Zoneminder & netbooks

PacoLM · Post by **PacoLM** » Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:17 am

Hi,

My question here is computer related. I'm thinking in acquiring one of this small netbooks to control a system with 4 cameras. Hard disk is big enough (160/250Mb), RAM is 512/1024Mb.
Has anyone experience installing ZM in one of this 'toys'. Is it powerful enough?. Has enough RAM to deal with 4 color cameras 640x480p?

Comments are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Paco

mitch · Post by **mitch** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:53 am

Zone Minder's motion detection is CPU intensive. I do not believe a netbook could handle the load of 4 cameras @ 640x480 with motion detection. 1 gig of ram and 250 gigs of space is more than enough there but cpu wise you are going to really not be able to keep up. In additional most portable hard drives are @ 5400 rpm vs 7200 rpm which is not the best for IO.

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:49 am

I think it would be ok if you set it to fps to 5 and set skip frames to like 4. so it does analysis at 1 fps and use the fast motion preset, But I do agree I would NOT buy a new one to do this seams like a waste. A better idea to to watch ebay for older servers or cheap desktops.

PacoLM · Post by **PacoLM** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:47 pm

Thanks, I'll buy a powerful (but old & cheap) computer!

Paco

rustyst · Post by **rustyst** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:00 am

Take a look at www.geeks.com they have a cheap units.