Mailing List Archive

Alexey Koptsevich wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On Macs, is there a way to make a web camera (either internal or
> external USB webcam) available to the user, running VNC desktop
> not attached to the console, in muttiple-desktop configuration?
> Can it be done in RealVNC or perhaps Vine Server, or via any other
> remote access method?
>

Donnot know mac details. For msWindows, I know programs like webcam
stuff have a kind of direct access to the display hardware. Vnc is not
capable of capturing this data and hence, cannot show the contents.

For Unix X11 I know there are applications that show on remote displays
and hence can show in vnc-sessions as these applications donnot direct
access to display hardware.

As macs have a native and optionally an X11 display, you might be lucky
if you try the X11 way and find/use an X11 application that shows the
display.

On the other hand, if you want to show video contents over a network,
there are other protocols and programs to use. the most relaxed one I
have seen is a webcam that frequently dumps a jpeg picture in a
directory. This so happens to be used in a webpage that has an automatic
update of roughly the same frequency. Not enough for video, acceptable
for the oldes webcam use in the world: scanning if there is coffee in
the pot or ot.

As you are asking a vnc group, find attached a small
'vnc-server-application' that shows a clock in a vnc-session. Maybe
there is a developer out there who writes an application that shows the
webcam data.

Success

CBee