Introduction:
The Raspberry Pi Camera is an inexpensive add-on for the Raspberry Pi. It enables a user to take photos, videos, time-lapses and excecute a variety of other functions using software from a third party. For the OARKit, the Raspberry Pi Camera is positioned at the end of the flexible arm, allowing the driver to remotely control the camera unit and let them view the surrounding area.
Whilst a variety of software can be used to stream the camera’s feed to a computer. The one that is currently easiest to configure is MPlayer. MPlayer has been found to be the most reliable streamer/receiver and its simple setup makes it a good choice for users just starting with Raspberry Pi camera streaming.
How To:
This method has only been tested with Mac OSX 10.10 Yosemite thus far. Guides for Linux and Windows will be released soon.
Things you will need:
1x Raspberry Pi
1x Raspberry Pi Camera (plug into pi’s CSI bus)
1x Memory Card – Micro SD = Raspberry Pi Model B+ and newer
OR
Full size SD card = Raspberry Pi Model B Rev. 2 and lower.
1x Computer Running Mac OSX, MacPorts and Xcode (Latest Version is Preferable)
1x Micro USB 2.0 Cable
1x Ethernet Cable – OR – 1x USB WiFi Dongle
Steps:
- On the client mac, open Terminal and run the command, sudo port selfupdate
- Once step 1 is completed, run the command sudo port install mplayer (This may take a while)
- On the Raspberry Pi, run the command sudo apt-get install netcat
- On the client mac, run the command $ nc -l 5001 | mplayer -fps 31 -cache 1024
- On the Raspberry Pi, run the command raspivid -t 999999 -o -w 640 -h 480 – | [YOUR MAC’S IP] 5001
- The stream should now be functional.
Resources:
