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This repository has been archived by the owner on Oct 27, 2018. It is now read-only.
Calin Crisan edited this page Jul 27, 2015 · 22 revisions

Options & Configuration

What's the deal with Snapshot URL, Streaming URL and Embed URL?

Snapshot URL serves a single JPEG file when requested. The served JPEG image is always the most recently captured frame. You can use this URL as the src attribute of an <img> HTML tag but keep in mind that it won't update automatically. You shouldn't use this unless you know what you are doing.

Streaming URL provides MJPEG streaming. It can be used as a source for other applications that deal with video streams and know how to handle MJPEGs, or it can be used as the src attribute of an <img> HTML tag.

Note: Internet Explorer doesn't support MJPEG streams at all; Chrome plays them nicely if they are part of a web page but won't display anything if the streaming URL is entered directly in the address bar.

Embed URL provides a complete standalone HTML document (i.e. web page) that can be opened in most modern browsers and that will refresh automatically. Think of it as the camera frame part of the UI without any surrounding elements. You can use this to embed the stream into another web page, using an <iframe> HTML tag.

How can I enable authentication for the MJPEG stream?

In the Video Streaming section of the settings panel, you'll find a combo allowing you to choose an authentication mode. Use either Basic or Digest, depending on your application. The credentials are those configured for the surveillance user.

What should I do to have pictures attached to motion notification emails?

Just enable still images and set Capture Mode to Motion Triggered.

Software Updates

How can I update my motionPie setup to the latest version?

If you're lucky and you have motionPie installed on one of the boards with automatic update support, you'll find a Check button next to the Software Update settings item, in the settings panel.

The updating process is always started by you and is never done automatically. It will first check for new stable versions and, following your confirmation, it will download and apply the update.

Where's my Check button for automatic updates?

Currently, automatic updates are available only for the Raspberry PI and Raspberry PI 2 boards. If you don't see that button, you probably run motionPie on another board.

Will the automatic update preserve my settings?

Yes, the automatic update process will preserve all of your settings and media files that are saved on the SD card.

I have started the update process several minutes ago and it still hasn't finished. What should I do?

The update process may take a considerable amount of time, being influenced by factors like your network connection's speed, the performance of your SD card, as well as the CPU speed. Expect it to be ready within 5 minutes, but don't interrupt it before a half an our.

If after 30 minutes it still hasn't finished, chances are that something went wrong. You can either login and access the shell to inspect the /var/log/motioneye.log file to see what went wrong, or you can install the new version manually.

The automatic update is not available for me or it failed to apply. What are my options?

If you don't care about your previous settings and media files saved on the SD card, you can proceed with installing the new version from scratch. If you want to preserve your settings (and media files), you'll need to make a backup of your SD card's data partition (you'll probably need Linux for that), and restore it later, after you have manually installed the new version.

Starting with 20150315 you can create a backup of your settings, so that you can restore them later if you're forced to write the OS image from scratch.

I noticed a new version has been released. Why does my motionPie say it's up-to-date?

Either the new version is marked as pre-release (i.e. it still needs some testing before going stable) or the new version is simply not available for your board.

Shell Access

How can I log in on SSH/TTY console?

motionPie listens on the standard port 22, if you want to use SSH. Use root or admin as username (admin is just an alias for root) and the password that you set for the administrator in the web UI. By default (when the administrator's password is empty), you need to enter the board's serial number as password.

Also keep in mind that passwords are applied at boot so your new password will be fully effective only after a reboot.

I can't seem to find apt-get or any other package manager. What gives?

motionPie is not a general-purpose Linux distribution. You can't install packages like you do with a normal distro. If you need to further customize your setup, installing motionEye on a common distro is recommended.

Why do I get Read-only file system when trying to edit a file?

Both the boot and the root partitions are mounted read-only to prevent filesystem corruption. If you want to make changes to a file on any of these two partitions, re-mount them as writable:

mount -o remount,rw /
mount -o remount,rw /boot

Various

I am only getting white-on-black text on my monitor. Where is my UI?

motionPie will never display anything beautiful on your monitor - it is meant to only be used from a web browser. The ugly text that appears on the monitor is actually useful when debugging. Most users should ignore it.

What's my board's serial number?

Your motionPie's hostname is displayed on the top bar, in the UI, when logged in as administrator. It has the form mp-xxxxxxxx, where xxxxxxxx is the serial number. The hostname also shows up when you're prompted to log in a shell (SSH/TTY).

I want to report a bug or a feature request. How should I proceed about it?

See Reporting An Issue.