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Pi Camera setup in Crowsnest

The crowsnest program is a systemd-managed service that exposes endpoints for streaming video and images. These streams can be opened directly in mainsail.

  1. Install crowsnest using KIAUH.
  2. Answer "yes" to the add 'update manager' entry prompt.
  3. Shut down completely and power off.
  4. Connect the pi camera using the ribbon cables.
  5. Power up, and use rpicam-hello to obtain the device's path.
$ rpicam-hello --list-cameras

A pi camera v1.3. shows up like this:

Available cameras
-----------------
0 : ov5647 [2592x1944 10-bit GBRG] (/base/axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/ov5647@36)
    Modes: 'SGBRG10_CSI2P' : 640x480 [30.00 fps - (65535, 65535)/65535x65535 crop]
                            1296x972 [30.00 fps - (65535, 65535)/65535x65535 crop]
                            1920x1080 [30.00 fps - (65535, 65535)/65535x65535 crop]
                            2592x1944 [30.00 fps - (65535, 65535)/65535x65535 crop]
  1. Add the following to crowsnest.conf and restart the service.
[cam pi_camera]
mode: spyglass
port: 8080
device: /base/axi/pcie@1000120000/rp1/i2c@88000/ov5647@36
resolution: 1296x972
max_fps: 15
  1. Add the camera to Mainsail.
Setting Value
Name Pi Camera
URL Stream /webcam/?action=stream
URL Snapshot /webcam/?action=snapshot
Service MJPEG-Streamer
Rotation As required