Madox wrote a short tutorial on how to set up a streaming webcam:
Connecting a webcam and using the router to stream video around the place should be one of the easiest things to do. A bit too easy in that I neglected to provide simple instructions on how to set it up.
mjpg-streamer and the necessary drivers are included in the standard images I provide on the TP-Link TL-WR703N project page.
I have been very impressed with the current version of OpenWRT (12.09 RC1, Attitude Adjustment). I’m running this version on a new TP-Link WDR-3600 and a 7 year old Netgear WGT-634U. Both are being used as wireless webcam servers (among other things). LUCI isn’t the prettiest interface, but it works. Maybe Raspberry Pi and the like will take over the role of the Linux utility appliance, but Router+OpenWRT is still more cost effective for headless+wired/wireless applications considering everything is integrated with case + power supply.
I’d be interested in converting a usb webcam to an ip type camera… or add a cloud printer or even do bandwidth monitoring, but I have a main router for the family that I’d rather not tinker with…
Is it possible to add a TL-WR703N/WDR-3600/etc to my existing router? I’m guessing it would need to be setup (if possible) as a wireless access pointer or repeater, no?
Ben,
Sure it’s possible to add additional routers like the WDR-3600. I configured the wireless interfaces of my webcam routers to connect as simple wireless clients to the main router. I also tested configuring their WAN wired interface to be a wired client of the main router.
It may or may not be possible to set you additional routers up as WDS repeaters or bridges, depending on the relative ages and chipsets they use. As I understand it, various Atheros/Broadcom/etc. chipsets cannot necessarily interoperate in repeater or bridge mode.
I left my main router (a TP-link wr1043nd) running the factory firmware, though now would feel totally comfortable using OpenWRT for that if I felt like it.
yup, in our hackerspace, we setup the WR703n to hook up to the local wirelss network,, for now it’s running a door tweeting python script.. but we have plans to expand it to a network of NRF24 sensors and actuators..
The WR703N requires a High speed USB hub with a flash drive a s HDD, for it to run python etc.. Full speed hubs crash the USB conection regularly
Hi Ben,
as Jon and Filip said before, it’s definitely possible to connect a TL-WR703N to another WiFi network as client. I’ve written a tutorial on how to do just that: Use the TL-WR703N as WiFi client with OpenWRT.
I agree with Jon that the default LuCI theme isn’t pretty, but there are much better alternatives like the OpenWRT Bootstrap theme.