It did not work here and after half a day of various attempts I succeeded after
making this :

1. opening a terminal and executing the following in it :
mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -r 320x240 -f 6 -y" -o "output_http.so -p 8080"
and letting this terminal open as long as zoneminder works ;

2. applying following configuration to zoneminder on my laptop :
- General :
Monitor-1 Remote Monitor 320.00 240.00 7
- Source :
HTTP Simple localhost 8080 ?action=stream 24bit_colour 320 240 Normal
- Options :
videostream < browser mpeg

It worked on my laptop with integrated webcam. I had tried several times without
success (the source remaining allways "red") during the last two years and I
must recognize that the article in Full Circle was not enough but was of a very
great help.

I tested again my zoneminder today with the settings written below and with the
following results :
- my "source" was initially "red" ;
- I clicked on it to open the "general" "source" "timestamp" "buffers" "misc"
window and without changing any setting - which had been working before - I
clicked on the "save" button ;
- my "source" was now "orange" or "green",... according to the "function" choice
(monitor, modect, record,...).
This "save without changing any setting" was described in the Full Circle
magazine.
To conclude, it was quite uneasy to set up Zoneminder but now, as it works
nicely, I can tell this software is excellent.

Good that you got there in the end, and an object lesson that tenacity
and research pays off Also useful to have all this in the group
archive now in case any of us meet it again !

This worked thank you much

Is there a way to not display the window, i.e. hidden ajenda. Would like
for zoneminder to take picture of any theif that may log into the guest
account and send it to me via phone.

My Ubuntu version is 10.04-3LTS with a 3.0.0-8-generic kernel.

What webcam? Does it work with Cheese? What version of Ubuntu? (There's an
unusual issue with some webcams on 10.10, it just takes a bit of setup.)

I checked the webcam with cheese and it works OK. I am using 10.04 for
this project. The webcam is the built in camera on my acer notebook.

I installed the mpeg-streamer that the full circle article said was
needed still with no results.

I read something about needing to set up a group. That is as far as
comment was made about it and to tell the truth I have never messed with
setting up a group and have no idea where to start. Many instructions
assume knowledge. I understand it is hard to write a how to for the
general populace for fear you will put off those that feel you are over
simplifying a task, but it would make it easer for those that have to
search for information that should be in a how to.

Anyhow I am assuming you have set up zoneminder and made it work. If you
have please include the information that the article forgot and I should
be able to get it working. The source on the ../zm/index.php is red, not
yellow or any other color showing it has connected.

I haven't set up Zoneminder. However, when I Googled zoneminder howto, I
got lots of hits. This one looks promising:
www.howtoforge.com/video_surveillance_zoneminder_ubuntu