September 2, 2020News, OGG, Podcast

mintCast 342.5 – Droidcam Can!

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We would like to welcome Owen Peery to the team. He’s our new editor!

1:27 Linux Innards
21:44 Vibrations from the Ether
43:17 Check This Out
48:10 Outro

In our Innards section, how we use droidcam!

And finally, the feedback and a few suggestions

LINUX INNARDS

Droidcam

Joe
- Tested out Droidcam. The setup on the phone is simple and the instructions on https://www.dev47apps.com/droidcam/linux/ make it really simple to make it visible to the system. The video quality was good but not as good as it could have been but the latency over wifi was non existent. It looked like it was real time.
- Also set up ip webcam because it is something that I have used in the distant past that is similar. The video quality was much better than droidcam which applies some paywall limits to its quality and the latency was also very good. But the setup to use it as a computer webcam is a bit more difficult than that of Droidcam. Just follow the directions online to set up an ip cam as a computer webcam.
- But seeing the two side by side you can really see the difference in video quality using the Note 10 Plus
Leo
- Been using Droidcam for 6 months now as a USB webcam
- I’ve used it mostly for Zoom, but I’ve given it a run with Cheese and VLC for testing over USB. The quality is actually quite good, but defaulted to 640×480. To crank it up to 720p, you need to reload the module

cd /tmp/

wget https://files.dev47apps.net/linux/droidcam_latest.zip

echo "73db3a4c0f52a285b6ac1f8c43d5b4c7 droidcam_latest.zip" | md5sum -c --

unzip droidcam_latest.zip -d droidcam && cd droidcam

sudo ./install

sudo insmod /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/media/video/v4l2loopback-dc.ko width=1024 height=720

- This is special for me. For some reason, 1280×720 stretches me out. 1024×720 gives me a higher resolution, without stretching.
- Overall it’s great in VLC, Cheese and Zoom.
- Such a good option if webcams are not affordable.
Tony W
- Found this app since Covid-19, while investigating live streaming
- My son has been using DroidCam every day for school. Remote learning with Zoom meetings
- Android version wired capability does require USB debugging enabled, which in turn requires turning on Developer options (not difficult but not n00b friendly either)
  - Developer mode needs to be allowed in Google Family Link, so one more hurdle for devices with parental controls
- Wireless was actually really good but wired is rock solid
- Why do you need this?
  - Have a computer without a webcam?
  - Even if you do have a webcam, is your phone’s camera better? (will require paid version of app to get full HD resolution)
  - OK, maybe you already have one video source – but do you want more? How about multiple video angles for OBS Studio?
Tony H
- I installed it on my phone this week and it was fairly easy to get it to work, my issue is that unless you have some way of mounting the phone then it is not very useful. Also I needed to have both devices connected over WiFi for it to function and my main desktop is mainly on a wired connection so at first the device was not found, once I started my towers wifi all was good. My tower and all my laptops have a working webcam so I don’t have a use for it at the moment, but a great backup if needed.
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mobile-Phone-Holder-Flexible-Octopus-Tripod-Bracket-Mobile-Phone-Camera-Selfie-S/353174273999?hash=item523ad3bfcf:g:r7QAAOSwaFFfO7sJ

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER

Jeff

#!/bin/bash

DISPLAY=:0.0 google-chrome-stable --new-window https://website.example/ &

sleep 5

export win_dow=xdotool getactivewindow

echo $win_dow

DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool mousemove --window $win_dow 200 400

# DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool click 1

DISPLAY=:0.0 obs --scene "CNNNews" --startrecording &

Stan Reichardt
Londoner

https://www.timeanddate.com

Sia
John Wallis SAGA

One thing that Lynis has brought to my attention is that of security

issues with the following services:

Running ‘systemd-analyze security’

– ModemManager.service: [ MEDIUM ]

– NetworkManager.service: [ EXPOSED ]

– accounts-daemon.service: [ UNSAFE ]

– acpid.service: [ UNSAFE ]

[truncated for length]

Consider hardening system services [BOOT-5264]

– Details : Run ‘/usr/bin/systemd-analyze security SERVICE’ for

each service

https://cisofy.com/lynis/controls/BOOT-5264/

John’s Followup
John Wallis Saga – A Family Affair
spike bookbinder
Larry Murphy
[truncated for length]

CHECK THIS OUT

Moss
- Linux Handbook is an ethical web portal from the same team behind It’s FOSS, the web’s favorite Linux and Open-Source portal.

While It’s FOSS focuses on Open Source, Linux news and desktop Linux, Linux Handbook focuses on the server side of Linux.

- - Learn how to list your systemd services
  - BASH command tutorials
- Check what ports are being listened to in Debian
Joe
- Ready Player 2 Nov 24th
- We’re Alive
- Star Trek Outpost
  - There are several really good audio drama podcasts for Star Trek here is one of them

Announcements:

Our next episode will be September 6, 2020 at 2 pm Central US Time, 7 pm UTC, 8 pm British Summer Time – https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

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Wrap-up: