I'm glad you asked!  (See the URL in my sig <grin>)

If your relative wants to use it for videoconferencing, all the cameras that
I know about come with some sort of software for the purpose.  I know that
the Creative VideoBlaster that I picked up a couple of months ago had
software for both ends of the call.

It required a P100 and 16MB of RAM.  The manual claimed that a 28.8K
connection would be sufficient for clear audio and fairly jerky (3-5fps)
video.  No special ISP requirements.

There seem to be three types of these cameras.  The most popular plug into a
parallel port and may also use the keyboard plug for power, with a
passthrough for both.  Number two uses a capture card of some sort.  Number
three is USB.  The prices that I saw at CompUSA here in Boise, Idaho ranged
from about $100 to around $300.  The Creative Labs camera was PnP.

For the money, you get sharper focus, better definition and colors (more
realistic) and higher resolutions.

Connectix always seems to be rated really high.  If you take a look at the
URL below, you can see what the Creative Labs camera looks like.  I'd say
that as far as the picture quality goes, it's about average.  For a hundred
bucks, I'm happy with it.  Bear in mind that I haven't cleaned the window
for a while <grin>

Drew Dunn
[log in to unmask]
Check out the BurbCam!
http://adsl24.bois.uswest.net/drew/hood.html

> I have a client that want's to install a camera to use on the Internet
> to see and be seen by relatives overseas. I would like a little info on
> the following since I've never worked with cameras before.
>
> 1. Is there special software for this and do both sides need to have it
> 2. Hardware requirements (CPU, RAM)
> 3. Special ISP
> 4. Are these cameras PnP or will he need to mortgage the house to pay me
> to configure this
> 5. Good ones bad ones