Automated Raspberry Pi configuration as a USB OTG webcam #PiDay #RaspberryPi @Raspberry_Pi

Inspired by David Hunt’s blog post showing how to use a Raspberry Pi Zero with a Pi Camera as a USB Webcam, as well as justinschuldt’s gist, Jeff Geerling wanted to make a Raspberry Pi do the same thing, but automated and with all the scripts wrapped in version control, since the blog post was a little bit vague in some areas.

This Ansible playbook can be run on most Raspberry Pis to set it up as a USB webcam.

What does that mean? Well, after running the playbook:

  • You plug the Pi into your computer
  • You wait until it boots
  • Bingo! Webcam usable in any software (Zoom, Teams, Meet, OBS, QuickTime, etc.)

It works on Mac, Windows, and all the flavors of Linux I’ve tested so far. It even works on another Raspberry Pi (I’ve tested it on a Pi 4 and Pi 400).

See the video on the project and the project GitHub for details.

 

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1 Comment

  1. David Hunt
    January 11, 2021 at 11:51 am

    “a little bit vague in some areas”? I’m hurt! (Just kidding) 🙂
    I’d suggest having a look at a video where I demonstrate how to flash the ShowMeWebcam image onto an SD card and boot straight to webcam. No more vagueness! 🙂
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH2G16YoBT4

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