Digital Picture Frame

[ncsuapex]

I've been working on a digital picture frame for a while now and have used several other "live" Linux Cds with no success. I did manage to get one working using DOS but I didn't like the functions of the program I used for the slideshow. Thanks to Slax and all the help I've gotten from the Slax forum I have a working Slax Digital Picture Frame, at least from the software side. I need to take my working DPF apart and reconfigure the hardware now that I have it working for Slax.


I downloaded the follow files:

Slax 5.0.6 from http://merlin.fit.vutbr.cz/mirrors/slax/SLAX-5.0.x/

Quick Image Viewer from http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?category=graphics&id=312&name=Quick+Image+Viewer

vfu from http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?category=console&id=313&name=vfu

No_CD_Ejection_2_0.mo from http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php?category=other&id=604&name=No_CD_Ejection_2_0.mo



I mounted the Slax ISO to a directory I made on my Linux box:

mount -o loop -t iso9660 slax-5.0.6.iso /mnt/iso

Because I mounted the ISO as read only I had to copy the entire directory into another directory to be able to write to it.

mkdir /mnt/slaxconfig
cp -R /mnt/iso /mnt/slaxconfig


Next was to add the modules to the modules directory

Next I created a line in the rootcopy/etc/rc.d/rc.local file to make a directory for the usb device upon boot.

mkdir /mnt/sda1_removable

Next line is to mount the usb device upon boot

mount -o /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1_removable

I mount the USB as read only so there is no data corruption when you turn the DPF off or in case of power failure.

Next was to create a script in the rootcopy/root/.kde/Autostart directory to autostart the slideshow after KDE starts.

Contents of the script, which I called myss.ph

#!/bin/bash
# script to start slide show
qiv -srfid 60 /mnt/sda1_removable/*.jpg



Then I made my new ISO.

./make_iso.sh /tmp/myss.iso


Next I copied the ISO to my usb thumbdrive so I could copy it to my windows machine to make the rest of the modifications in Myslax as I did not know how to make them otherwise.

In Myslax creator I set the option for GUI, no harddrive and no pcmcia, etc.

after I created the ISO I burned the ISO in Myslax creator and now I have a ISo for a Digital Picture frame.


This should work with no modifications. All you have to do is put your .jpg files on your thumbdrive. Make sure they file extension(jpg) are all lower case. When ever you want to change the files just power off the device, pop the USB out, connect to your PC, copy pictures over, put USB thumb drive back into the device and power on!

I plan to make some modifications to remove any unused modules,etc, so that it boots quicker. If anyone wants this ISO please feel free to ask.

[bigmac99]

are you running this on an old laptop, or what? I have seen a few tutorials on how to do this on an old laptop.

Sounds neat, do you have any pictures?

-Charles

[ncsuapex]

Charles,

I haven't put this version into use yet but yes it will be made from an old laptop. I've bought several used laptops off ebay for $100.00 or so each. I do have some pictures of the DOS version I completed but I haven't put them online yet. I might do that tonite and I'll post them. Once I get this one completed I'll post pics as well. Basically all you need from the laptop is the motherboard, LCD, CDROM and the USB stick and the power cable. I also put the fan in my DOS version because I had to put the slideshow on a CD which was in use everytime the picture changed. With the newest version the pictures will be on the USB stick and the CD will only be in use when the DPF boots up.

If you need any help dont hesitate to ask. I've been working on this for about 2 months now and I never could get one to work with all the other tutorials I saw online.

Oh by the way. I see you are in Wilmington, NC.. I live in Raleigh, a few hours west of you.


j

[ncsuapex]

Pics:


http://www.70chip.us/slax/DSCF3367.JPG

http://www.70chip.us/slax/DSCF3371.JPG

[happybunny]

I did this also, but the hardest part was getting the monitor positioned into a reasonable position.

Did you have to extend the "video" cable on your laptop? And if so, how? And if not, how did you get the existing short cable twisted enough to get the monitor vs laptop posistioned right?

[ncsuapex]

I was lucky I guess in the fact that I didn't have to extend my video cables at all. I just had to play with the screen and the motherboard to get it to fit in the frame and have all the cables reach. I didn't post a picture of it, but I cut a small strip of foam board and placed it below the screen/mother board so that they rested on it. It made the monitored aligned perfectly centered with the frame.

[Glacious]

This may be helpful. I've created my own CD from these instructions, and changed a couple things.


1)

added 'modprobe usb-storage' to rc.local (or USB thumb drive won't show for me)

2)

added the -t option to qiv to scale down images larger than the screen resolution.



Also, the cdrom seems to be starting up every few minutes or so (randomly I believe, but haven't tracked it enough). It can get loud, especially in a quiet room. Any idea how to prevent this, or figure out which process is trying to read the CD so I can possibly stop it. Any idea for a faster bootup?

Thanks, and enjoy!


Bill