Linux webcams for dummies

[Michael A Peters]

I've not purchased any hardware and I will not be doing this until next
year. I want to start looking into what is needed now though.

I breed reptiles as a hobby, right now just various subspecies of the
Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) and the California Alligator
Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata)

Next year if it is possible I would like to set up a webcam to show
incubation and hatching of a clutch of eggs. I'd like to do it using
Linux technology - as I'm not buying a mac and I'm not paying for vista.

For most of the incubation, there is no action - so a still image
refreshing once an hour would be more than sufficient. As it gets closer
to hatch time, though, it should refresh a lot more often. I don't know
if a streaming video codec should be used that time or what. Kingsnake
eggs usually take several days to hatch. The snake makes a couple slits
in the egg and then rests with its nose sticking out for sometimes two
to three days before it decided to venture out of the egg while it
finishes absorbing the yolk.

Alligator lizards sometimes do that, sometimes they burst their egg open
and are out within a minute. So an alligator lizard egg incubation
webcam would definitely need to have a very fast refresh to catch the
action.

Any suggestions on what type of hardware and software would be needed to
do this with Fedora?

Preferably I would want a script set to just automatically switch from
the once an hour refresh to the more frequent refresh when it gets near
hatching time. Also it would be nice to have a text layer automatically
added that shows the days since clutch deposited.

Resolution of webcam hardware is also an issue. kingsnake eggs are often
the size of a ping pong ball, sometimes elongated and a bit bigger.
Alligator lizard eggs are about the size of lemon drop.

What kind of bandwidth is needed, can theora be used, and are there
theora plugins for quicktime and windows media?