Dual Screen Digital Picture Frame & Family Center

     In answer to my friends urgings, I am making this instructable.  Unfortunately, this means that I do not have any "making of" pictures, nor any actual prices for parts used.  

     I have a home for wayward tech, and was looking at my pile of "donated" computer parts.  Amongst them was an old T23 Thinkpad laptop and a 17" Lenovo L171P LCD monitor gathering dust.  I had read of Digital Picture Frames being made from old laptops, and thought I should give it a go.  To make mine something more than what was available from a retailer, I made a Dual Screen Digital Picture Frame.  The Frame has a touch screen interface, 802.11 n wireless, and USB ports for peripherals.  The software is configured to run through photos from a networked source, mix in some quotes, and give access to local weather forecasts plus a family calendar.  There is also remote access software, and a program that puts the Frame in stand-by to save some power.

     If this was made from scratch, it would not be a cheap photo frame.  If purchased, an old used laptop would be around $200, the LCD around $100, and the touch screen kit would be another $100.  However, since I had most of the parts on hand, and there's nothing out there like it yet, I figured why not.  I think the important bit of this build is the software configuration for the two LCD screens.

Step 1 The Hardware - Tech

This is the list of what has been shoved into the frames:  

T23 Thinkpad laptop
D-Link DWA 130 Wireless USB Adapter
Dynex™ - 2-Port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Notebook Card
8GB CF card with laptop drive adapter
4GB USB flash drive
Generic USB 4-port hub
Touch screen kit with USB adapter
Lenovo L171P LCD Monitor
Extension cord

     The T23 Thinkpad laptop I had on hand had seen better days.  The motherboard had just been replaced, the hard drive had died for a second time, the CD-ROM had ceased to read, and the plastics had been glued unsuccessfully several times.  For a laptop, it was past its prime.  But for a new life as a Digital Photo Frame, it was just getting started.  The 14.1" LCD screen can handle up to 1024 x 768 and 32 bit color.  Great for photos.  The processor, an old 1.13GHz PIII, and 512 MB of RAM are just above netbook status, and yet the laptop weighs over 5 pounds.  It does still work, though, so now to get it ready.  

     The laptop hard drive went bad, so I replaced it with a 8GB CF card with a laptop adapter.  I have read all of the horror stories of using compact flash for an OS drive, but I threw caution to the wind.  Besides, the CD drive was hosed, so there went any ideas for a Live CD OS.  I took off the plastic of the LCD screen and the palm rests.  I kept the bottom plastic intact to hold the motherboard, fans, and battery.  Yeah, I am keeping the battery in the laptop, in case of power failure.  All my other tech has battery back-ups, so I threw caution to the wind again.  It does increase the overall weight, but I over-engineered the frames with the weight in mind.

     I had to keep the keyboard attached, because the power button is integrated into the keyboard.  I am leaving the back of the picture frame open for access to the power button, should the need arise.

     Now the T23 Thinkpad did not come with any wireless cards, or USB 2.0 ports; only two USB 1.1 ports.  The wireless USB adapter found in my treasure chest of tech is a D-Link DWA 130.  It prefers a USB 2.0 port.  So, I grabbed a Dynex™ - 2-Port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Notebook Card.  I also tossed in a generic 4GB USB flash drive for swap space into the second USB 2.0 port.  I have also ordered a touch screen kit from e-bay.  It took forever to arrive from China, but it was worth it.  The touch screen plugged into one of the two old USB 1.1 ports.  The other 1.1 port is home to a generic 4-port hub that I had in my parts pile.  I have placed the 4-port hub at the bottom of the photo frame.  This has come in handy for connecting USB drives, keyboards, mice, and the like.  

     The Touch Screen Kit came from China, so the shipping was more than the actual kit.  I could only afford the one kit for the laptop's 14.1" LCD screen.  This is unfortunate, but workable.  The touch screen kit for the other 17" LCD screen is more expensive due to it's larger size.  Having one touch screen is okay for now, though having both screens with a touch interface would be so cool.  The touch screen comes with the pressure sensitive glass, USB interface controller board, and USB cable.  The glass is sandwiched between the foam core matte  of the frame and the laptop LCD. The controller board is secured within the frame, and the cable routed to the USB 1.1 port on the laptop.

     The other frame houses the stripped Lenovo LCD Monitor, and the laptop power adapter.  The external monitor is 17" viewable with 1280 x 1024 resolution.  I had both displays set to the same 1024 x 768 resolution.  With all of the adapters and such jammed into the laptop frame, there was little room for the laptop power brick.  I wanted to minimise the amount of cables hanging out of the frames, so the power cables for the monitor and the laptop power adapter are coiled up and plugged into the extension cord inside the second frame.  The extension cord is the only cord visible and dangling from the photo frames.  There are two other cords running between the frames; the laptop DC power from the power brick, and the VGA cable.  Those are hidden between the frames and invisible from the front.