The following is intended as constructive feedback from a new ZoneMinder user, hopefully the development fraternity will recognize some of the difficulties experienced in userland and make appropriate changes. I've been attempting to install ZoneMinder using multiple installs of various operating systems, all of which involved insurmountable issues. For example, the apparently preferred CentOS proved to be a nightmare and among the worst arrangement I've ever encountered. There doesn't appear to be any documentation relating to ZoneMinder and Centos 7, and even that documentation for Centos 6 is way out of date since it entails essential downloads from websites that haven't existed for some time. Furthermore, the support in Centos and many other linux distributions for 32 bit operating systems is sadly lacking, despite the fact that many users probably wish to use older 32 bit hardware. None of the Ununtu variants are usable as they all demand non-existent username / password login credentials (numerous sites show this is an endemic problem that apparently nobody can resolve). Other linux distributions including the combined OS / ZoneMinder variants also proved unusable for one reason or another however I'm now looking at FreeBSD as I've used that successfully in webserver / mailserver environments for many years and generally found it vastly superior to any linux.
Might I suggest that a combined 32 bit minimal OS (ie DSL or Puppy) / ZoneMinder be developed and debugged so that it can be easily installed on older hardware by those new to ZoneMinder. The currently available options have more bugs than the Amazon which render them only usable by extremely experienced geeks, who probably aren't likely to be looking for a one size fits all solution anyway. Personally I've never had a hint of trouble with either DSL or Puppy on any hardware .. they simply work without any hint of hair-tearing-out hassles. There used to be a Watchdog version of ZoneMinder that was combined with DSL or Puppy but unfortunately that hasn't been around for yonks and the developer appears to have joined the (commercial) dark side if his website extolling the virtues of the impossibly parasitic Tel$tra is any indication.