Centrally Controlled Digital Picture Frame

Ok, so I know there are tons of digital picture frame Instructables already out there. Please bear with
me as I explain why this one is different.

These are the features that make my frame fairly unique from other DIY frames I have seen:

• My frame runs completely from memory
• It boots from CD
• There is no hard drive and therefore operation is completely silent after initial boot
• Photos are loaded from a centralized file share (connected over Wi-Fi)
• If for any reason the file share cannot be found, a “default” set of photos will be loaded into memory from the CD
• The actual frame never needs to be touched unless powering on (you can even shut down, reboot, and change basic functionality remotely)
• You can have different “libraries” of photos and change between them from your central file share. For example, during Christmas I load a library of past and present Christmas related photos, during Birthday Parties I load photos of past parties and “Happy Birthday” banners to be shown, etc.
• Adding photos takes seconds and again, you don’t need to touch the frame
• It can load a custom designed weather page at given times during the day. I have it load and display the weather first thing in the morning and around dinner time every night. We used it to decide how to get the kids dressed for the day!
• Basic operation of the frame, including displaying websites, online photo slideshows, etc. can be changed remotely from the central file share. I change ours to show the Santa NORAD tracker from NASA every Christmas Eve. The kids really get a kick out of watching it throughout the day.
• Depending on your BIOS, the laptop can be set to automatically shutdown at night and turn back on in the morning

So if you’re interested and agree that these are fairly unique features from other digital picture frames found here, read on. Otherwise I apologize for wasting your time but appreciate the fact that you’ve read this far! If that’s the case, please use this time to check out my other Instructables!

Step 1 Overview

This is a lengthy Instructable that I’ve been meaning to put together for quite some time.  It may surprise you to hear that this is actually more of a software project than a hardware one (in my mind anyway). 

Because all laptops are different and  you probably won't have the exact model I'm using, the hardware section will be higher level guidance that should apply to most build scenarios. 

The complexity comes in the software used to control it all.  I just want to point that out because many of the existing frames on Instructables.com are more hardware than software focused.  I spent many days writing scripts and tweaking the 3rd party software to get it all working just right.  Hopefully the detail in this area this will save you time in the end.

Why do this?
You are probably asking yourself, is it worth the effort to do this?

The answer is: It Depends.

You can buy a digital picture frame of this size for around $120 today. Smaller frames can be as cheap as $40. That said, a frame with this kind of functionality and flexibility could easily run about $300 - $450.

So why would you want to do this?

• I don't have the money lying around, but I do have a laptop with a dead hard drive and keyboard, but perfectly good display.
• Most commercial frames available today have very limited storage. Most cameras today take very high resolution photos (resulting in very large file sizes). This means you have to worry about the number of photos that you put on your frame. You end up never updating your frame because it is a pain.  I don't have these worries because photos are located on a central file server with plenty of storage.
• You need to physically "touch" the frame to update the pictures. So much for hanging it above your fireplace. With my project the photos are stored on a completely different system and are accessed via my home wireless network. How cool is that?
• You can add your own "features" over time. Want the ability to show the weather on your frame when you push a button on the side? Implement it! The options are endless if you have the time to tinker with it.
• You are creating a conversation piece! Your family and friends won't believe you were able to build one yourself (and may be slightly afraid of you at future holiday gatherings). 

So why wouldn't you want to do this?

• It takes time. You need to enjoy doing this kind of stuff. Hacking, tinkering, whatever you want to call it.
• It's not thin or small like a commercial photo frame. If you want a small photo frame for your desk then I would suggest buying one. If you want a large one to hang on the wall in a living room or over a fireplace, this project is ideal!
• My project requires a decent amount of computer knowledge. You need to know how to setup a file share and how to deal with the occasional problems that come up related to this. You also need to know how to copy your photos off your camera, put them in a specified folder on your "central" PC, and run an update script which will update the photo frame wherever it lives in your house.
• You need more hardware than meets the eye. My project also requires a home wireless network (doesn't everyone have one by now?) and another PC to act as your centralized photo storage server.
• If you're looking for the ability to simply walk up to the frame, plug in a memory stick and view your photos with no interaction, this isn't for you. While it would be completely possible to implement such features with a bit more work, I find no personal use in doing this. My TV does that today if I want to. 

I guess I could summarize this by saying: If you consider yourself a geek - this project is for you. If not - Head out to your local super chain store and pick up a commercially available frame.

Now finally..on to the build...

Comments

[felixh]

just a thought but couldn't one use wake on lan in place of a power switch?

[chunkyblamm]

I have an old laptop lying around that I have been wanting to do this with and your version seems like the best. Only thing is my main computer nowadays is a macbook. I used to have VMWare Fusion and run virtual Windows XP. Question is can I operate mine this way and if the laptop or Fusion is shut down what would be displayed?

[whyexactly]

Does it matter which XP install CD is used? ie I'm doing this for a Gateway laptop (don't have the disk) so right now I'm using the one for my HP desktop. Will this cause me any network problems or anything?

[siliconghost]

It shouldn't matter but I can't say with absolute certainly that it will work. Give it a try. I always like to "slipstream" the latest service pack as mentioned in the "Install PE Builder" section of my tutorial. Good luck!

[whyexactly]

It booted up and is displaying photos now, the only issue that arose was that I got the error message "Unable to install network adapters." So I'll try to get a copy of the correct CD and see what happens. Also, I have the photo name and number showing up in green, which I don't see in your pictures above, I've assuming I've made some kind of mistake here? Additionally, is there a way to slow down the slideshow? Thanks again for all your help and for providing this 'ible, it's fantastic.

[siliconghost]

I recall having that same network issue but I don't recall the solution. Is it connecting to your network regardless? If so, I think you have an unnecessary networking plugin enabled within BartPE. I seem to recall disabling one that was enabled by default but not needed and it just threw errors like you describe. Re: the photo name and speed, that can all be configured in the I_view32 .ini (config) file. If you can't find it let me know. Glad to hear you're getting everything running! Post a pic when you're done or send it to me and I will add it to the Instructable.

[whyexactly]

also, I can't seem to find pstools.cab for the life of me, only the pstools.zip. I moved the files to the PStools folder in the plugin folder, but I still can't see PStools in the BartPE Plugins selector

[siliconghost]

Thanks for pointing out the broken link for pstools.cab. I also found the same file here after a bit of Google searching *. 

After adding that, PStools should show up within BartPE.  That's really all it is used for. 

* Note that I have not been able to verify the the file is indeed an exact copy because I don't have my original pstools.cab file handy to do an MD5 check on it.

[whyexactly]

Fantastic, thank you. For some reason I was unable to locate it using Google.

[siliconghost]

I had to put qoutes around the whole filename as in "pstools.cab" in order to find it.

[Splaxx]

Awesome idea...

[Splaxx]

(removed by author or community request)

[colton.asu]

 AWESOME INSTRUCTABLE!!!

I just recently built a DPF just using a normal screensaver.

After seeing this, I am liking the idea of complete silence, so I may build one like this.

Are there any transitions from one picture to the next? Like fading or pan and zoom? If not, how difficult would it be to incorporate this.

roughneck_07

[siliconghost]

Roughneck,

Thanks for your feedback!

Yes, Irfanview, the program I use for the slideshow does support basic transitions.  I have it slightly fade in and out with each picture now.  The "i_view32.ini" config file can be edited to select the type of transition you want (or none at all).

[alexsolex]

Just a couple of words to tell you I started my own.
I should receive an old IBM R50 (pentium M 1.4Ghz, 14inch, ...) very soon.

I will make the hardware first and then improve the software with time. First I will use a win XP on hard drive and if possible using a flash memory instead.
The software for pictures will be the very good media center XBMC. It can be remotely controlled via web service and the skin can be modified at will for my needs. Very interesting thing, meteo is already inside the mediacenter and I can call it to show with a simply http link.
This media center supports Python scripts as well to make it fit all my needs :)

Some more questions for you. Maybe I'm wrong but I can't see where you speak about the calendar thing to show weather page at special time ? Is it a special software or just the events from windows ?

I made some tests with voice command but not very significant success. Did you try it ?

[siliconghost]

Alex,

I'm glad to hear you're building your own version of this frame! 

Getting it all running on a hard drive should be pretty easy.  Note that BartPE also supports VBScript and JScript with another "plugin" which makes the scripting pretty flexible.  You can download that plugin directly here: http://www.cordingley.us/pebuilder/plug-ins/wshsupport.cab.

I wasn't using a "calendar" to control when the weather was shown. I should detail that in my Instructable. I actually use plain ole' Windows "Scheduled Tasks" to kick off the batch (.cmd) files at certain times from my centralized PC.  The actual weather page is custom PHP code. If you're interested in that message me directly and I will be happy to share it.

Let me know if you have any other questions.  I'm happy to help you out where I can.

- John

[alexsolex]

Thanks for everything.
I just received my new future digital photo frame, I start installing my media center, and a few things (wifi for network share, bluetooth for phone transfer and wii remote control) I'm thinking of adding some keyboard keys on the back or on the side of the photo frame for controlling things...
A lot of idea in fact, maybe not a lot of concretisation ;)

Talk to you about it soon

[alexsolex]

 hi
I have some questions for you. Here are some, maybe other question later.

-Why use a live CD instead of a flashcard (or even hard drive) ?
-How long does it take to boot ?

[siliconghost]

USB or Flashcard Boot
You could definitely use a flashcard but typically most older laptops used for this purpose wouldn't support booting from a flashcard or USB.

If you have a newer laptop that does support booting from USB or flashcard, the software build process would be VERY similar with minor changes.  This article could get you going in the right direction.  That would definitely be the way to go if your laptop supports it.

Hard Drive Boot
Most hard drives for these older machines are very loud, especially in a quiet room.  Since my photos are not on the CD, the entire OS loads up into memory and the CD stops spinning.  Operation is totally silent.   I tried making a frame once with a hard drive and stripped down OS but it was way too noisy and seemed out of place in the room.

Boot Time
This is a slow PC so boot time takes a while.  About three to four minutes before it is completely up and running showing photos.

[marie.ambusk]

I love it!  We got one of these frames for my mother-in-law 2 years ago - but it's too complicated for her to operate.  Now the instructions are lost, and I can't even figure it out!! 

Here's another bit of wisdom .. not sure who said it, but I like it:

".. what would you do, if someone told you that you would not fail? .."

[siliconghost]

Thanks Marie!  I appreciate the feedback!  I do agree that mine is actually easier to use than some of those commercial frames!

I love that quote!

- John

[alexsolex]

hey nice tutorial, very complete ! Congratulation.

What about adding some voice recognition ? Say "weather" and show the meteo for some seconds....

I love it, need to make my own soon !

[siliconghost]

You could definitely add voice recognition.  Fantastic idea!  I'm going to add this to the "ideas" section under my conclusion (giving credit and a link to you of course).

Thanks for your compliments and feedback, I really appreciate it!

- John

[alexsolex]

no worries ! No need for credits.

I already seen picture frames using old laptop, but yours looks so simple to make, the tutorial looks very easy to understand.

[DIY Dave]

looks great; I would make one if I had an old laptop

[siliconghost]

Dave, keep your eye on eBay for these Dell C600's.  I've seen them sell for as little as $30.

Thanks for the feedback!

- John