| My Digital Picture Frame.; ...or my attempt at one at least. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 27 2011, 10:58 PM (219 Views) | |
| aardvark spleen | Sep 27 2011, 10:58 PM Post #1 |
aaaaaasphinctersayswhat?
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This is a little project I've been working on for the last few months. The goal is to build a nice lookin, cheaper, and even more functional digital picture frame then the store bought ones, reusing older gear. I guess you'd call this my 2nd attempt at it. In the first try I picked up a used laptop that turned out to have a broken screen, so I thought I'd just pull apart an older LCD monitor, and put it in the frame as well. Got all the software worked out, then while disassembling it, I broke the monitor. :-/. So that put the breaks on the project for about a month or so, until this morning when a used Acer Aspire 5315 came up on CraigsList for $50. Broken keyboard, no charger, built in wifi, perfect.  I emailed immediately and picked it up within 20 minutes. Got home, fired it up, wiped that dumb ass Vista shizz off there. Installed Linux Mint. I decided to go with Linux on this because of Conky. Conky is a Linux program that will show weather, RSS feeds, HD space, CPU usage, and pretty much what ever the hell else you want it to show, right on your desktop:  Oh yeah, and the size, font, colors, and text is all completly customizable. To change the desktop background, I went with Webilder (http://www.webilder.org/), a great desktop background switcher that will pull images off flicr and change your desktop to a new random pic based on the tags you put in. I set the task-bar to auto hide, and I'll use a clear image with nothing in it for the courser, so you can't even see it. Another reason I went with Linux is that it has a fantastic remote desktop application built right in. If I ever want to update the configuration of Conky, or whatever, I can access it through the network. Or I could just plug in my wireless keyboard and mouse. Wham bam, thank you mam. Software end of it is covered. On to the frame. First step was to turn the laptop into a big f'n pile of parts.  Once I had the dimensions of the stripped down LCD screen, I was able to start constructing the shadow box that will house the LCD and laptop body inside it, behind the frame itself.  The LCD panel fits!  A test with the frame.  I will need to cut new black cardboard pieces to a smaller size to cover the area around the screen, obviously. I had already cut them to the size of the monitor that I broke. So that's the progress for today. Stay tuned. Edited by aardvark spleen, Sep 27 2011, 11:03 PM.
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| aardvark spleen | Sep 28 2011, 11:43 PM Post #2 |
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aaaaaasphinctersayswhat?
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So I got down and dirty with mounting some things. Panel and laptop in the frame/test run:   Don't worry, it's not only held in with duct tape. There's blue painter's tape as well. Since I'd cut the black paper to the monitor I was going to use, it was much too large. I ended up just cutting the cardboard backing from the original frame to size, and spray painting it black. Works for now. I think sooner or later I'll have the picture frame shop cut me some new paper pieces. As careful as I try, my cuts always turn out like shit. With a little fuckin' about, here's the pretty much, almost finished product. I decided it'd be easier to run Screenlets instead of Conky. Especially since I realized I already have clocks, and I check the Internet every morning and evening, no real need for RSS like I wanted, even though it'd be easy enough to set up in screenlets, or Conky like i'd originally planned. Also figured it'd make it look too busy and become hard to read.  Total cost, as it is (laptop $50, Frame $40) = $90, plus ~6 hours of time. What I actually have invested is $170 ($40 for laptop with dead screen, $40 for first, broken LCD panel), but had I not been retarded, the extra $80 wouldn't have been needed. In hindsight, I would have used a smaller frame, but as it was ment for a larger panel, and I wasn't going to go buy another frame, I'm ok with it. Also it's nice to have the extra space back there. All the usb ports are easily accessible, I could probably even put a CD in if I wanted to. So that's pretty much a wrap, besides the black paper and setting up automation of the screen shutting off at certain hours. |
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11:43 AM Jul 13