Installing the OS and setting up the cameras

I have tried to make this guide as easy as possible but it is recommended that you understand the
reasons behind the commands you are using. If things go wrong or a mistake is made then it is most
likely a simple fix. Restarting from scratch is easy enough but time consuming.

I make no bones about it, at first glance this seems like a fair bit of work but it really is not too bad.
And, all being well, you will have a fairly decent two camera Pi by the end of it.

Please note, I use vi for my file editing, if you prefer a more notepad style of editor then replace vi with
the word nano.

• Installing the OS
• Start your Pi
• Resize the filesystem
• Naming, time & CPU
• Synchronise the package database and update
• The front Pi camera (raspivid & picam)
• The rear USB camera (using motion)
• GPS
• Audio recording
• GPIO
• Installing SAMBA
• Recording video - Pi camera
• Recording video - Motion
• Scripts

Installing the OS
In this guide I use Arch Linux. If you'd prefer to use Raspbian please follow this install guide.

This web page list many ways to install an SD card image (please take a look at it for install
instructions using Windows). If you do use that install guide then skip straight to the
"Start your Pi" section when ready.

Update: April 2018
Things have changed considerably since I initially wrote this guide, much of it is now out of date. If you are comfortable around the command line then please continue but be prepared for a fair amount of manual package installing. To save a bit of time I have created a new 2Gb image with everything for the dashcam already installed, you only need to resize the filesystem. The user names are root, camera and alarm. The passwords are the same as the user name. After installation please look at the /root/scripts/README.txt

Update: May 2016
If you don't feel like configuring things yourself you can download a 2Gb image file for the Pi 2 or 3.
You only need to resize the filesystem after installing. User names are root, camera and alarm.
The passwords are the same as the user name

Or, download and install the latest version of Arch Linux:

http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv6/raspberry-pi

(http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-rpi-3-latest.tar.gz)
(http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-rpi-2-latest.tar.gz)
(http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-rpi-latest.tar.gz)
or check: http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads and follow the Installation guide.

[+] Alternatively to install from an .img file
[-] Close image file install information

Change directory into where the file downloaded (for me it's my home Downloads directory).

MacBook-Pro:~ $ cd ~/Downloads
Double click or unzip the file.

MacBook-Pro:~ $ unzip archlinux-hf-2013-07-22.img.zip

Insert your SD card, mine mounted as follows...
MacBook-Pro:~ $ df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2   425Gi  391Gi   34Gi    92%    /
devfs          109Ki  109Ki    0Bi   100%    /dev
/dev/disk0s3    40Gi   39Gi  1.1Gi    98%    /Volumes/BOOTCAMP
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%    /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%    /home
/dev/disk2s2    29Gi  1.4Gi   26Gi     6%    /Volumes/Untitled

/dev/disk2s1    90Mi   24Mi   66Mi    27%    /Volumes/Untitled 1

Make a note of your SD cards device path, in this case it's /dev/disk2.

We need to unmount the volumes but not remove the device.
MacBook-Pro:~ $ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

Unmount of all volumes on disk2 was successful

(For Linux use umount /dev/disk2)

In the directory you downloaded and unzip'd the .img file install this file to your SD card using the
device path you noted earlier. N.B. Double check the device path you use is correct because
you could well be overwriting your own computers system disk!

MacBook-Pro:~ $ sudo dd bs=1m if=./archlinux-hf-2013-07-22.img of=/dev/disk2

If it is working correctly the prompt should not return for quite a while (for me it varied from
5 - 15 minutes) so go and grab a beverage.

When finished the card will probably be mounted automatically…

/dev/disk2s5   1.6Gi  442Mi  1.1Gi    28%    /Volumes/Untitled

/dev/disk2s1    90Mi   24Mi   66Mi    27%    /Volumes/NO NAME

Eject the freshly installed SD card from your computer.

MacBook-Pro:~ $ diskutil eject /dev/disk2

Disk /dev/disk2 ejected

(For Linux use eject /dev/disk2)

Start your Pi

Put the SD card into your Pi, connect up the network cable and then the power. Within a minute
the Pi should be running so check your router for the IP. The default host name is "alarmpi"

Once found ssh onto it as the alarm user from your computer, the default password is alarm.
(If you do not have ssh installed then check here. PuTTY is a popular choice for windows.)

MacBook-Pro:~ $ ssh -l alarm 192.168.1.65

When logged in change the alarm and root passwords to ones of your choosing.
[alarm@alarmpi ~]$ passwd
Changing password for alarm.
(current) UNIX password:
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully

Switch to the root user and change this password also, the default password is root.
[alarm@alarmpi ~]$ su -
Password:
[root@alarmpi ~]# passwd

Enter new UNIX password: 

Retype new UNIX password: 

passwd: password updated successfully

To save time with future logins edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and uncomment PermitRootLogin then
change it from 'prohibit-password' to 'yes'.
[root@alarmpi ~]# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PermitRootLogin yes

Save the changes. The alternative is to login to your Pi as alarm user and then switch user (su -)

or use sudo to gain root privileges.

Notes

 If you cannot find the Pi on your network remove the power, connect up the HDMI or video and
 a USB keyboard. Replace the power, login and then type "ifconfig". Check on the screen for your
 network interface like "eth0" or "wlan0", next to it will be "inet". This address will be for your Pi.
 For example:-

[root@alarmpi ~]# ifconfig
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.65  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255

 An excellent guide to Arch Linux : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners'_Guide

--- Optional ---
Sudo
Many people like to use sudo. We do install the package later to make the wiringPi build easier but if you
want to start using sudo now then install it with "pacman -S sudo" and set up the "camera" user account.
Then edit the sudoers file by typing (as root) visudo and add the following line, then write and quit to save:-
camera   ALL=(ALL) ALL

Notes

 If you are unfamiliar with vi then press "shift+g" together to move to the end of the file, then press the
 letter "o" or "i", you can then insert the text. When done press "Esc", then a ":" followed by "wq" (for
 write and quit) and then press return. If you make a mistake and just want to quit press Esc then type
 a ":" followed by "q!" then press return.

You can then login as the camera user (su - camera) and continue this install. Any command that
requires elevated privileges will have to be run with sudo.
E.G. [camera@alarmpi ~]$ sudo fdisk -l
--- End ---

Resize the filesystem

Check your current disk size:
[root@alarmpi ~]# df -h

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root       1.7G  444M  1.2G  28% /
devtmpfs         83M     0   83M   0% /dev
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           231M  236K  231M   1% /run
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /tmp
/dev/mmcblk0p1   90M   25M   66M  27% /boot

If the size on the /dev/root line is much smaller than your SD card then we should resize the filesystem
to use all of the cards space. I have a 32Gb card but the current filesystem is only about 2Gb in size.
(If the size roughly matches your SD card size then great, you can skip to Naming, time & CPU).

[+] Resizing the filesystem details
[-] Close resizing the filesystem

[root@alarmpi ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 31.9 GB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk label type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x00057540

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/mmcblk0p1            2048      186367       92160    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/mmcblk0p2          186368     3667967     1740800    5  Extended

/dev/mmcblk0p5          188416     3667967     1739776   83  Linux

So, we can see the device name of my card and the current partition table. We are going to delete the
Extended and Linux partitions and recreate them using all of our cards space. The most important thing
is that the Start sectors of the Extended and Linux partitions must be recreated with the same number.
The default choices are usually correct so you can just press return but if you make a mistake type
q (quit) or use Ctrl-C and start again.

[root@alarmpi ~]# fdisk -c -u /dev/mmcblk0

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.23.2).

Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.

Be careful before using the write command.

Command (m for help): p        <--- print current partition table

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 31.9 GB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk label type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x00057540

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/mmcblk0p1            2048      186367       92160    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/mmcblk0p2          186368     3667967     1740800    5  Extended

/dev/mmcblk0p5          188416     3667967     1739776   83  Linux

Command (m for help): d        <--- delete partition

Partition number (1,2,5, default 5): 2

Partition 2 is deleted

(As partition 5 is part of the extended partition 2 it is removed automatically)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 31.9 GB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk label type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x00057540

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/mmcblk0p1            2048      186367       92160    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Command (m for help): n        <--- new partition

Partition type:

   p   primary (1 primary, 0 extended, 3 free)

   e   extended

Select (default p): e          <--- create an extended partition

Partition number (2-4, default 2):         <--- use the default of number 2

First sector (186368-62333951, default 186368):         <--- default, the same as original start number

Using default value 186368

Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (186368-62333951, default 62333951): 

Using default value 62333951                       ^--- we use default which is now all of our cards space

Partition 2 of type Extended and of size 29.6 GiB is set

Now the extended partition encompasses the whole of the cards free space.
Time to create a logical partition inside this extended partition.

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 31.9 GB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk label type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x00057540

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/mmcblk0p1            2048      186367       92160    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/mmcblk0p2          186368    62333951    31073792    5  Extended

Command (m for help): n

Partition type:

   p   primary (1 primary, 1 extended, 2 free)

   l   logical (numbered from 5)

Select (default p): l          <--- now create a logical partition

Adding logical partition 5

First sector (188416-62333951, default 188416):          <--- default, the same as original start number

Using default value 188416

Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (188416-62333951, default 62333951): 

Using default value 62333951                        ^--- default which is all of our extended partition space

Partition 5 of type Linux and of size 29.6 GiB is set

We have created a new logical partition using all of the extended partitions space. Let's look at the
partition table now...

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 31.9 GB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk label type: dos

Disk identifier: 0x00057540

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/mmcblk0p1            2048      186367       92160    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/mmcblk0p2          186368    62333951    31073792    5  Extended

/dev/mmcblk0p5          188416    62333951    31072768   83  Linux

Command (m for help): w         <--- all happy, time to write out the new partition table

The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.

The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at

the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)

Syncing disks.

All done, time to reboot.

[root@alarmpi ~]# sync;reboot

When we login again (ssh -l root ...) a quick check of the current disk space will probably show
that nothing has changed...

[root@alarmpi ~]# df -h

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root       1.7G  444M  1.2G  28% /
devtmpfs         83M     0   83M   0% /dev
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           231M  236K  231M   1% /run
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /tmp
/dev/mmcblk0p1   90M   25M   66M  27% /boot

We need to resize the Linux (logical) partition we created with fdisk.

[root@alarmpi ~]# resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p5 

resize2fs 1.42.8 (20-Jun-2013)

Filesystem at /dev/mmcblk0p5 is mounted on /; on-line resizing required

old_desc_blocks = 1, new_desc_blocks = 2

The filesystem on /dev/mmcblk0p5 is now 7768192 blocks long.

If we check now it should be looking much better...

[root@alarmpi ~]# df -h

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        30G  446M   28G   2% /
devtmpfs         83M     0   83M   0% /dev
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           231M  236K  231M   1% /run
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           231M     0  231M   0% /tmp
/dev/mmcblk0p1   90M   25M   66M  27% /boot

Naming, time & CPU

Good stuff! Time to choose a name for your Pi. I am going to call mine "carpi2".

[root@alarmpi ~]# hostnamectl set-hostname carpi2

Edit the hosts file and remove the "alarmpi" from the end of the line (if it is there) and add your new
host name that you just set with hostnamectl.

[root@alarmpi ~]# vi /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost carpi2
Write and quit to save the changes.

Changing the timezone. You can see them all here...

[root@alarmpi ~]# ls -la /usr/share/zoneinfo
Make a note of the directory path for yours and then create a file link to point to it. First we need to
delete the old timezone link file.

[root@alarmpi ~]# rm /etc/localtime        <----- this file may not exist
Create the link file for your timezone...(the format is file source then link name)

[root@alarmpi ~]# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Amsterdam /etc/localtime
If I was in the United Kingdom I would use...
[root@alarmpi ~]# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime

Another way to set the timezone is using the timedatectl command, more information at
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Time#Time_zone.

Uncomment the Medium setting in the boot configuration file so the CPU speed will be on-demand
up to 900Mhz.

[root@alarmpi ~]# vi /boot/config.txt 

##Medium

arm_freq=900

core_freq=333        <----- 250 is also an option

sdram_freq=450

over_voltage=2

Now is a good time for a another reboot.

[root@alarmpi ~]# reboot

After the reboot the host name, date and time (if connected to a network) should be correct.

Synchronise the package database and update

[root@carpi2 ~]# pacman -sSy

.

.

.

.

(lots of packages listed)

[root@carpi2 ~]# pacman -Su

Most likely it will have some updates so just hit return. It's going to take awhile so celebrate your
progress with another beverage.

The front Pi camera - raspivid

When done, let's check if the Pi camera is working (if you have not connected the Pi camera already
shut down the Pi and connect it now).
[root@carpi2 ~]# shutdown -P now
Then remove the power, connect the camera, reconnect power and log back in.

[root@carpi2 ~]# /opt/vc/bin/raspivid -d -t 1000

mmal: mmal_vc_component_create: failed to create component 'vc.ril.camera' (1:ENOMEM)

mmal: mmal_component_create_core: could not create component 'vc.ril.camera' (1)

mmal: Failed to create camera component

mmal: main: Failed to create camera component

mmal: Camera is not enabled in this build. Try running "sudo raspi-config" and ensure
that "camera" has been enabled

If you see the above or similar and you are sure the camera is connected correctly then add the
following lines to the bottom of the boot configuration file.

[root@carpi2 ~]# vi /boot/config.txt

start_file=start_x.elf

fixup_file=fixup_x.dat

#current_limit_override=0x5A000020

#disable_camera_led=1

 If you do not wish to see the Pi cameras LED when it is active then remove the # from

 #disable_camera_led=1

Time for another quick reboot….

[root@carpi2 ~]# sync;reboot

After the reboot login and test the Pi video command again, it should return after about two
seconds with no message.
[root@carpi2 ~]# /opt/vc/bin/raspivid -d -t 1000

Notes

 When everything was connected I had some problems with my network connection and some other
 odd behaviour. It appears the power demand was too much for my Pi. If you have similar strange
 issues try removing the # from #current_limit_override=0x5A000020 (and reboot).

The front Pi camera - picam
If you would like to use picamera for recording (which has a nice text overlay facility) we need to
install Python3 and picamera.

[root@carpi2 ~]# pacman -S python3 python-pip

[root@carpi2 ~]# pip install picamera

The picamera site has some great examples on programs you can write to use its different

functions: http://picamera.readthedocs.org/en/latest/recipes1.html

The rear USB camera

Create the "camera" user account, set the password, login and make the directories.

[root@carpi2 ~]# useradd -m -G video camera

[root@carpi2 ~]# passwd camera

[root@carpi2 ~]# su - camera

[camera@carpi2 ~]$ mkdir -p front rear sound usb logs/tmp

Change the file permissions so the camera directories are available to all (only needed for SAMBA).

[camera@carpi2 ~]$ chmod -R 777 /home/camera

[camera@carpi2 ~]$ exit

Install the motion package so we can record the USB camera.

[root@carpi2 ~]# pacman -S motion wget

You will probably see around 65+ packages to be installed, press return to continue.

When finished make a backup copy of the original configuration file for reference.

[root@carpi2 ~]# cp /etc/motion/motion.conf /etc/motion/motion.conf.org

Edit the motion configuration file. The values in bold should be set as shown here, the others are
recommended options. You will have to test for the best width, height and framerate for your camera.

[root@carpi2 ~]# vi /etc/motion/motion.conf

width 512            <— change to suit your camera

height 288           <— change to suit your camera

framerate 12        <— change to suit your camera

max_movie_time 600    (previously called 'max_mpeg_time')

emulate_motion on      (previously called 'output_all')

output_pictures off      (previously called 'output_normal')

target_dir /home/camera/rear

movie_filename %Y%m%d%H%M-%v

stream_port 8080           (previously 'webcam_port') (required for the GPS text annotation)
webcontrol_port 9080    (previously 'control_port') (required for the GPS text annotation)

camera /usr/local/etc/thread1.conf (only needed if you are going to use the included scripts)

Write your changes and quit the file editing.

Make the directory which has the PID of motion when it's running and change the ownership.

[root@carpi2 ~]# mkdir /etc/motion/run;chown camera /etc/motion/run

--- Optional ---

GPS

If you are setting up the Adafruit GPS, installing the software or just want some general information
please check here.
--- End ---

Audio recording

Install the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture utilities:
[root@carpi2 ~]# pacman -S alsa-utils

If you want to try a quick test, plug in a USB webcam with microphone (or a USB microphone dongle)
into the Pi and then some headphones into the Pi's audio output and run...

[root@carpi2 ~] arecord -D plughw:1,0 -f /tmp/test | aplay -f /tmp/test

Use Ctrl-C to stop.

The "-D" is the device name of the microphone and the "-f" is the file name where the recording

is saved. I have not really been able to test the audio part that much but I will add more info. if
I get the chance.

--- Optional ---

GPIO

If you are going to use the included scripts or plan to add buttons, LEDs etc then you should continue
with this section:
Install the excellent wiringPi stuff, we'll use this for GPIO control.

[ Further information: http://wiringpi.com/download-and-install ]

[root@carpi2 ~]# cd

[root@carpi2 ~]# pacman -S git-core make gcc sudo        <---- you can take away sudo if already installed

[root@carpi2 ~]# git clone git://git.drogon.net/wiringPi

[root@carpi2 ~]# cd wiringPi

[root@carpi2 wiringPi]# ./build

--- End ---

Installing SAMBA (so we can access the video and logfiles remotely)

This is another optional step, it's very handy though as it saves having to take the SD card out of the Pi.

[+] Show details

[-] Hide details

[root@carpi2 ~]# cd;pacman -S samba
[root@carpi2 ~]# cp /etc/samba/smb.conf.default /etc/samba/smb.conf
[root@carpi2 ~]# vi /etc/samba/smb.conf

[global]
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
   workgroup = FLUFFY   <---- change to your own workgroup name

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
;   server string = Samba Server
   server string = {your hostname}

# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
   printcap name = /dev/null
   load printers = no
   disable spoolss = yes

# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
   printing = bsd

# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
;  username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
map to guest = bad user

#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
;[homes]
;   comment = Home Directories
;   browseable = no
;   writable = yes

# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer
;[printers]
;   comment = All Printers
;   path = /var/spool/samba
;   browseable = no

# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
;   guest ok = no
;   writable = no
;   printable = yes

( Add this to the end of the file )
[carpi2]
comment = CarPi2 Data
path = /home/camera
browseable = yes
writeable = yes
guest ok = yes

Now to start up SAMBA.
[root@carpi2 ~]# systemctl start nmbd smbd
The camera directories should now be available on other computers. You will have to start SAMBA
manually if you reboot the Pi. Later we can install a small script to do this for us as needed. If you want
it to always start automatically then enable it...
[root@carpi2 ~]# systemctl enable nmbd smbd
If your SAMBA share does not show up then try giving the Pi a quick reboot and starting it again (if
not enabled).

Recording video - Pi camera

Hopefully you've made it this far without any issues and now have two working cameras. You can test
the Pi camera recording with a command like this:-

[root@carpi2 ~]# /opt/vc/bin/raspivid -w 960 -h 540 -n -hf -vf -o /home/camera/front/test.h264 -t 1000000

This will record the Pi camera at the specified width and height, with no preview (no HDMI video),
flips the horizontal and vertical image and it outputs the video to a file called
/home/camera/front/test.h264. The video will record for 1000000ms (about 16 minutes). If you wish to
stop it then just press Ctrl + C

If you are using SAMBA, great! Navigate to the "front" directory and you can view the video
otherwise (if not using a USB memory stick) you will need to shutdown your Pi and put the SD card
into another computer (the video files will be located under /home/camera/front).

Important note!

 The Arch Linux filesystem is ext4. Unless you put the SD card in a machine that can recognise
 an extended filesystem then it probably will not be able to mount this partition. Previously I ran
 MacFUSE for the Mac but switched to FUSE for OS X as it has ongoing support. The module
 I used with both of these was fuse-ext2. Alternatively you can use a FAT formatted USB memory
 stick to view the data or use SAMBA.

Note

 Running "/opt/vc/bin/raspivid -?" or just "/opt/vc/bin/raspivid" will give a list of all the options.

You can easily write your own program to start recording when the unit is powered on but you also

need a way to stop it. If you simply remove power from the Pi then chances are the last recording will
not have finished writing to disk and the file will be empty. I installed a button so the unit could be
shutdown gracefully.

Recording video - Motion
Connect your USB camera. A link called /dev/video0 should be automatically created for this camera.
If you type on the command line lsusb you should also see some information for your camera.
Although most cameras are recognised automatically some older ones may have problems.
If you can see the camera using lsusb and the /dev/video0 file is created you should be fine.

Motion is located in /usr/bin which should already be in your PATH.
[root@carpi2 ~]# motion
[0] Processing thread 0 - config file /etc/motion/motion.conf
[0] Motion 3.2.12 Started
[0] Motion going to daemon mode

Motion has started running in the background correctly. Wait a minute or two then stop the motion
process.
[root@carpi2 ~]# pkill -9 motion

Under the /home/camera/rear directory you should have an .avi file with the current date and time.
For example, 201309212228-01.avi

[root@carpi2 ~]# ls -l /home/camera/rear
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root   4770814 Sep 21 22:29 201309212228-01.avi

With SAMBA navigate to the "rear" directory and view the video otherwise you will need to shutdown
your Pi and put the SD card into another computer. The videos will be located under /home/camera/rear
unless you have specified an alternate location, for example in the global.rc file.

Watch the video for the frames per second. If it constantly matches the frame rate you set in the
configuration file you may like to try increasing this or the video resolution. Once frames start to be
missed then you know you've gone to high and need to reduce things a little. You can make changes
to the configuration file and have it update the motion process whilst it is still running if you wish
like this:-
[root@carpi2 ~]# pkill -HUP motion

Note

 Motion can be controlled by systemd to automatically start and stop with the Pi :-
 [root@carpi2 ~]# systemctl enable motion

 Motion will now start and stop automatically when the Pi is switched on or shutdown.

Scripts  [ Last update August 2017 * ]

I have written several scripts for running the cameras and monitoring things. The idea is to use them
combined with the LEDs, GPS and a power-off / reboot button. If you are making this into a dashcam
(or other video recording device) I would recommend at least installing a button so you can shut down
the unit when it is not connected to a network.

Get the scripts like so... (as the root user on your Pi)

[root@carpi2 ~]# cd;wget https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1v6T6Rgu448G_9Y8FzUtdDGsoP2S5_mWm&export=download -O scripts.tar
(or for a Pi 1 use https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Evj_aQD34Z-vE7YFjRL0pT2lphj7-JOt&export=download)

[root@carpi2 ~]# tar -xf scripts.tar;chown -R 0:0 scripts;rm scripts.tar

A directory called "scripts" in /root should now contain all the required files. The global.rc file contains
many values used by these scripts which you can change to best suit your needs.
N.B. An additional global.rc can be added to the top level directory of a USB storage device (the values
in this global.rc take precedence).

audio.sh                        - Uses arecord to save audio recordings to the audio directory
dashcam.sh                  - The main startup script. Mounts USB device, rotates logs, disk cleanup etc.
flash                              - C program to flash LEDs as required (GPIO #, count, delay, finish on/off)
global.rc                        - Resource file for all the global variables
gps_logger                    - C program to manage the GPS (via gpsd)
home.sh                        - Program to transfer files from the Pi to another computer before shutdown
motion_camera.sh        - Runs motion to record video when a USB camera is connected
picam.py                       - Pi camera recording using the picamera package
pico.sh                          - A script to make use of the optional UPS PIco module
pivid.sh                         - Pi camera recording using the raspivid command
pwr_butt                        - Monitors (GPIO 5 by default) for a button press to shutdown or reboot

N.B. Although it is not essential, having the Pi show the correct time is very useful. Adafruit has a nice guide for
adding an RTC to your Pi. I used it for version 1 but later installed a GPS instead unit.

File transfer & WiFi (home.sh)
For further information on setting up a WiFi connection and the home.sh script please see here

We now need to create a service file so things will start and stop automatically.
root@carpi2 ~]# vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/dashcam.service
[Unit]
Description=Dashcam control program
After=local-fs.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/root/scripts/dashcam.sh
Type=simple

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
 
Save the file then enable it:
[root@carpi2 ~]# systemctl enable dashcam

You could also control which scripts start by adding them as an argument, for example:
ExecStart=/root/scripts/dashcam.sh pivid motion
but it is preferred to change the *_enabled option in your local global.rc file.

Update systemd...
[root@carpi2 ~]# systemctl daemon-reload

You can test it starts from the command line:-
[root@carpi2 ~]# systemctl start dashcam (stop it with systemctl stop dashcam)

And the final test…!
[root@carpi2 ~]# sync;reboot

The End?
To set up the button and / or LEDs & GPS then please look here.
If you have any questions you can drop me a message, time permitting I will try and help.
Otherwise, thanks for following the guide and I hope everything is working for you.