I want to buy one of the cheap (£2.50 to £15) USB endoscope cameras so
I can poke around and see things under the engine of my little canal
boat.
A little bit of research suggests that most will probably work if they
claim to work with a 'PC' as that implies they use UVC to communicate
with a computer and there's UVC support in Debian (guvcview et al.)
Can anyone confirm that I have this right? Does anyone here actually
use one of these cameras with Debian? Actual recommendations of
specific suppliers/cameras would be very welcome, eBay, Amazon,
AliExpress, I'm not fussy! :-)
I want to buy one of the cheap (£2.50 to £15) USB endoscope cameras so
I can poke around and see things under the engine of my little canal
boat.
A little bit of research suggests that most will probably work if they
claim to work with a 'PC' as that implies they use UVC to communicate
with a computer and there's UVC support in Debian (guvcview et al.)
Can anyone confirm that I have this right? Does anyone here actually
use one of these cameras with Debian? Actual recommendations of
specific suppliers/cameras would be very welcome, eBay, Amazon,
AliExpress, I'm not fussy! :-)
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:26:32 +0000I have used several, now older v4l devices as machine vision on milling machines but all are pretty ancient now & haven't been used recently.
Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I want to buy one of the cheap (£2.50 to £15) USB endoscope cameras soIn 2022 I ordered an endoscope from Newegg which failed to work with
I can poke around and see things under the engine of my little canal
boat.
A little bit of research suggests that most will probably work if they
claim to work with a 'PC' as that implies they use UVC to communicate
with a computer and there's UVC support in Debian (guvcview et al.)
Can anyone confirm that I have this right? Does anyone here actually
use one of these cameras with Debian? Actual recommendations of
specific suppliers/cameras would be very welcome, eBay, Amazon,
AliExpress, I'm not fussy! :-)
either Debian or Windows. I returned it without incident. It does not
seem to be available from Newegg at the moment. Sorry I can't give you
a more detailed description of it.
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:26:32 +0000
Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I want to buy one of the cheap (£2.50 to £15) USB endoscope cameras
so I can poke around and see things under the engine of my little
canal boat.
A little bit of research suggests that most will probably work if
they claim to work with a 'PC' as that implies they use UVC to
communicate with a computer and there's UVC support in Debian
(guvcview et al.)
Can anyone confirm that I have this right? Does anyone here
actually use one of these cameras with Debian? Actual
recommendations of specific suppliers/cameras would be very
welcome, eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, I'm not fussy! :-)
In 2022 I ordered an endoscope from Newegg which failed to work with
either Debian or Windows. I returned it without incident. It does not
seem to be available from Newegg at the moment. Sorry I can't give you
a more detailed description of it.
On 2025-03-13, Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:
It's only a webcam, and random webcams usually work. I've recently
The term "endoscope" seems excessive (if not scary).
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 20:43:12 -0600
Charles Curley <charlescurley@charlescurley.com> wrote:
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:26:32 +0000
Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I want to buy one of the cheap (£2.50 to £15) USB endoscope cameras
so I can poke around and see things under the engine of my little
canal boat.
A little bit of research suggests that most will probably work if
they claim to work with a 'PC' as that implies they use UVC to communicate with a computer and there's UVC support in Debian
(guvcview et al.)
Can anyone confirm that I have this right? Does anyone here
actually use one of these cameras with Debian? Actual
recommendations of specific suppliers/cameras would be very
welcome, eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, I'm not fussy! :-)
In 2022 I ordered an endoscope from Newegg which failed to work with
either Debian or Windows. I returned it without incident. It does not
seem to be available from Newegg at the moment. Sorry I can't give you
a more detailed description of it.
It's only a webcam, and random webcams usually work. I've recently
bought a Bresser USB 'microscope', basically a webcam with a
narrow-angle lens, and that's fine.
I don't think it is possible to tell without actually trying it, but
the odds are good.
On 2025-03-13, David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote:
OTOH most people will have come across endoscopes, usually in the
context of colonoscopies and suchlike, hence your "scary".
I've never come across one for the general public, but then it would
never have occurred to me to search for an endoscope to inspect the
exterior hull of my non-existent boat.
On 2025-03-13, David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote:
OTOH most people will have come across endoscopes, usually in the
context of colonoscopies and suchlike, hence your "scary".
I've never come across one for the general public, but then it would
never have occurred to me to search for an endoscope to inspect the
exterior hull of my non-existent boat.
OTOH most people will have come across endoscopes, usually in the
context of colonoscopies and suchlike, hence your "scary".
I don't want to look at the outside of the hull, I want to look
inside right down in the bilges under the engine. This is quite
inaccessible and one of the cameras that are advertised mostly as 'endoscopes' would make looking around down there more possible.
As I said before the only reason I used the word endoscope was that
it's the best way to actually get hits on the type of device I'm
after. Another search term that can work is 'inspection camera'.
On 3/13/25 12:15 PM, David Wright wrote:
OTOH most people will have come across endoscopes, usually in the
context of colonoscopies and suchlike, hence your "scary".
Why would anybody find a colonoscopy scary?
Just geek out and enjoy the guided tour!
Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I don't want to look at the outside of the hull, I want to look
inside right down in the bilges under the engine. This is quite inaccessible and one of the cameras that are advertised mostly as 'endoscopes' would make looking around down there more possible.
As I said before the only reason I used the word endoscope was that
it's the best way to actually get hits on the type of device I'm
after. Another search term that can work is 'inspection camera'.
FWIW, I bought an endoscope a couple of years ago. It was from Amazon
and brand Depstech, but isn't available now. It works well for me.
Features I like: wi-fi link to an app on my phone; 1920p resolution;
built-in LED illumination; 5m long. Waterproof might be important for
you. As others have said, there are lots around and it's pot luck!
Again FWIW, this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Endoscope-Inspection-Flexible-Waterproof-Android/dp/B0DR9HLKNZ
seems pretty cheap.
Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 20:43:12 -0600
Charles Curley <charlescurley@charlescurley.com> wrote:
On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:26:32 +0000
Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
I want to buy one of the cheap (£2.50 to £15) USB endoscope cameras so I can poke around and see things under the engine of my little
canal boat.
A little bit of research suggests that most will probably work if
they claim to work with a 'PC' as that implies they use UVC to communicate with a computer and there's UVC support in Debian
(guvcview et al.)
Can anyone confirm that I have this right? Does anyone here
actually use one of these cameras with Debian? Actual
recommendations of specific suppliers/cameras would be very
welcome, eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, I'm not fussy! :-)
In 2022 I ordered an endoscope from Newegg which failed to work with either Debian or Windows. I returned it without incident. It does not seem to be available from Newegg at the moment. Sorry I can't give you
a more detailed description of it.
It's only a webcam, and random webcams usually work. I've recently
bought a Bresser USB 'microscope', basically a webcam with a
narrow-angle lens, and that's fine.
I don't think it is possible to tell without actually trying it, but
the odds are good.
OK, thanks, so I'll go for something reasonably cheap then as there
seems no gain with particular suppliers or models.
On 2025-03-15, Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
Thanks for all the help everyone, it made me fairly sure most cameras
would be likely to work OK. I chose the above one (apart from Amazon
next day delivery) because it is reasonably high definition, it has a
USB-A plug to go straight into my laptop and it has the second lens on
the side which seemed to me a good idea when poking around under the
engine on the boat.
And did you find Aunt Bertie in the bilges, or was she at the local pub?
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