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Is it possible to use a standard USB webcam with the RPi, or is there a specific peripheral that should be used?

I would like to use RPi's to stream images from webcams to the net.

Alex Chamberlain
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darryn.ten
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  • Keep in mind that webcams may be energy-hungry. My Pi resetted after a few seconds of recording (and skipped data) because it was connected directly on the USB port (i.e. no powered hub). – Lekensteyn May 10 '13 at 21:40

2 Answers2

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As long as the webcam is Linux compatible it should be possible to get it to work.

However, if there are not ARM specific drivers available, you will have to build them yourself, which is often not easy.

Jivings
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  • @MattEllen Thanks for the heads up. I changed the link to guidance from the Ubuntu forums, which provides sources to extensive compatability lists. – Jivings Nov 05 '13 at 16:53
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Raspberry Pi Foundation is also planning to make a camera module available at some point in the future. You can see a prototype at: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1254.

This camera will connect via the CSI port - which means it will have the added advantage of not using up a USB port

So in summary, use a linux friendly camera with arm drivers for now - but prepare to upgrade to CSI cameras in future.

Maria Zverina
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