02:46:03] webcamd: 		Size: Stepwise 32x32 - 2592x1944 with step 2/2

This is useful to determine what the Hardware Encoder of your Camera is capable of.
In this case a "cheap" raspicam for about 7€ was used.
So, truly made for 'Helper for Setup' purposes.

If you want to get the full Details, please use

log_level: debug

This will show you barely the same as 'verbose' but it prints also your
configured Start Parameters ( and the defaults ), also it shows
the Output of your choosen Streamer.
This option ist more for debugging purposes and has a tendency to overwhelm you if you are not familiar with that.

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Another Option that affects the 'logging' behavior is

develop_log: true

If you enable that option, everytime you restart, your existing log file will be deleted.

Now the more interessting part.

[cam 1]
streamer: mjpg                          
port: 8080                              
device: /dev/video0                     
resolution: 640x480                     
max_fps: 15

Note: You can name the cam, how you want!
ex.: [cam raspicam]

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This section should be pretty much self explantory.

streamer: mjpg

means your choosen streamservice will be mjpg_streamer.
You can choose:

• mjpg - well known Jacksonliam's mjpg-streamer-experimental

• ustreamer - A streamserver from Pi-KVM Project
  active maintained by Maxim Devaev
  ustreamer on github

• rtsp - v4l2rtspserver with Multiprotocol Support
  active maintained by Michel Promonet
  v4l2rtspserver on github

More Services will come in the (hopefully, near) future.

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port: 8080

The port where the choosen service will listen on
NOTE: If you choose 'rtsp' use Port 8554!

NOTE: Ports 8080 - 8084 are covered by nginx reverse proxy!
According to that 8080 will be /webcam, port 8081 will be /webcam1 and so on.

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device: /dev/video0

The Videodevice (Camera) what should be used by choosen Streamservice.

device: /dev/v4l/by-id/usb-PixArt_Imaging_Inc._USB2.0_Camera-video-index0

is also valid. Your devices are listed in your log-file on every run.
So, you can easily copy it from there.

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resolution: 640x480                     
max_fps: 15

This last 2 should be pretty obvious :)

As the last option:
This needs some to read further Information.

custom_flags:

If you enable this in your [cam whatevernameyouset],
you can add parameters according to your needs.
Those will be appended to the default/preconfigured parameters.

In case of mjpg_streamer you could (at this Point) only add parameters to the "input_*.so" section!

To setup Services to your need you have to take a closer look to the documentation of the Projects named above.
As a pointer in the right direction:

• mjpg

  • This one is a bit more complex due the fact it depends on your cam type.
  • For 'Raspicam' see Plugin: input_raspicam
  • For USB Type Cams see Plugin: input_uvc

• ustreamer

  • For sake of simplicity I converted ustreamers manpage to ustreamer's manpage

• v4l2rtspserver

  • Please visit v4l2rtspserver Usage

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CustomPIOS Module

I have decided to provide an CustomPiOS Module to make it easier to integrate to other Distributions like MainsailOS or similar. Please see README.md in the module folder for
further Informations.

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So, with all that said, get your position seaman! Prepare to get wet feets on your Journey.

ARRRR yooo rrready to sail?