ZoneMinder Forums

Hardware:

Laptop
Intel Pentium M - 2.0 Ghz
2GBs RAM
4xUSB ports (all fully powered).
1xPCMCIA slot
1xExpressCard slot
320GB HDD space
54MBit 801.11g Wireless.
Roughly 45Mins of battery life.

Network:
Just 1 10/100 network link coming in.

Requirements:
* Need (4-5) video cameras in 3 neighboring indoor storage rooms where each room is roughly 3mx3m.
The storage rooms are sealed well and located on the 21st floor.

*I need to be able to view all the cameras from other PCs on the network link (different area).

Notes:
I was thinking I could do it all with USB infrared cameras, but I think the limits on USB distance is just too
short. I've looked at the DVR cards that are compatible but I couldn't find any for laptops.

I have tons of ethernet cabling available and the ability to terminate it. So I was thinking maybe
IP cameras would be best if I could figure out how to do Power-over-ethernet. But I want to know if
somebody has done this before and whether it works well or not. Or maybe USB -> ethernet -> USB? I could also throw down an ethernet switch that supports power-over-ethernet.

Of course, I need something that works with Zoneminder.

Wanted: Cheap Power-Over-Ethernet Cameras w/IR!

It would work, but in my experience, laptops don't like running flat out for long periods of time. The fans are weak and cooling fins get bunged up quickly.

There are people using laptops as low power servers with built-in UPS, but not generally for high load operations, and zm is not a lightweight app. You could turn things down to low fps and record rather than modect which could help.

Or just try it anyway and see how long it lasts, and try to prove me wrong

I'm using an old laptop at home for my bird box. You'll need to keep it somewhere cool and clean an ideally provide it with a "cooling pad" i.e. some additional fans.

You can use passive POE splitters to run power down ethernet without using a POE camera search ebay for
"PoE Passive Power Over Ethernet Adapter " 5 can be had for £13.

I'm going to post the specs of our system as there seems to be a long list of "will my box run x" questions but very few if any posts of my box does y.