The Dumb Guide to ZM

henridebono · Post by **henridebono** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:18 pm

Hi,

My father has 5 outlets each with a PC based DVR running its own software on windows XP. Capture cards are Kodicom 4400 & 8800. I am not happy with their performance, as they frequently crash, and its not flexible at all.

After searching the net for an alternate solution, I deceided to go with ZM, however the only problem being that I am a complete idiot in Linux, and the only experience I have is when I installed Cent OS, which was simply poping in a CD, and clicking on a few next buttons.

Does anyone know of a site that has a step by step guide, specifly for the dumb in linux?

Cheers!
Henri

Post by **cordel** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:13 pm

Here are a few links that will help you get up to speed on Linux:
http://www.linux.org/lessons/
http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://tldp.org/
http://www.linuxdocs.org/

Once you get the basics these will help with understanding ZM as ZM uses these in order to operate:
http://www.mysql.org/doc/
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/

These should help get you on your way.

[edit]
There is allot of learning to do to operate a ZM system effectively and it is definitely an intermediate level program on it's own not including some of the other aspects of Apache or MySQL. Even with four years of doing this myself run into issues where I have to advance my level of experience. To cope with Database issues and drive failures being the most common issues you can expect to handle once you have a system set up.

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:23 pm

if the hardware isnt that recent then there is coreys excellent ctu zm (install cd customised for zm) or the live cd from ross. Avoid Ubuntu /debian etc if your new and you want us (well me lol) to help as few of us know these distros very well

henridebono · Post by **henridebono** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:49 pm

Wow that was quick!

Thanks Cordel, although there is quite alot of reading to do, its what I was looking for. It will serve for something else other than ZM too.

Hardware is PIII between about 500-750Mhz, and 256Ram on each PC. Corey's install cd seems interesting. I'm downloading it through bittorrent, but it seems its going to take forever.

James, you bet I need your help. I'm going to be a bugger until I get the thing working!

In the meantime untill Corey's ZM cd downloads, I'll continue with my Linux reading!

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:54 pm

zm ctu is a breeze to install, the only reason its not used so much now is cos it doesnt support some new hardware. Once you have it just go through the installer

your rig wont be able handle much though but should be good for 10-12 fps global

henridebono · Post by **henridebono** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:55 pm

whats a rig?

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:59 pm

sorry, your machine

Solaris · Post by **Solaris** » Thu May 17, 2007 5:23 pm

Henri,

Just wanted to tell you, the LIVECD is easy as pie getting ZoneMinder up and running!

I have tried it on at least 9 machines and only 2 were too old to work. I used a Logitech quickcam4000 usb and within 5 minutes depending on the machines RAM, I had a picture and everything. This was only the LIVECD install in RAM and not on the hard drive which would be much faster of course. My main ZM box is running LIVECD 1.22.3 installed to the hard drive right now.

But my point is that as soon as you can burn that disc you should be able to put it in the cd drive and boot to the cd, go through the quick setup and once you are in the console configure your cameras through your cards and see right away if it will work or not - BEFORE ever having to install it to the hard drive and mess that all up.

My ZM box is 950mhz with 1 GB RAM, and a 20GB drive. Almost all the parts are recycled and it is limited, being an older machine. You may have problems with only 256MB RAM, a 500 mhz will probably be pushed to its limits. The key is frame rate. It seems like a lot depends on the card too. If too many channels are capturing at the same time it can choke the system good. (Experimentation is Linux's middle name I think...)

The manual is good, the wiki is handy, and the forums are very helpful. As Cordel says - it is quite complicated, but the best part I have found is it can be as complicated as you want to make it. A lot depends on your specific needs.

Anyways I highly praise all the ZM gurus and the LIVECD is a super easy way as far as installing ZM. No kernel panic at all! - thanks again Ross!

Good luck, Solaris

-->hehe rig, machine, - wonder what they call it in the jungles of the Amazon?

henridebono · Post by **henridebono** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:15 pm

I downloaded the live cd until Corey's cd downloads. It ran, but everything is taking too long (unbearable), and the cd is continually spinning.

I'll check it out on saturday. Until then, do you think its a ram(256mb) or cd drive problem?

Thanks

eracc · Post by **eracc** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:20 pm

More RAM is always better when running LiveCD operating systems. If you can bump the RAM up to 512MB or 1GB it will probably help a lot.

henridebono · Post by **henridebono** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:26 pm

cheeers!

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Thu May 17, 2007 9:36 pm

256 should be ok but 512 better, but in live mode it will be slow, you need to install it to hd

ZoneMinder Forums

The Dumb Guide to ZM

The Dumb Guide to ZM

Getting started with ZM

LIVECD is super fast to get up and going