Hi @StephenG ,
I see you already got answers to help you in your predicament. I want to offer additional information for your understanding, and I am sorry to hear you did not attend your exam on the Summer Bank Holiday in UK as planned.
I'm quoting the official requirement and some your answer: "Webcam: One external webcam with at least a 1m cable" doesn't really offer much clarity.
That is very right. It does not, on purpose. In fact, it was reduced to avoid being too restrictive and create some problems with candidates. For example, it used to be recommending a Wide Angle external camera. Wide Angle is somehow defined from a viewing angle equal or higher than 90°. Such statements had problems, what about a webcam with viewing angle of 70°? 80°?. Also, many shops worldwide were not allowing user to select a webcam with a "wide viewing angle", worse, some specifications were hidding that data. As a workaround, some teams at Red Hat decided to be more flexible, and the proctors also received instructions to be more comprehending. As discussed here with other users, candidates, we are free to create a dedicated topic and list the webcam that worked best (which would be a mix of it had a wide angle, it was able to autofocus so the proctor read the ID properly, etc...).
As for your heavy investment and your decision to postpone the scheduled exam, I feel sorry that you made such choices, in the context of Red Hat Remote Exams. If we had the opportunity to discuss here before hand, we would have provided the help you needed. We would have recommended you to attend the remote exam, based on the information you wrote on this forum, I think the proctor would have been able to use your webcam properly. Or to help you reschedule if that was really needed. As for the investment, you are free to use your money as you please, I am just surprised how expensive it is, and it appears way over spec for the purpose of Red Hat Remote Exams. The good news is that you can use that computer for other purposes, the bad news is that it won't make the Red Hat Remote Exams more simpler to pass... We can run that Remote Exam environment on cheaper computer (which translates into technical terms of probably less powerful and older hardware). In fact that is the first time I hear about someone specifically buying a computer for that purpose. We have read on this forum a few people using their work computer (which sometimes adds technical difficulties are they are not in control of the security and sometimes there are secure boot settings preventing booting from a live USB device). Some could be creative and even borrow a friend's laptop (provided it fits the requirements).
I wanted to conclude that the Remote Exams offers some much needed flexibility, they are not mandatory and certainly not requiring any purchase that looks that expensive.
Moving on, these Red Hat certifications exams are usually rather difficult for many users, once you pass the initial learning curve with the hardware requirements, the best advice is to focus on more positive sides. Such as the fact that with these Remote Exams, you won't have to travel and invest time for that. I can openly share that a while ago, when there were only exams in Training Centers, I have failed an exam attempt because I was angry about a Red Hat related technical issue. The point I should have focused on the exam and not on whatever occured. Expensive Lesson learned (and shared).
I wish you good luck with your Remote Exam!
