This is my first attempt on having DIY CCTV at home. I have few items in hand already:

*1 old Foscam IP camera (estimated price RM250 at purchase)
*1 new Foscam IP camera (estimated price RM300 at purchase)
*1 old Pentium 3 box which I already put Ubuntu on it (just bought from Mudah.my at RM150)
*ADSL Router for home networking & port forwarding (TM provide with streamyx)
*Dyndns.org premium account (RM30/year)

Did some googlings and Zoneminder looks good as the monitoring system. Ready for actions.

For those who are wondering, Foscam IP camera comes with built-in monitoring system. I mean for basic features such as live streaming, motion detection and recording – the camera alone will just enough. Just configure the router for port forwarding and there you have your CCTV ready. View it on PC or hand phone, pretty well.

BUT, I need more than that. I need bigger storage, replay, multi camera views, etc. Through some other articles, Zoneminder is the best choice for this.

So let’s get going.

1. Install Ubuntu on the old machine

I still have my old Ubuntu installation thumb drive with me which previously I worked on installing Ubuntu to HP Netbook. Now it’s time for recycling the same installation files.

Now my old PC is a DELL Optiflex. I changed the boot order so that it will looks for USB thumb drive first.

How to have thumb drive installer? Just download the image file from Ubuntu website and use LiLi to create bootable thumb drive. Details here.

Continued later 😉

2. Install Zoneminder
3. Add Camera