Tags: I see it this way! Heritage Shores Bridgville De E.W. Faircloth photography photographer friends entertainment computer camera Raspberry Pi electronics hobby camera module

I'm holding a camera module for my Raspberry Pi computer, send in background.   The module costs around $25 and can take still pictures and 1080 dpi HD video. I can view the images on monitor connected to my Pi, but I wanted to do something a little different. My idea was to send the video over WiFi to another computer in the house.  As usual, someone had done this already, wrote instructions for others, and left it on the Internet somewhere. I found instructions in a couple of places.  The instructions weren't working for me, and after 3 days and 2 nights I was frustrated. Then I realized it was my stupid firewall( more technical stuff) was not allowing communication both ways from the Pi to my Linux computer.  This was discovered after getting things to work using my wife's Windoz computer and the Pi. My suspicions were confirmed once I turned off the firewall on Linux computer.  I was able to view images taken downstairs with the Pi over WiFi upstairs Linux.  It now worked like the Windoz/Pi setup. After those 3 frustrating days I learned much.  My son-in-law, Ben, would be proud of me (actually, he is already).  I found how to run my Pi "headless."  This means without keyboard or mouse once setup.  Since the Pi has a connection to my wireless router, other computers in the house can connect to it.  That being the case, one of the other computers with keyboard and mouse tells the Pi what it needs to do.   Too cool! Another thing I discovered was running a remote desktop off the Pi.  That's using another computer to view the desktop of the Pi while controlling it. The last and most exciting of all was learning about "netcat.'  This is one of those tools which make those computer networking guys dizzy with power.  You can see them intoxicated, running in fields of sunflowers, jumping, laughing...   Anyway,  netcat allows you to send and receive traffic over the Internet, among other possibilities. So, greatly simplified , I tell the Pi to take video with camera module, send it to another computer with netcat.  Then I tell the other computer to listen for messages using netcat, and play any video that arrives.  I would then see video shot on the Pi. Too sweet! It's now all working except my Linux box only works with the firewall off.  I can't figure how to allow netcat traffic through.  Maybe it's not the firewall that's stupid.  Maybe somebody needs a son-in-law to help them get a handle on this one. By the way, this setup makes a good baby monitor(hint to my daughter).   * Editor's note: The correct spelling for Micro$oft's product is "Windows"