Reddit reviews Learning OpenCv: Computer Vision With The Opencv Library

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-OpenCV-Computer-Vision-Library/dp/0596516134

I learned everything from this book http://www.amazon.com/Learning-OpenCV-Computer-Vision-Library/dp/0596516134 (which might be a little outdated by now). And yes, the inter-occular range is dependent on the range you want to measure. Wider separation gives you better depth accuracy, but also can require increasing the amount of image that is searched over ("max_disparities") that can slow things down, so it's a balance. The cameras should be roughly parallel and the calibration process will determine their exact orientation in order to process the images properly.

I'd suggest a post to /r/electronics, more than 20 times the audience and a core interest in wiring shit up - which seems to be your problem here :/

On the DSP side, Open CV might be of interest to you as it implements a bunch of stuff and comes with a book.