A small post just to keep this command at hand: mplayer -fps 30 -tv driver=v4l:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video1 tv:// This allows you to watch what your webcam “sees” (provided it uses a video4linux webcam). Btw, Cheese is funny to use too! I was also trying to find a decent Python library for video4linux but I only found outdated ones ( libfg, 2003, and pyv4l, 2002). I guess I’ll have to use some C library for a small project I’ll tell you about later ;-)
My parents-in-law just came for some holidays in Belgium and they choose a nice, old-style house near Liège (Belgium), in Trooz. It’s called " Biche les prés". It has plenty of rooms, a nice, well-kept garden, it’s clean and situated near a forest, away from the city (20 km from Liège) … and it has a computer with GNU/Linux (RedHat 9 in dual boot with MS-Windows) and an internet connection (modem). Of course, M. Spirlet won’t give you the root password ;-) but, at least, if you left your laptop at work (like I did), you can read your mail with your favorite operating system.