On 23 Jul 99, at 19:27, Norm Thompson wrote:

> Can anyone tell me what is the most cost efficient way to get started with
> a Webcam.I have a Compaq Presario MV500 and I don't trust the salespeople
> in the shops after being bitten with something else I purchased and didn't
> work on my computer.

  The "Presario MV500" is the *monitor* you have.  My first question is
whether you have enough CPU power to keep up with a camera -- my experience
is with a Connectix QuickCam, and it seemed that a 233MHz CPU wasn't
sufficient for a reasonable referesh rate *locally*, let alone over a network!
Is there a brand and model number on the "system unit" itself?

  The second issue is that a machine hosting a webcam needs to be online
virtually all of the time; it needs to be running some kind of HTTP ("web")
server software, and it needs a fairly fast connection -- a modem, even a 56K
(which only uploads at 33.6K, by the way...) is simply not going to do.
ISDN, xDSL or cable modem *might* be sufficient, although providers are
trying to discourage people from running servers on these.  Colocation, where
your server is inside a facility run by an ISP and is on a LAN with their
other servers, can be a good option for corporate sites, but probably doesn't
put your machine where you want your camera to be.  [Best bet is for the
camera to be on a machine on a LAN that has high-speed net access, such as a
T1 or better.  I believe a lot of the early web-cams were on peoples' desks
at work....]


David G

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