ElphelWiki - User contributions [en]

Using the cameras

2006-01-04T16:11:46Z

Gabriel:

{{Manual Header}}

== Introduction ==

Elphel network cameras — complex devices in whose development advanced technologies and non-standard program decisions are used. We constantly improve our products so that users can use the cameras with the least expense of time and effort. In this section of Elphel Network Cameras Manual you can find detailed information about using Elphel cameras.

== Complete set ==

The complete camera delivery set includes the actual network camera Elphel-313/323/333, and Live-CD or Live-DVD with a special edition of the Debian-based GNU/Linux operating system Knoppix, complete with all the necessary software for the camera.

The complete delivery set can also include lenses, an external power unit and connection cables for an additional payment.

== Appearance ==

[[Image:Cam side.jpg]] The Elphel-313/333 camera case is folding and made of anodized aluminium. Overall dimensions 116х45х45 mm, weight approximately 150 g (without lens).

[[Image:Cam front.jpg]] The carving socket for standard C/CS-mount lenses is located on the front of the camera.

[[Image:Cam back.jpg]] On the back side of the camera case are located a socket for connection of a network cable, a switch-on push button for the software reloading mode, and camera's model number mark. We constantly improve our products, therefore the number and appearance of the elements placed on the back panel can change.

On the bottom of the camera case is the standard carving socket for installation of the camera on a support.

== Connection ==

== Main Control Page ==

The Main Control Page uses javaScript to process user input (input fields and window of interest that can be selected by dragging a frame with the mouse), and combines all the camera acquisition parameters in a single GET request to a CGI program in the camera through the embedded web server (Boa). Currently the camera does not support simultaneous access as each request actually controls the camera operation mode (including sensor resolution and frame rate) and does not just connect to the camera output.

=== Page layout ===

On the top part of the page you should see a preview image. It is always 640x512, 800x600 or 512x386 pixels (1/2 or 1/4 of camera resolution depending on the sensor) and does not change with the selected decimation and window of interest (red rectangle over the image).

Below the preview image there are the camera controls:

=== General Controls ===

[[Image:Control panel 1.jpg]]

In the '''Window''' section there are 2 buttons at the bottom-right corner of window. You may specify window of interest (WOI) by dragging these buttons with the mouse. You may also change it numerically by entering data to '''W'''(idth), '''H'''(eight), '''L'''(eft) and '''T'''(op) input fields below. That numbers are rounded according to the selected sensor decimation and to use integer multiples of 16x16 pixels MCUs in JPEG compression.

In the '''Exposure''' field there is an input field to specify frame exposure time (in ms) - it is possible to specify fractions. You may change this parameter by dragging the slider with the mouse.

'''Saturation''' section allows adjusting contrast saturation.

'''Gamma''' field controls contrast by adjusting intensity conversion, gamma=1.0 corresponds to linear response (high contrast). Values less than 1 increase input dynamic range by expanding low intensity values (low contrast). You may change this parameter by dragging the slider with the mouse.

JPEG '''Quality''' sets standard JPEG compression quality. The higher the quality the bigger the resulting file. It does not change the camera frame rate.

'''White balance''' section is a drop-down menu containing four static parameters: '''Sunlight''', '''Cloudy''', '''Incandenscent''' and '''Fluorescent'''. You can choose one of these parameters to achieve the highest quality image depending on the lighting conditions.

In the '''Image size''' drop-down menu you may choose the static window size.

In the '''Resolution''' section there are radiobuttons to select sensor decimation (resolution). Selecting '''1''' uses all pixels in WOI, '''1/2''' - every other one (in both directions) - 1/4 total, '''1/4''' - 1 in 4 in each direction - 1/16 total and so on. Both WOI and decimation control the actual sensor operation that runs from the 20 MHz pixel clock, so the smaller the total number of pixels the higher the frame rate (it is actually slower as the sensor has some "margins" around the active area).

[[Image:Color.jpg]] In monochrome mode (when the '''Color''' radiobutton is not checked) "R" gain settings are used for all channels and color conversion is disabled.

Below are 3 buttons '''Preview''', '''Reset''' and '''Apply'''. '''Preview''' button refreshes the image in the top portion on a page (ignoring selected WOI and decimation), The '''Reset''' button returns to the initial adjustment parameters. The '''Apply''' button is used to accept the new changes.

Also there are two links after '''Photo''': '''New''' contains a link to a camera CGI program that has all the acquisition parameters attached. You may just click it to open the image in a new window or right-click it and select "Save link target as..." (or equivalent) to save the image on your computer. The second link '''Last''' points to the last image already in the camera memory; you may use it to save the previously aquired image to your hard drive.

[[Image:Help.png]] button opens this help page.

[[Image:Info.png]] button opens the information window where there is a list of the acquisition parameters used during the last image/clip acquisition.

=== Video Controls ===

'''Video Controls''' in this section allow users to record a video clip in the camera memory and send it over the LAN/Internet as a Quicktime video file. All settings for the image size, resolution, compression quality, analog gains and exposure are the same as for still images described above, and that link adds extra parameters - '''Frame Rate''' and '''Time Scale'''. The first sets the desired frame rate (leave blank or set to 0 for the maximal rate), the second field sets how much the playback time is longer than the acquisition one. I.e. setting of "10" makes the clip play 10 times slower that it was shot.

Total size of the clip (6-7MB) is determined by a camera internal buffer used for compressed image storage and the total number of frames as the frame headers are attached during the clip output and are not stored in the buffer. There are 2 ways to shoot a clip (usual duration 3-5 sec, depending on compression quality). First is to press '''Start stream''' button, wait for the event to occur and then press '''Acquire'''. In this mode after '''Start stream''' the camera continuously writes to the buffer, overwriting footage when all the available space is used. Pressing the '''Stop stream''' button ends data saving and so the buffer contains the last data recorded. Another way is to press '''Acquire''' before the event. In that mode the clip recording starts after the trigger and stops when the whole buffer is full.

There are additional controls to preview a videoclip from the camera memory. Frame number 1 is the first one, 2 - second, etc. Frame number 0 is the last one in the clip, -1 - previous before last, etc. Any image acquisition (including '''Preview''') erases the stored clip and makes it one frame long.

Clicking on the '''Video Clip''' link opens the clip in the Apple QuickTime ™ (or compatible) player plugin (if installed) - you may also use this link to save the clip as a file on your computer.

=== Advanced Panel ===

[[Image:Control panel 2.jpg]]

'''Advanced Panel''' tab opens additional adjustment parameters for the image. In this section you may specify more exact adjustments of color levels of the image.

'''Gains''' section controls the sensor analog gain settings. '''R''', '''G''' and '''B''' input fields control color component gains. Using high gain settings increases sensor noise but is required to view fast events with 1ms exposure time with the lighting used in the current setup.

'''R-Y''' specifies color saturation for red color component.

'''B-Y''' specifies color saturation for blue color component.

'''B''' specifies color saturation for blue color component.

'''W''' specifies level saturation for white color component.

The '''Flip-X''' button allows turning the image horizontally.

The '''Flip-Y''' button allows turning the image vertically.

''NOTE: Some parameters (e.g. window size) cannot be changed without stopping the acquisition/compression.''

== Technical Information for the Elphel-333 ==

=== Default Setup ===

The default IP address of the camera is '''192.168.0.9''' netmask '''255.255.255.0'''

You should be able to ping the camera from another machine on the same subnet.

By default, the following TCP ports are open:

21/ftp

23/telnet

80/http

=== Logging in ===

You can log in to the camera via telnet on TCP port 23

User: '''root'''

Password: '''pass'''

=== Serial port ===

The serial port settings (additional board 308 needed)

Speed: 19200 8N1

RTS/CTS: None

XON/XOFF : None

=== Changing IP address of the camera ===

The camera network settings can be changed by going to:
http://<camera_ip>/axis.html

from an attached computer.

----
''Free Software and Open Hardware. Elphel, Inc., 2005''

Live CD

2005-12-28T20:19:07Z

Gabriel:

{{Manual Header}}
The Live CD is based on [http://knopper.net/knoppix/ Knoppix] which is based on [http://www.debian.org/ Debian].
== Structure ==
The Live CD contains multipurpose GNU/Linux software and special software for elphel cameras.
The software is organized as debian packages.
Our debian packages are presented on our [http://sourceforge.net/projects/elphel/ SourceForge page] in
the [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=105686&package_id=130302 Live-CD] and [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=105686&package_id=120785 Players] sections.

The root file system of Knoppix is compressed and the cloop kernel module is needed to decompress it on-the-fly when it is necessary.
The CD contains the compressed root file system, boot loader and flash tarballs for different models of our cameras.

If you already have a Debian or Knoppix system installed, you can add some of our debs to work with our cameras.

<ul>We recommend installing the following packages from our SourceForge page:
<li>[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/elphel/elphel-pack_1.4.0.4_i386.deb?download elphel-pack]
has utilities to configure the network specifically for the cameras (for rtp stream receiving), search for cameras on the LAN, update flash, and a helper for Mozilla/Firefox to work with .sdp files.
<li>[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/elphel/netcardconfig-knoppix_0.5-20-elphel-3_all.deb?download netcardconfig-knoppix elphel clone]
to configure network cards and to make a simple bridge from several cards.
<li>[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/elphel/mplayer_1.0pre7-elphel-1_i386.deb?download patched MPlayer]
to watch and to record the rtp stream from our cameras.
</ul>

To install the selected package(s) you may use the following command:
# dpkg -i --force-overwrite <deb-file-name>

Our version of netcardconfig-knoppix is dependant on the iputils-arping package.
You may install it with:
# apt-get install iputils-arping

Our other packages and applied patches contain common minor improvements and bug fixes for the base distro.

== Usage ==
=== Boot and use ===
Currently we have a Live CD only for the i386 architecture.

The Boot CD allows you to use Linux with the necessary network settings and utilities for our cameras without any modification of data on your hard drive.

Insert our CD in the CD drive and let the computer boot from this CD.
It is possible you may need to change some BIOS settings to do it.

You may simply wait until the system is ready.

First you will see the Knoppix boot menu.
To continue the boot you can wait longer or simply press Enter. The most common intervention during the boot process is setting the screen resolution to match your monitor (details below - [[http://wiki.elphel.com/index.php?title=Live_CD#Knoppix_cheat_codes_.28boot_parameters.29]]):
knoppix screen=1600x1200

In most cases Knoppix starts succesfully and automatically detects the computer hardware.

Then network cards will next be configured.
The config script may ask you whether to make a bridge if your computer has several network cards.
Press Enter or wait longer for the default configuration.

Then it automatically searches for elphel cameras on your LAN and makes a static html page with links.

After the boot completes you will see the page with cameras.

==== Knoppix cheat codes (boot parameters)====
Special parameters can be set at the boot prompt.
<dl>The first word must be a name of a boot variant.
<dt>knoppix<dd>Default mode.
<dt>expert<dd>Verbose interactive mode.
<dt>debug<dd>Debug mode.
<dt>failsafe<dd>Boot without hardware autodetection.
<dt>memtest<dd>RAM test.
</dl>
<dl>Some further parameters separated by spaces can follow in any order.
<dt>screen=1280x1024<dd>Use this if you have a monitor resolution higher than 1024x768 pixels and autodetection does not work.
<dt>lang=XX<dd>Specify the two-letter designation of your language.
</dl>
See the file "KNOPPIX/knoppix-cheatcodes.txt" on the Live CD for more in-depth information. Or online - [http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes here]

=== Common software for video ===
==== mplayer ====
This is a movie player. It can play files and streams with many different video and audio formats.

To watch an rtp stream from our cameras you may use the following command:
mplayer rtsp://camera-ip:7070/
Where '''camera-ip''' is the ip address of the camera.

To play a file recorded with mencoder or any other videofile you may use the following command:
mplayer path-to-file

Or you may use the KDE menu to run mplayer in dialog mode

You can use the keyboard to control playing
*'''space''' pause/continue
*'''Q''' quit

See the mplayer man page and [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/info.html site] for more information.

==== mencoder ====
This program is included in the mplayer package.
It can transcode video and audio to and from many different formats.
For more about this see the man page. Type:
man mencoder
To record the rtp stream from our cameras it is better to use mencoder in copy mode (without reencoding):
mencoder rtsp://camera.ip:7070 -ovc copy -fps <fps> -o filename.avi
where:
*'''camera.ip''' - DNS name or IP address of the camera;
*'''<fps>''' - approximate value of the frame frequency (this parameter is mandatory);
*'''filename.avi''' - the name of an output file.
Close the terminal window or press Ctrl+C to finish recording.

The following program written in unix shell will split recording video into blocks with the specified number of frames:
while true ; do
f=`date -Iseconds`
mencoder rtsp://camera.ip:7070 -ovc copy -fps <fps> -frames 1000 -o $f.avi
done
You can enter these strings "as is" at the command prompt.

==== ElphelOgm ====
A receiver for the multicast RTP stream. It generates ogg/mjpeg stream on stdout.
You can use it with mplayer or another video player to watch the RTP stream from the camera:
ElphelOgm -a <multicast address> -p <multicast port> | mplayer -nocache -
Or to record stream to a file:
ElphelOgm -a <multicast address> -p <multicast port> -f <fps> > video.ogm
Other tested players: VLC(some performance).

See also [[Recorder| detailed description and roadmap]]

==== ogm2mov ====
This program is used to recode ogg/mjpeg file to QuickTime .mov format.
Usage:
ogm2mov -o <output file name> <input_file_name or "-" for stdin>
The program cannot write to a pipe, only to a file.

==== GenReS plugin for Firefox ====
This is a plugin for Mozilla/Firefox to allow embedding of external applications like mplayer in the browser window.

See also [[GenReS|description for javascript programmers]].

=== Special software ===
==== netcardconfig ====
netcardconfig is an improved version of knoppix network configurator.
It needs root privileges.
It has two modes: interactive and batch.

...

It is called from the startup script on our Live CD.
If you have installed netcardconfig-knoppix separately from our distro, it is possible you need to insert a call to the script in a system startup script.
Our version uses arping to check the IP address.

==== netcamconfig ====
Run "netcamconfig" as user "root" to apply additional network settings and some kernel parameters.

This script adds aliases for network cards with the most popular LAN ip adresses,
adds route records for multicast ip addresses
and changes kernel parameters to prevent long i/o operations blocking the hard drive,

It is called from the startup script on our Live CD after netcardconfig.
If you have installed elphel-pack separately from our distro, you possibly need to insert a call for the script in a system startup script.
==== camsearch ====
This shell script scans the LAN using broadcast ping and detects elphel cameras.
It creates the file "cameras.html" in the current directory with links to found cameras and information about
software versions.
It is called from the system startup script after network configuration and can be restarted using the "Find cameras again" link on the KDE desktop.

==== flashit ====
This program uses Axis low-level Ethernet packets [http://developer.axis.com/doc/old/software/tools/network_boot.html see "Theory"](some details do not apply to the camera) to communicate with a network bootloader hard-wired in the CPU internal ROM. This makes firmware upgrade a safe process - even if the process was interrupted and the camera was left in non-bootable state, it is always possible to start over again.

When the program is started without arguments (e.g. by just clicking the icon on the desktop) it offers a choice of images available on the DVD. You may also download flash image files (elphel3?3*-flash.tar.bz2) from the files section on [https://sourceforge.net/projects/elphel Elphel project page at SourceForge.net], save them and use as an argument to flashit (i.e. drag-and-drop the file icon over flashit).

To use the flashit utility, the camera should be started in firmware updgrade mode - the green button on the back panel should be held pressed down when the power is applied to the camera. You may do this in any sequence - if the program was started first, you will see the program output messages immediately after the camera is started in this special mode. The flashing process takes several minutes - both LEDs on the network connector stay on until it is over.

==== sdp-helper ====
This script is designed for calling from a browser. It accepts a temporary "sdp" file downloaded from camera and calls [[#mplayer|mplayer]] to view the stream or [[#mencoder|mencoder]] to record it.
On the CD it processes files with the mime type text/sdp. The script deletes the given temporary file.

=== Installing to hard drive ===
=== Working with packages ===
Knoppix is based on Debian. So it uses the debian package system.
To list the installed packages use:
dpkg -l [<shell-like-template>]
To install a new package from file:
dpkg -i <deb-filename>
To install from servers:
apt-get install <package-name>
To remove a package:
dpkg -r <package-name>
To get a description:
dpkg -s <package-name>
When booting from CD/DVD you can install/remove packages, but all changes will be temporary until reboot.
Due to use of unionfs with ramfs you may temporarily change any file in the compressed filesystem,
but changes are stored in RAM.

You can get a package file from any installed package:
dpkg-repack <package-name>
And convert it to tar.gz format which is used in Slackware, and which is easy to install in any GNU/Linux system without a package manager:
alien -t <file-name.deb>

== How to Make a New CD Image ==
Here we describe the usage of the Live CD maker which can be downloaded from our SourceForge page.
The tar archive contains several shell scripts and directories with patches and files for the CD.
=== Debs ===
This directory contains packages to install on the new CD and files with a list of packages and file names to remove.
The script recognizes deb, rpm, and compressed tar archives.
Use of debs is preferred.

Files '''"00remove-debs"''' and '''"00remove-files"''' contain, respectively, a list of debian packages, and files to remove '''''before''''' installing and updating new packages.
Files '''"zzremove-debs"''' and '''"zzremove-files"''' are used similarly only '''''after''''' installation of new packages.

When the result is a DVD remastering the script uses some filenames but with -DVD suffixes.

=== Patches ===
there are 4 types of objects:
* diff patches, to be applied as patches to the knoppix root;
* tar.bz2 archives, to be unpacked in the knoppix root file system;
* executable files which will run with knoppix root as the current directory;
* directories which are ignored by the script, and can contain data for the executables.
Before application the initrd image is unpacked to the knoppix root and repacked after.
So patches can modify the content of initrd.

Diff patches will be tested before application: they will be tried with --dry-run and -p0 and p1 options.

Executables are first run with --dry-run, with this option the files will be checked but it will not modify files.

=== Files to Be Placed on CD ===
The directory "newcd" contains files wich will be placed on the CD as is.
Put here new flash tarballs and HTML files which can be accessed without booting from the CD.

=== Scripts ===
==== download-debs ====
==== livecd-make ====

=== Other Files ===

== Diagnostic ==

== Road map ==
see [[LiveCD Realease Notes]]
----
''Free Software and Open Hardware. Elphel, Inc., 2005''

Using the cameras

2005-12-28T18:49:16Z

Gabriel:

{{Manual Header}}

== Introduction ==

Elphel network cameras — complex devices in whose development advanced technologies and non-standard program decisions are used. We constantly improve our products so that users can use the cameras with the least expense of time and effort. In this section of Elphel Network Cameras Manual you can find detailed information about using Elphel cameras.

== Complete set ==

The complete camera delivery set includes the actual network camera Elphel-313/323/333, and Live-CD or Live-DVD with a special edition of the Debian-based GNU/Linux operating system Knoppix, complete with all the necessary software for the camera.

The complete delivery set can also include lenses, an external power unit and connection cables for an additional payment.

== Appearance ==

[[Image:Cam side.jpg]] The Elphel-313/333 camera case is folding and made of anodized aluminium. Overall dimensions 116х45х45 mm, weight approximately 150 g (without lens).

[[Image:Cam front.jpg]] The carving socket for standard C/CS-mount lenses is located on the front of the camera.

[[Image:Cam back.jpg]] On the back side of the camera case are located a socket for connection of a network cable, a switch-on push button for the software reloading mode, and camera's model number mark. We constantly improve our products, therefore the number and appearance of the elements placed on the back panel can change.

On the bottom of the camera case is the standard carving socket for installation of the camera on a support.

== Connection ==

== Main Control Page ==

The Main Control Page uses javaScript to process user input (input fields and window of interest that can be selected by dragging a frame with the mouse), and combines all the camera acquisition parameters in a single GET request to a CGI program in the camera through the embedded web server (Boa). Currently the camera does not support simultaneous access as each request actually controls the camera operation mode (including sensor resolution and frame rate) and does not just connect to the camera output.

=== Page layout ===

On the top part of the page you should see a preview image. It is always 640x512, 800x600 or 512x386 pixels (1/2 or 1/4 of camera resolution depending on the sensor) and does not change with the selected decimation and window of interest (red rectangle over the image).

Below the preview image there are the camera controls:

=== General Controls ===

[[Image:Control panel 1.jpg]]

In the '''Window''' section there are 2 buttons at the bottom-right corner of window. You may specify window of interest (WOI) by dragging these buttons with the mouse. You may also change it numerically by entering data to '''W'''(idth), '''H'''(eight), '''L'''(eft) and '''T'''(op) input fields below. That numbers are rounded according to the selected sensor decimation and to use integer multiples of 16x16 pixels MCUs in JPEG compression.

In the '''Exposure''' field there is an input field to specify frame exposure time (in ms) - it is possible to specify fractions. You may change this parameter by dragging the slider with the mouse.

'''Saturation''' section allows adjusting contrast saturation.

'''Gamma''' field controls contrast by adjusting intensity conversion, gamma=1.0 corresponds to linear response (high contrast). Values less than 1 increase input dynamic range by expanding low intensity values (low contrast). You may change this parameter by dragging the slider with the mouse.

JPEG '''Quality''' sets standard JPEG compression quality. The higher the quality the bigger the resulting file. It does not change the camera frame rate.

'''White balance''' section is a drop-down menu containing four static parameters: '''Sunlight''', '''Cloudy''', '''Incandenscent''' and '''Fluorescent'''. You can choose one of these parameters to achieve the highest quality image depending on the lighting conditions.

In the '''Image size''' drop-down menu you may choose the static window size.

In the '''Resolution''' section there are radiobuttons to select sensor decimation (resolution). Selecting '''1''' uses all pixels in WOI, '''1/2''' - every other one (in both directions) - 1/4 total, '''1/4''' - 1 in 4 in each direction - 1/16 total and so on. Both WOI and decimation control the actual sensor operation that runs from the 20 MHz pixel clock, so the smaller the total number of pixels the higher the frame rate (it is actually slower as the sensor has some "margins" around the active area).

[[Image:Color.jpg]] In monochrome mode (when the '''Color''' radiobutton is not checked) "R" gain settings are used for all channels and color conversion is disabled.

Below are 3 buttons '''Preview''', '''Reset''' and '''Apply'''. '''Preview''' button refreshes the image in the top portion on a page (ignoring selected WOI and decimation), The '''Reset''' button returns to the initial adjustment parameters. The '''Apply''' button is used to accept the new changes.

Also there are two links after '''Photo''': '''New''' contains a link to a camera CGI program that has all the acquisition parameters attached. You may just click it to open the image in a new window or right-click it and select "Save link target as..." (or equivalent) to save the image on your computer. The second link '''Last''' points to the last image already in the camera memory; you may use it to save the previously aquired image to your hard drive.

[[Image:Help.png]] button opens this help page.

[[Image:Info.png]] button opens the information window where there is a list of the acquisition parameters used during the last image/clip acquisition.

=== Video Controls ===

'''Video Controls''' in this section allow users to record a video clip in the camera memory and send it over the LAN/Internet as a Quicktime video file. All settings for the image size, resolution, compression quality, analog gains and exposure are the same as for still images described above, and that link adds extra parameters - '''Frame Rate''' and '''Time Scale'''. The first sets the desired frame rate (leave blank or set to 0 for the maximal rate), the second field sets how much the playback time is longer than the acquisition one. I.e. setting of "10" makes the clip play 10 times slower that it was shot.

Total size of the clip (6-7MB) is determined by a camera internal buffer used for compressed image storage and the total number of frames as the frame headers are attached during the clip output and are not stored in the buffer. There are 2 ways to shoot a clip (usual duration 3-5 sec, depending on compression quality). First is to press '''Start stream''' button, wait for the event to occur and then press '''Acquire'''. In this mode after '''Start stream''' the camera continuously writes to the buffer, overwriting footage when all the available space is used. Pressing the '''Stop stream''' button ends data saving and so the buffer contains the last data recorded. Another way is to press '''Acquire''' before the event. In that mode the clip recording starts after the trigger and stops when the whole buffer is full.

There are additional controls to preview a videoclip from the camera memory. Frame number 1 is the first one, 2 - second, etc. Frame number 0 is the last one in the clip, -1 - previous before last, etc. Any image acquisition (including '''Preview''') erases the stored clip and makes it one frame long.

Clicking on the '''Video Clip''' link opens the clip in the Apple QuickTime ™ (or compatible) player plugin (if installed) - you may also use this link to save the clip as a file on your computer.

=== Advanced Panel ===

[[Image:Control panel 2.jpg]]

'''Advanced Panel''' tab opens additional adjustment parameters for the image. In this section you may specify more exact adjustments of color levels of the image.

'''Gains''' section controls the sensor analog gain settings. '''R''', '''G''' and '''B''' input fields control color component gains. Using high gain settings increases sensor noise but is required to view fast events with 1ms exposure time with the lighting used in the current setup.

'''R-Y''' specifies color saturation for red color component.

'''B-Y''' specifies color saturation for blue color component.

'''B''' specifies color saturation for blue color component.

'''W''' specifies level saturation for white color component.

The '''Flip-X''' button allows turning the image horizontally.

The '''Flip-Y''' button allows turning the image vertically.

''NOTE: Some parameters (e.g. window size) cannot be changed without stopping the acquisition/compression.''

== Technical Information for the Elphel-333 ==

=== Default Setup ===

The default IP address of the camera is '''192.168.0.9''' netmask '''255.255.255.0'''

You should be able to ping the camera from another machine on the same subnet.

By default, the following TCP ports are open:

21/ftp

23/telnet

80/http

=== Logging in ===

You can log in to the camera via telnet on TCP port 23

User: '''root'''

Password: '''pass'''

=== Serial port ===

The serial port settings (additional board 308 needed)

Speed: 19200 8N1

RTS/CTS: None

XON/XOFF : None

----
''Free Software and Open Hardware. Elphel, Inc., 2005''

Camera hardware

2005-12-28T18:32:28Z

Gabriel: /* Introduction */

{{Manual Header}}

== Introduction ==

All the FPGA code is provided under the terms of GNU General Public License. All the source code is available inside the camera but you may want to visit the Elphel web site for the latest version.

== Board design ==

[[Image:Board side.png]]

[[Image:Board overside.png]]

== Logics ==

[[Image:Logic.png]]

[[Image:Schematic.png]]

----
''Free Software and Open Hardware. Elphel, Inc., 2005''

Camera software

2005-12-28T18:31:19Z

Gabriel:

{{Manual Header}}

== Introduction ==

All the camera software is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License. All the source code is available inside the camera but you may want to visit [http://www.elphel.com Elphel web site] for the latest version.

== Software Architecture of Elphel 3x3 cameras ==
Software in the Elphel cameras started from [http://developer.axis.com/ Axis Developer Boards Software] and was amended for the camera specific functions. It was modified to work with newer hardware (models 303-313/323-333), support more features and now seems to be a good time to make a major redesign instead of applying incremental changes.

Some discussion has already started in Russian here - [[Nc3x3]]

Related to the architecture are the [[#Camera Interface]] and the [[#Client Software]]
=== Camera Interface ===

=== Client Software ===
See [[Live CD]]

=== Video Server ===
PC-based video server that will archive incoming Ogg Theora incoming streams from several cameras and transcode them on the fly to lower resolution (binary decimation, windowing) and frame rate (i.e. using only key frames) presenting multiple streams (real time and recorded) to the operator. The external interface of the server might be one of the industry standards and compatible with 3rd party legacy software.

== See also ==
[[Roadmap#Software Architecture of Elphel 3x3 cameras]]

----
''Free Software and Open Hardware. Elphel, Inc., 2005''

Live CD

2005-12-28T18:28:05Z

Gabriel:

{{Manual Header}}
The Live CD is based on [http://knopper.net/knoppix/ Knoppix] which is based on [http://www.debian.org/ Debian].
== Structure ==
The Live CD contains multipurpose GNU/Linux software and special software for elphel cameras.
The software is organized as debian packages.
Our debian packages are presented on our [http://sourceforge.net/projects/elphel/ SourceForge page] in
the [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=105686&package_id=130302 Live-CD] and [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=105686&package_id=120785 Players] sections.

The root file system of Knoppix is compressed and the cloop kernel module is needed to decompress it on-the-fly when it is necessary.
The CD contains the compressed root file system, boot loader and flash tarballs for different models of our cameras.

If you already have a Debian or Knoppix system installed, you can add some of our debs to work with our cameras.

<ul>We recommend installing the following packages from our SourceForge page:
<li>[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/elphel/elphel-pack_1.4.0.4_i386.deb?download elphel-pack]
has utilities to configure the network specifically for the cameras (for rtp stream receiving), search for cameras on the LAN, update flash, and a helper for Mozilla/Firefox to work with .sdp files.
<li>[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/elphel/netcardconfig-knoppix_0.5-20-elphel-3_all.deb?download netcardconfig-knoppix elphel clone]
to configure network cards and to make a simple bridge from several cards.
<li>[http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/elphel/mplayer_1.0pre7-elphel-1_i386.deb?download patched MPlayer]
to watch and to record the rtp stream from our cameras.
</ul>

To install the selected package(s) you may use the following command:
# dpkg -i --force-overwrite <deb-file-name>

Our version of netcardconfig-knoppix is dependant on the iputils-arping package.
You may install it with:
# apt-get install iputils-arping

Our other packages and applied patches contain common minor improvements and bug fixes for the base distro.

== Usage ==
=== Boot and use ===
Currently we have a Live CD only for the i386 architecture.

The Boot CD allows you to use Linux with the necessary network settings and utilities for our cameras without any modification of data on your hard drive.

Insert our CD in the CD drive and let the computer boot from this CD.
It is possible you may need to change some BIOS settings to do it.

You may simply wait until the system is ready.

First you will see the Knoppix boot menu.
To continue the boot you can wait longer or simply press Enter. The most common intervention during the boot process is setting the screen resolution to match your monitor (details below - [[http://wiki.elphel.com/index.php?title=Live_CD#Knoppix_cheat_codes_.28boot_parameters.29]]):
knoppix screen=1600x1200

In most cases Knoppix starts succesfully and automatically detects the computer hardware.

Then network cards will next be configured.
The config script may ask you whether to make a bridge if your computer has several network cards.
Press Enter or wait longer for the default configuration.

Then it automatically searches for elphel cameras on your LAN and makes a static html page with links.

After the boot completes you will see the page with cameras.

==== Knoppix cheat codes (boot parameters)====
Special parameters can be set at the boot prompt.
<dl>The first word must be a name of a boot variant.
<dt>knoppix<dd>Default mode.
<dt>expert<dd>Verbose interactive mode.
<dt>debug<dd>Debug mode.
<dt>failsafe<dd>Boot without hardware autodetection.
<dt>memtest<dd>RAM test.
</dl>
<dl>Some further parameters separated by spaces can follow in any order.
<dt>screen=1280x1024<dd>Use this if you have a monitor resolution higher than 1024x768 pixels and autodetection does not work.
<dt>lang=XX<dd>Specify the two-letter designation of your language.
</dl>
See the file "KNOPPIX/knoppix-cheatcodes.txt" on the Live CD for more in-depth information. Or online - [http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes here]

=== Common software for video ===
==== mplayer ====
This is a movie player. It can play files and streams with many different video and audio formats.

To watch an rtp stream from our cameras you may use the following command:
mplayer rtsp://camera-ip:7070/
Where '''camera-ip''' is the ip address of the camera.

To play a file recorded with mencoder or any other videofile you may use the following command:
mplayer path-to-file

Or you may use the KDE menu to run mplayer in dialog mode

You can use the keyboard to control playing
*'''space''' pause/continue
*'''Q''' quit

See the mplayer man page and [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/info.html site] for more information.

==== mencoder ====
This program is included in the mplayer package.
It can transcode video and audio to and from many different formats.
For more about this see the man page. Type:
man mencoder
To record the rtp stream from our cameras it is better to use mencoder in copy mode (without reencoding):
mencoder rtsp://camera.ip:7070 -ovc copy -fps <fps> -o filename.avi
where:
*'''camera.ip''' - DNS name or IP address of the camera;
*'''<fps>''' - approximate value of the frame frequency (this parameter is mandatory);
*'''filename.avi''' - the name of an output file.
Close the terminal window or press Ctrl+C to finish recording.

The following program written in unix shell will split recording video into blocks with the specified number of frames:
while true ; do
f=`date -Iseconds`
mencoder rtsp://camera.ip:7070 -ovc copy -fps <fps> -frames 1000 -o $f.avi
done
You can enter this string "as is" on command prompt.

==== ElphelOgm ====
A receiver for the multicast RTP stream. It generates ogg/mjpeg stream on stdout.
You can use it with mplayer or another video player to watch the RTP stream from the camera:
ElphelOgm -a <multicast address> -p <multicast port> | mplayer -nocache -
Or to record stream to a file:
ElphelOgm -a <multicast address> -p <multicast port> -f <fps> > video.ogm
Other tested players: VLC(some performance).

See also [[Recorder| detailed description and roadmap]]

==== ogm2mov ====
This program is used to recode ogg/mjpeg file to QuickTime .mov format.
Usage:
ogm2mov -o <output file name> <input_file_name or "-" for stdin>
The program cannot write to a pipe, only to a file.

==== GenReS plugin for Firefox ====
This is a plugin for Mozilla/Firefox to allow embedding of external applications like mplayer in the browser window.

See also [[GenReS|description for javascript programmers]].

=== Special software ===
==== netcardconfig ====
netcardconfig is an improved version of knoppix network configurator.
It needs root privileges.
It has two modes: interactive and batch.

...

It is called from the startup script on our Live CD.
If you have installed netcardconfig-knoppix not from our distro, it is possible you need to insert a call to the script in a system startup script.
Our version uses arping to check the IP address.

==== netcamconfig ====
Run "netcamconfig" as user "root" to apply additional network settings and some kernel parameters.

This script adds aliases for network cards with the most popular LAN ip adresses,
adds route records for multicast ip addresses
and changes kernel parameters to prevent long i/o operations blocking the hard drive,

It is called from the startup script on our Live CD after netcardconfig.
If you have installed elphel-pack not from our distro, you possibly need to insert a call for the script in a system startup script.
==== camsearch ====
This shell script scans the LAN using broadcast ping and detects elphel cameras.
It creates the file "cameras.html" in the current directory with links to found cameras and information about
software versions.
It is called from the system startup script after network configuration and can be restarted using the "Find cameras again" link on the KDE desktop.

==== flashit ====
This program uses Axis low-level Ethernet packets [http://developer.axis.com/doc/old/software/tools/network_boot.html see "Theory"](some details do not apply to the camera) to communicate with a network bootloader hard-wired in the CPU internal ROM. This makes firmware upgrade a safe process - even if the process was interrupted and the camera was left in non-bootable state, it is always possible to start over again.

When the program is started without arguments (e.g. by just clicking the icon on the desktop) it offers a choice of images available on the DVD. You may also download flash image files (elphel3?3*-flash.tar.bz2) from the files section on [https://sourceforge.net/projects/elphel Elphel project page at SourceForge.net], save them and use as an argument to flashit (i.e. drag-and-drop the file icon over flashit).

To use the flashit utility, the camera should be started in firmware updgrade mode - the green button on the back panel should be held pressed down when the power is applied to the camera. You may do this in any sequence - if the program was started first, you will see the program output messages immediately after the camera is started in this special mode. The flashing process takes several minutes - both LEDs on the network connector stay on until it is over.

==== sdp-helper ====
This script is designed for calling from a browser. It accepts a temporary "sdp" file downloaded from camera and calls [[#mplayer|mplayer]] to view the stream or [[#mencoder|mencoder]] to record it.
On the CD it processes files with the mime type text/sdp. The script deletes the given temporary file.

=== Installing to hard drive ===
=== Working with packages ===
Knoppix is based on Debian. So it uses the debian package system.
To list the installed packages use:
dpkg -l [<shell-like-template>]
To install a new package from file:
dpkg -i <deb-filename>
To install from servers:
apt-get install <package-name>
To remove a package:
dpkg -r <package-name>
To get a description:
dpkg -s <package-name>
When booting from CD/DVD you can install/remove packages, but all changes will be temporary until reboot.
Due to use of unionfs with ramfs you may temporarily change any file in the compressed filesystem,
but changes are stored in RAM.

You can get a package file from any installed package:
dpkg-repack <package-name>
And convert it to tar.gz format which is used in Slackware, and for easy install to any GNU/Linux system without a package manager:
alien -t <file-name.deb>

== How to Make a New CD Image ==
Here we describe the usage of the Live CD maker which can be downloaded from our SourceForge page.
The tar archive contains several shell scripts and directories with patches and files for the CD.
=== Debs ===
This directory contains packages to install on the new CD and files with a list of packages and file names to remove.
The script recognizes deb, rpm, and compressed tar archives.
Use of debs is preferred.

Files '''"00remove-debs"''' and '''"00remove-files"''' contain, respectively, a list of debian packages, and files to remove '''''before''''' installing and updating new packages.
Files '''"zzremove-debs"''' and '''"zzremove-files"''' are used similarly only '''''after''''' installation of new packages.

When the result is a DVD remastering the script uses some filenames but with -DVD suffixes.

=== Patches ===
there are 4 types of objects:
* diff patches, to be applied as patches to the knoppix root;
* tar.bz2 archives, to be unpacked in the knoppix root file system;
* executable files which will run with knoppix root as the current directory;
* directories which are ignored by the script, and can contain data for the executables.
Before application the initrd image is unpacked to the knoppix root and repacked after.
So patches can modify the content of initrd.

Diff patches can be tested before application: they can be tried with --dry-run and -p0 and p1 options.

Executables are first run with --dry-run, with this option the files will be checked but it will not modify files.

=== Files to Be Placed on CD ===
The directory "newcd" contains files wich will be placed on the CD as is.
Put here new flash tarballs and HTML files which can be accessed without booting from the CD.

=== Scripts ===
==== download-debs ====
==== livecd-make ====

=== Other Files ===

== Diagnostic ==

== Road map ==
see [[LiveCD Realease Notes]]
----
''Free Software and Open Hardware. Elphel, Inc., 2005''

Linux Tuning

2005-12-28T17:23:44Z

Gabriel:

Data about kernel tuning will be collected here.

==Links==
[http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=forums&forum_id=371579&group_id=105686&atid=0&words=proc%2F&Search=Search Old discussions on SourceForge]

[http://www.laukas.com/knbase/linux_special/ Linux Tuning Guide] (for 2.4 kernels)

[http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/ref-guide/s1-proc-directories.html Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: Reference Guide: Directories within /proc/]