{"id":36129,"date":"2026-03-17T19:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?p=36129"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:58:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:58:54","slug":"a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/","title":{"rendered":"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Following on from a discussion on a photographic forum who which I belong, an old <em>hobby horse<\/em> of mine raised its head again. Namely the possibility of building one&#8217;s own <a href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/01\/02\/my-computer-wont-run-windows-11\/\">Debian<\/a> GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar, and one of the camera modules that&#8217;s available for it. Or indeed some of the UVC-compatible video modules and capturing stills from those. This is a long term project, not something I intend to start tomorrow. I know we have a few Pi enthusiasts that visit here from time-to-time. So, for now, I&#8217;m just throwing some ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>We all have our various views on what makes a &#8216;<em>good camera<\/em>&#8216;, but for me it&#8217;s like this&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p>Problem with today&#8217;s digitals is <strong>not<\/strong> that they are &#8220;<strong><em>too digital<\/em><\/strong>&#8220;. It&#8217;s that they are &#8220;<em><strong>not digital enough<\/strong><\/em>&#8220;. By which I mean they fail to take full advantage of working in the digital domain. This is mostly due to the constraints of manufacturers not wanting to give away their proprietary secrets. I want to build a camera that&#8217;s 100% open source, with no such glass ceilings. Where every component is publicly documented, and adjustable, tweakable, repairable or replaceable by the user.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike normal proprietary digitals, this thing would give the user total control over whatever it does, at quite a deep and fundamental level. And when it wasn&#8217;t capturing or processing images, it would be a powerful and secure hand-held, touch-screen Debian computer, in its own right.<\/p>\n<p>For those unfamiliar with the Raspberry Pi 5, This is a powerful single board computer, with a very efficient quad-core ARM microprocessor. Its default &#8220;Pi OS&#8221; operating system is basically Debian GNU\/Linux for ARM processors. Which means this thing would integrate elegantly with all my other Debian-based systems, sharing a common Unix file system. But importantly, it would also talk to any modern computing device, running virtually any modern operating system.<\/p>\n<h3>Key features I&#8217;m hoping to include, in no particular order&#8230;<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Based on Raspberry Pi 5 single board compute &#8211; or similarr.<\/li>\n<li>Decent connectivity &#8211; comes with the Pi. Wi-fi plus Gigabit Ethernet. My workstation, my media server and any other device, regardless of OS would see it as just another server on the network.&nbsp;Providing they have the correct log-in credentials, of course.<\/li>\n<li>HDMI &#8211; comes with the Pi.<\/li>\n<li>Does video and stills.<\/li>\n<li>Decent sized, decent quality capacitive touchscreen on the back.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Service friendly &#8211; well obviously!<\/li>\n<li>Sensor of similar quality (or ideally better) than the \u00b54\/3 cameras I&#8217;m currently using. Granted, this may be the hardest part.<\/li>\n<li>Ability to mount at least <em>some<\/em> of my old vintage glass on the front.<\/li>\n<li>2TB or perhaps even 4TB NVMe SSD.&nbsp;No more buggering about with crappy, easily-lost camera cards. Lots of other possibilities here too, such as a backup and display for one&#8217;s entire photo library, c\/w display via a local <a href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2025\/07\/03\/managing-a-large-image-library-with-piwigo\/\">Piwigo<\/a> instance. In fact it could easily morph into a sort of camera-cum-media player.<\/li>\n<li>Decent-sized, generic, easily-replaced lithium ion or LiFePO4 battery, chargeable via a standard USB3 port.&nbsp;This is to counter a persistent annoyment with <strong>EVERY<\/strong> digital camera I&#8217;ve ever used: <em>pisspoor battery life<\/em>. Besides the camera will need it for the much bigger rear screen!<\/li>\n<li>Considering wireless charging too &#8211; like on modern mobiles.<\/li>\n<li>Metal case. I&#8217;ll probably build my first attempt in a generic die-cast aluminium project box. Probably similar type to the one I used for the switched-mode power supply unit to the right of this photo&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/gallery\/20220830-hard-disk\/20220830-p2440840-20tb-ultrastar-hard-disk-in-ennotek-enclosure.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/gallery\/20220830-hard-disk\/20220830-p2440840-20tb-ultrastar-hard-disk-in-ennotek-enclosure.jpg\" alt=\"It's roughly 180 mm x 120 mm x 50 mm. They are a bit &quot;industrial&quot; looking but I've used them many times for various electronic projects. Why? because they are cheap, tough and make excellent heat-sinks. I'll need to keep the sensor cool somehow. And it's dead easy to drill and tap small metric threads threads into them - which makes construction fairly simple. And the corners are slightly rounded, so no sharp edges. Ideally, I'd quite like to build the final version into a large old metal rangefinder housing. But I think that may be impractical.&nbsp;\" width=\"900\" height=\"1536\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This particular aluminium case is roughly 180 mm x 120 mm x 50 mm. It is a bit &#8220;industrial&#8221; looking but I&#8217;ve used such enclosures many times for various electronic projects. Why? because they are cheap, tough and make excellent heat-sinks. I&#8217;ll need to keep the sensor cool somehow. And it&#8217;s dead easy to drill and tap small metric threads threads into them &#8211; which makes construction fairly simple. And the corners are slightly rounded, so no sharp edges. Ideally, I&#8217;d quite like to build the final version into a large old metal rangefinder housing. But I think that may be impractical.&nbsp;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Why not start simple and build a lomo camera?<\/h2>\n<p>I briefly considered doing some sort of lomo thing but quickly decided against it. If I am going to invest a lot of time, money and intellectual effort in something, I want it at least to have a reasonable chance of delivering something I can&nbsp;<em>actually<\/em> use, and importantly&nbsp;<em>enjoy<\/em> using. Thing is, I&#8217;m not trying to make <em>a robust camera that uses GNU\/Linux<\/em>. I want to make a r<em>obust hand-held GNU\/Linux computer that takes good pictures<\/em>. A seemingly small but <strong><em>very<\/em><\/strong> significant difference in ethos and rationale.<\/p>\n<p>Without boring your pants off, to be of real value to me, this thing has to integrate fully with all my other Debian GNU\/Linux systems. E.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2025\/07\/03\/managing-a-large-image-library-with-piwigo\/\">Piwigo<\/a>, our media servers, the web server etc. In fact as I hypothesised earlier, this thing could quite easily morph into an integrated media recorder\/player&nbsp; &#8211; recording, storing and playing back audio, stills and video. Subsuming many of the features of our &#8216;Linux Media Server&#8217;. Hence why I&#8217;m going to use Pi5 16GB &#8211; or better if something new comes along.<\/p>\n<p>That said, there are no <em>sacred cows<\/em> and nothing is <em>chipped in stone<\/em>. Well, not yet, anyway. If you think my objectives are daft, please feel free to say so in the comments box below.<\/p>\n<h3>Questions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Will it be cheap? Probably not &#8211; particularly considering one is likely to make some disastrous wrong turns with a project such as this!<\/li>\n<li>Will it be easy? Definitely not.<\/li>\n<li>Will it be worth it? I don&#8217;t know until I built it! But considering since I&#8217;ll be root, with access to all the available documentation, many of its final technical capabilities will mostly be limited by my own capabilities &#8211; or lack thereof.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Here are some links which some folks might find interesting&#8230;<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Will Whangs FourThirdsEye sensor module article:&nbsp;<br \/>\n<a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hackster.io\/news\/will-whang-s-fourthirdseye-puts-a-sony-imx294-sensor-on-your-raspberry-pi-5-or-compute-module-4-db7af9ea10a2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.hackster.io\/news\/will-whang-s-fourthirdseye-puts-a-sony-imx294-sensor-on-your-raspberry-pi-5-or-compute-module-4-db7af9ea10a2<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The actual FourThirdsEye board c\/w the IMX294 sensor:&nbsp;<br \/>\n<a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnx-software.com\/2025\/03\/27\/fourthirdseye-is-an-open-source-hardware-10-7mp-imx294-camera-module-for-the-raspberry-pi-5-cm4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.cnx-software.com\/2025\/03\/27\/fourthirdseye-is-an-open-source-hardware-10-7mp-imx294-camera-module-for-the-raspberry-pi-5-cm4\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>IMX294 on its own, not fitted on Will Whangs FourThirdsEye board, on Ali Express &#8211; quite cheap but it looks like a bloody tricky bit of soldering!<br \/>\n<a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aliexpress.com\/item\/1005009796806550.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.aliexpress.com\/item\/1005009796806550.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>FourThirdsEye GitHub. I just cloned his git, mostly to see what&#8217;s in it:<br \/>\n<a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/will127534\/FourThirdsEye\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/github.com\/will127534\/FourThirdsEye\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Raspberry Pi5 &#8211; I will wait at least wait till the 16GB version became available. This will need lots of RAM:<br \/>\n<a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/thepihut.com\/products\/raspberry-pi-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/thepihut.com\/products\/raspberry-pi-5<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Raspberry&#8217;s own &#8220;16MP camera&#8221;. Lots of pixels but not so great in other respects. But it&#8217;s a lot cheaper than the FourThirdsEye. Perhaps a better place to start with the protytype?<br \/>\n<a class=\"external\" title=\"This link will open in a new window or tab\" href=\"https:\/\/thepihut.com\/products\/raspberry-pi-high-quality-camera-module\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/thepihut.com\/products\/raspberry-pi-high-quality-camera-module<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>So what do <em>you<\/em> think? Feasible or farcical?<\/h3>\n<p>Thoughts in the comments box below, please&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following on from a discussion on a photographic forum who which I belong, an old hobby horse of mine raised its head again. Namely the possibility of building one&#8217;s own Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar, and one of the camera modules that&#8217;s available for it. Or indeed some&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1636,1623,744,1630,19,6,691,680],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-debian","category-digital-photography","category-electronics","category-photographic-equipment","category-general","category-journal","category-linux","category-photography"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical? - GarfNet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Investigating the possibility of building one&#039;s own Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical? - GarfNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Investigating the possibility of building one&#039;s own Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GarfNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T19:36:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T19:58:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Garf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Garf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Garf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"headline\":\"A modular Debian GNU\\\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-17T19:36:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-17T19:58:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1205,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Debian\",\"Digital pictures\",\"Electronics\",\"Equipment\",\"General\",\"Journal\",\"Linux\",\"Photography\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/\",\"name\":\"A modular Debian GNU\\\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical? - GarfNet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-17T19:36:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-17T19:58:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Investigating the possibility of building one's own Debian GNU\\\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"Created with GIMP\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A modular Debian GNU\\\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/\",\"name\":\"GarfNet\",\"description\":\"Penguin-powered and full of Unixy goodness, since 1995...\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\",\"name\":\"Garf\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"width\":2420,\"height\":1928,\"caption\":\"Garf\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/author\\\/garf-admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical? - GarfNet","description":"Investigating the possibility of building one's own Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical? - GarfNet","og_description":"Investigating the possibility of building one's own Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar.","og_url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/","og_site_name":"GarfNet","article_published_time":"2026-03-17T19:36:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-17T19:58:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Garf","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Garf","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/"},"author":{"name":"Garf","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"headline":"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical?","datePublished":"2026-03-17T19:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-17T19:58:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/"},"wordCount":1205,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Debian","Digital pictures","Electronics","Equipment","General","Journal","Linux","Photography"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/","name":"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical? - GarfNet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-17T19:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-17T19:58:54+00:00","description":"Investigating the possibility of building one's own Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260317-header-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"caption":"Created with GIMP"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/2026\/03\/17\/a-modular-debian-gnu-linux-digital-camera-feasible-or-farcical\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A modular Debian GNU\/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#website","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/","name":"GarfNet","description":"Penguin-powered and full of Unixy goodness, since 1995...","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635","name":"Garf","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","width":2420,"height":1928,"caption":"Garf"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png"},"url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/author\/garf-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36129"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36140,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36129\/revisions\/36140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}