Hello GMN,

I'm Nigel and I am new to all of this.  Don't get me wrong science is not new to me but the meteor bug is.  I'm constructing a camera.  I have most / all the parts.  and am in the process of stitching them together.  I do not have a RPi 4b yet and alternatives might be worth talking about as the RPi4 is hard/impossible to get.  I have a RPi 400 but that is not going to be the workhorse for the camera.  I am looking at the small PC option with a Linux installation.  I've yet to have a trawl through the topics here (sorry) this might be a widely debated topic.

The other bit I am struggling with is the camera.  It's all mounted up ready to go into the enclosure (I have silicone sealer at the ready, I need it here as the weather is harsh).  The camera works, it's the recomended one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002315913099.html.  I have connected it to the VLC application and it's good.  It has, been a bit of a learning curve; as in a IP address, subnet mask learning curve.  I'm kind of used to things doing whatever they do to sort themselves out.  My home network is on the 192.168.0.*** and the camera is on the 192.168.1.*** and wow that's not a happy arrangement.  I had to set up a spare router on the 192.168.1.*** to check out the camera.  Now I kind of thought that plugging the camera in the main router (it also is the modem combined) would let the DHCP running on it do it's job and give it an IP address on my network.  But no it appears to be stuck on the default network.  There is a "VMS" client (I am sure there are many here familiar here with it) and I believe that will enable access to settings etc...  now whilst I am typing this from a Win PC i do not have admin rights (it's a works job).  My machines are both RPis running RPi OS... VMS is not Linux friendly (well it runs on MAC so not totally true).  Anyone know how I can get into this camera settings to change the IP address to one on 192.168.0.*** from a RPi???  There is a very primitive web platform on the device but it's way old and not in English.  There are three options: something that needs a plugin that's no longer vogue, a list of settings that are just reported and not changeable and a log out!

your thoughts would be most welcome.

Stay safe

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

Welcome.

The normal ways to arrange the camera is shown in

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TPotXcRstHz-XWIQYIW71xkRYy7Ca1UCoEiZsqdk9zw/edit

I would urge you to stick with option 1 for your first camera.

You will need to set the ip address of the camera, and please avoid DHCP; if the camera address changes, then the pi will no longer be able to find it.

CMS is a windows utility that will allow you to change the IP address of the camera and set up various other parameters. If you cannot use that software then Mark has written some utilities that will allow you to configure the cameras from the command line, look in ~/source/RMS/Utils/SetCameraAddress.py

so

cd ~/source/RMS
python -m Utils.SetCameraAddress

will give you the information you need to change the IP address. You can then use VLC, or any stream media player, to focus the camera.

Then another script

python -m setAllCameraParams

will configure all the settings for you, which is real time saver. Again, this is thanks to Mark.

I do not know why you think RMS is not Linux friendly. There are several multiple camera stations on the network running Debian, Ubuntu, Ubuntu running in a VM under windows, headless stations, stations with GUIs. The Ubuntu GUI station is well documented, and I have tested it.

However, for your first camera, try to get a Pi4, and stick to the well worn pathway.

Kind regards

Dave

Dave,
Thank you for the encouragement.

Option 4 looked more interesting cutting out the WiFi and additional hardware but point noted and option 1 is the way to go as I dip my toe in this pond.

I have not got as far as RMS yet.  VMS was something the vendor pointed me to for set up.  Thank you for pointing me toward Mark's work on command line setup negating the need for CMS on a Win machine.  That looks to be my way.

I guess I will be holding out for a Pi4b when they are available.  In the mean time I have my pi400 to get things ready.  I bought a SSD so I can get a system up and running and transplant it when the time comes.

Stay safe

Nigel