After pinging around about this, I settled on a Raspberry Pi with a camera   
   card.   
   The Pi is credit card size, and the camera card is about an inch square.   
   At least on paper, I haven't found anything wrong with this setup.   
      
   Advantages include:   
      
   1. The 5 mp camera is connected to the board by a fast parallel bus. It   
   will transfer video at 30 fps and 30 stills per sec.   
      
   2. The board has 512 mb to store the images.   
      
   3. The 700 mhz ARM processor runs Linux.   
      
   4. There is a graphics library for image analysis, OpenCV, on Linux.   
      
   5. The board has wifi for internet, usb, HDMI for monitor.   
      
   6. I think a usb HD would connect. A usb hub can accomodate kbd and ouse.   
      
   7. Of course, GPIO pins are there for control of circuits. ADC, DAC can be   
   added.   
      
   8. Right now the cost US is $100 for Pi + cam. China is already lowering that   
   by   
   20%.   
      
   9. The camera can sense NIR if a filter is removed.   
      
      
   That's about it.   
   JB   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)