What CPU ?

[crates]

I'm a total Linux newbie but was drawn to Zoneminder because all the Windows based CCTV software is either junk or too expensive.

I've done some testing with a p3/500, 256Mb RAM and a Pico card. The thing gives me 25fps (PAL) quite happily with a single camera. With 2 cameras my framerate drops below 4. During this CPU load is over 75%, regularly exceeding 95%. Disk access seems minimal.

I'm pretty convinced the Pico card is junk and longer term I'll have to replace it with a 100fps card.

Is the p3/500 too slow, if so what CPU will I need

[zoneminder]

Unfortunately choosing the required processing power is not an exact science. Before you decide your current system isn't up to it you should probably check the FAQ at http://www.zoneminder.com/index.php?id= ... faq_faq=11. It's a little out of date now but mostly still applies.

In essence there is a lot of tuning and option configuration you can do. For instance, although not mentioned in the FAQ entry above, changing from Blob detection to one of the simpler settings in your Zones may well help speed things up as well.

Phil

[crates]

I've just rebuilt the box with a slightly faster drive (20gig) and a Duron 1100.

Using the default settings and with 2 monitors (a single cam linked to 2 inputs on the Pico) I'm getting 8.33fps. CPU hovers around 30% and even when I configured one of the monitors to MoDect and triggered an event, the CPU never exceeded 40%.

I'm assuming that means the Pico card is my new bottleneck - which I can live with - I'm happy with 8fps on the 2 channels so simply adding a secong Pico to handle the remaing 2 cameras ought to be within the CPU's capabilities.

Does that sound right... or is my logic flawed ?