AllLinuxDevices: The Axis 2120: A Networkable Camera with Linux Under the Hood | Linux Today

AllLinuxDevices: The Axis 2120: A Networkable Camera with Linux Under the Hood

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Nov 1, 2000

“The Axis 2120 is a networkable camera running an embedded
version of Linux for Etrax CPUs. A complete OS for a camera may
seem like overkill, but there’s a lot more going on here than
taking pictures: this device is running an embedded web server (Boa
, which has a source tarball of under 100k), is capable of sending
pictures via ftp, can handle incoming ftp connections, and has an
alarm mode allowing it to take pictures and mail notifications
based on motion. Unlike it’s much less expensive cousing, the Axis
2100, the 2120 seems very sturdy and durable as it’s housed in a
metal case, though Axis warns that enclosures are required before
operating the camera outdoors.”

“All of this is packed into a camera 2.24″ tall, 3.39″ wide, and
5.43″ long. It sports an Etrax 100 32-bit RISC chip, 16MB RAM, and
4MB of flash RAM (2MB of which is available for user-designed HTML
files for its server.) According to Axis’ documentation, the
camera’s maximum resolution is 768×494 at 24 bits color and can
reproduce motion at a maximum of 30 frames per second.”

“The camera is clearly packaged with Windows users in mind, but
it includes directions for UNIX-based systems. To get it running
with a Linux machine, all that’s needed is a pair of commands (arp
and ping) plus a peek at the camera’s serial number, since the MAC
of the device for the arp command is derived from that. Once the
camera is talking to the rest of the network, visiting it with a
browser gives the user access to a web-based setup page that
includes a more detailed setup wizard and a set of general
configuration options.”


Complete Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.