Grr this took hours to figure out. I was trying to install MJPG-streamer and running VLC command lines and all this crap but nothing worked.
First install motion
:
~> sudo apt-get install motion
Then create a config file:
~> mkdir ~/.motion
~> nano ~/.motion/motion.conf
In it, the bare minimum to run a web server and view it on other computers:
webcam_port 8081
webcam_localhost off
Then run motion:
~> motion
Now you can view the webcam at http://hostname:8081 If it doesn't work, try rebooting between steps or something.
Isn't that easy? >:(
See also: How to run webcam software only when I am not home
Thank you so much.
I can't believe how incredibly easy this was.
My configuration file looks like this, just for reference.
stream_quality 98 stream_maxrate 5 stream_port 8080 stream_localhost off output_pictures off framerate 30 ffmpeg_video_codec mpeg width 640 height 480 auto_brightness off contrast 0 saturation 0