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
helpful discussion. using new lubuntu 22.04LTS install, got local motion recording to work properly (after setting some chown directory issues). also can access live video in browser with localhost:8081 and localhost:8080. what I want to do is access the USB cam live video remotely. I know I'll need to find the IP address and somehow set a password, but no idea how to do either. any clues? thanks