EWOCam/2 ReadMe                                                         30 Jul 1998  

29.07.2002 Thorolf Godawa: 
- EWOCAM.EXE: Changed the event semaphore to "\\SEM32\\EWOCAM\\CAPTURE"
- REMOTE.EXE: Beeptone removed, with new semaphore compiled and renamed to ECREMOTE.EXE

EWOCam/2 (ELSA WINNER 2000/Office web Camera for OS/2)

EWOCam/2 is a customized version of my WebCam/2 application.
While WebCam/2 works fine for the FAST Movie Machine, EWOCam/2 is made for
the ELSA WINNER 2000/Office graphics adapter with VideoIn driver.

EWOCam/2 takes timed camera snapshots and saves them as images to disk.
Primary I wrote this app for myself, but it came out that many OS/2 users
want to have this, too...


EWOCam/2's current development status:

The standard image format is OS/2 bitmap (.BMP). 
With a user exit file ("WCAMEXIT.CMD") it is possible to start a conversion
program or manipulate the bitmap after grabbing a new one.
Native JPEG support is planned for the future.

You can download the latest EWOCam/2 or WebCam/2, the version for FAST Movie Machine II from:
ftp://wave.gkss.de/pub/os2/WebCam/

Requirements for EWOCam/2 

  1. OS/2 WARP Version 4.0
  2. ELSA WINNER 2000/Office graphics adapter with video input
  3. ELSA VideoIn OS/2 Device driver (http://www.elsa.de/DOWNLOAD/FILES/GRAPHICS/WINNER/2000OFC/INDEX.HTM)
  4. A camera or other video source


After an image snapshot EWOCam/2 calls a REXX file named "WCamExit.CMD".
It can be used for an external program e.g. to convert the bitmap into JPEG format.
See example file: It calls GBMREF.EXE to do this convertion.
I added the files GBMREF.EXE and GBM.DLL from Andy Key. For more information look at
http://www.interalpha.net/customer/nyangau/

In the future I want to add JPEG support directly to WebCam/2, but until today I
have not got the GBM.DLL to work with my WATCOM compiler...
(If you have a sample for me, please email)


Installation and deinstallation

Copy EWOCAM.EXE to a directory of your choice. After the first program start
a file EWOCAM.INI is created, where EWOCam/2 stores its settings. It does
not change your system ini files!
If you want to deinstall EWOCam/2, just delete the files. Thats it!


Running EWOCam/2

Set up the ELSA P2VideoIn device with the Multimedia Setup Notebook (source, brightness, etc.)


Interval:        This is the time between the video snapshots, 1 second to 24 hours.
                 Disabled, if Hours, Minutes and Seconds are set to 0.

Filename Format: WEBCAM.BMP - only one image file will be created and overwritten
                 with the next snapshot.
                 <Time>.BMP - The filename will be created from the current time.
                 Using this selection, you store the images for 24 hours until
                 they will be overwritten.
                 <Date-Time>.BMP- This selection gives every image an individual
                 filename from the actual date and time. Every image will be kept
                 until your disk runs full!

Image size:      Select the destination image size in pixels

Just view video:    If this box is checked, file saving is disabled and the program
                    tries to display the video as fast as possible. Could be helpful for
                    adjusting the video source.


You can manually take a snapshot by either selecting "Click!" from the menu,
pressing ALT-C, or double-click with mousebutton 1 in the window.

It is also possible to "remote-control" EWOCam/2 from another program, e.g. a REXX script:
Start EWOCam/2 as usual, time interval can be set to zero. Execution of EC_REMOTE.EXE causes
EWOCam/2 to update the image. EC_REMOTE.EXE can be located in any directory.
Example: Imagine you want to have the video snapshot controlled by a special event;
this can be e.g. the execution of a web server cgi program or within a script file.
Just execute or call EC_REMOTE.EXE while EWOCam/2 is running in a forground session or 
minimized.
For programmers: Post the event semaphore "\\SEM32\\EWOCAM\\CAPTURE".


Disclaimer:

There is absolutely no warranty is you use this program and I am not responsible for any
damage or loss of data.
EWOCam/2 is freeware for non-commercial use and can be distributed freely if unchanged.
Distribution on CD/Shareware collections only with permission, please.

Many thanks to Hartmut Bohn of ELSA AG for supporting this OS/2-project!

If you like this program, an email would be welcome!



Have fun!


Jurgen Dittmer
os2@dttmr.de
http://www.dttmr.de

History:
24 Jun 1998 : Image size now adjustable and bugfixed
30 Jul 1998 : Fix: Program does not terminate after altering the resolution


ELSA WINNER 2000/Office is a trade mark of ELSA AG, Aachen (Germany)
