Top 5 Linux Webcam Software

Webcams can be used today for any number of activities. Many immediately think of using a webcam for video chat, easily used with Skype in Linux, or the instant messenger of your choice. However, there are many other uses for webcams including installing one strategically as a surveillance system. Before you get started using a webcam, specifically in Linux, you will need a package manager with the appropriate software.

Note: If you are interested in playing with your netbook’s camera, then you can have a look at the article in which we discuss camera tools for your netbook.

 Cheese was developed as part of Google Summer of Code in 2007 and now is a part of Gnome. You can take photos or videos from your webcam and apply special effects for fun. There are optional export plug-ins for Cheese, such as postr to post your images quickly to Flickr, F-Spot exporting of images, and Nautilus-send to, for improved export using the Nautilus file manager. The latest version of Cheese was released on May 18^th, 2009.

Image courtesy of Linuxplanet.

 ZoneMinder is webcam software designed for a home surveillance program. Amazingly, it has has features that you can’t even find in commercial programs. These features include...

• The ability to add as many cameras as you want independently of their connection. You can add one USB cam to monitor your room and add various IP cams to monitor other rooms, garage and doors.
• Check all the states of the monitors with a single click - the information gathered from all the cameras will be displayed to you in a single window.
• Check the last 10 events that the program logged for each camera.
• You can also set motion detection for your cameras and set them to record upon detecting motion. The best part is that you can set zones to watch for movement, setting a zone to trigger recording when there is a motion, and at the same time define a zone to ignore motion even if there is movement.
• ZoneMinder also supports the zoom, pan, tilt functions of your camera.

Reviews of other cool Linux Webcam Software continues on the next page...