Using the Sun VideoPix Video Grabber

In room 315 LME the class had a color video camera connected to a frame grabber board in the Sun named ``slab13''. You can click here to start a Telnet session with slab13, and log into it. Once you are all logged in, one person in the class should start the frame grabber software with the following commands (replace machine below with the name of the Sun you are sitting at):

setenv DISPLAY machine:0.0 cd /tmp /usr/local/videopix/1.0-VFC/bin/vfctool &

Assuming the camera is properly connected and operating, pressing the ``Preview'' and ``Color'' buttons on the vfctool control panels should give you a jerky view on the screen of what the camera is seeing. The student with the vfctool on their screen can press the ``Grab'' button when another class member is in front of the camera. Then select ``Save As...'', pick the 8-bit color Sun raster file type, and save the picture in a file named ``picture.ras''.

Now the class member who just got their picture taken can execute the following command, while logged into slab13:

imconv /tmp/picture.ras ~/picture.gif

This converts the Sun raster file in the /tmp directory on slab13 into a GIF file in your home directory. Now the student running the vfctool can grab someone else's picture.