Homebrew Digital Picture Frame w/Remote

feagle814 writes "I've always wanted to create one of those digital picture frames out of an old laptop, and on the heels of a recent slashdot story, I've written up my Digital Picture Frame project. What's unique about this particular incarnation of the digital picture frame is that mine includes a homebrew remote control recognizer made out of a programmable IC, the Microchip PIC16F628. The article discusses everything from design considerations to custom slideshow software, all the way to final presentation, with lots of photos along the way."

Comments

Re:Really narrow viewing angle?

[murgee]

It's not too hard to find an active-matrix screen on a P200-vintage laptop, actually - by the time they came out it seems a lot of people were realizing that the old passive matrix screens just weren't worth the trouble. The only laptops I've seen with the old passive-matrix screens on 'em in that vintage were the real low-end consumer units (Compaqs, actually) - everything else I've worked on that's that old has had an active-matrix screen, but I pretty much only see Dells. I'd worry more about getting a laptop with a 256-color only video card in it.

From the article about batteries.

[Saven Marek]

The final battery connection
Of course, we all know that messing with Lithium-Ion batteries is just asking for a chemical acid explosion.

This is actually urban myth. Only old first style lithium batteries from earlier in the 1980s would explode or be capable of igniting on touch with the atmosphere.

Lithium Ion are exactly that, the Lithium are stored as IONS in the solution and are not reactive.

Re:From the article about batteries.

[YggdrasilOS]

I think you have your terms confused:

Isotopes are stable atom configurations which have an electically neutral charge, differing only in the number of neutrons.

Ions, on the gripping hand, are chemically excited atoms which have gained or lost valence electrons (according to their electronegativity) and become reactive.

This is, in fact, what makes Li+ ions useful for battery cells in the first place. Whether alkaline, NiCad , NiMH, or LiIon, chemical batteries all work on the principle that the sustained chemical reaction will produce a useful amount of electricity.

When we "recharge" our batteries, we simply apply current to the battery in such a way as to reverse the chemical reaction.

What they've done is introduced stabilizers to retard the rate of reaction, so that rather than exploding upon atmospheric exposure, the battery solution simply gets warm.

The easy, or hard way?

[zippity8]

The funny thing is that I've been meaning to do a project just like this.

Except, unless you're looking for a reason to make your life more difficult, Windows IR software is abundant. Hardware is even cheaper, and not very complex. I remember using Girder (back then it was free, there might still be some sites around that offer the older version), and this captures IR codes from a COM port, and feeds specific keystrokes to a program of choice. MUCH easier than the route that the submitter mentioned.

Look up the LIRC project (in the FAQ somewhere) for schematics on a IR receiver if you really want to put the work in, or you can even buy some pre-made receivers. I bought one for $5 including a remote a few years back.

To get this running under Linux is easy enough, and well documented throughout the web. But to get it under windows can be just as easy.

Basically, to get this going under Windows (as the submitter chose, for some reason), you need to just load Windows XP and use the preloaded My Pictures screensaver (or some other alternative, I'm sure that they are abundant). Take an extra 10 minutes to mount a frame on a LCD (removed from the cover), and then set the screensaver to kick in 1 minute after booting (no password, not that it really matters). And you're done, ready to enjoy the rest of your christmas break with family or friends.

FPGA + Flash + Video Driver IC?

[xtal]

This isn't a bad idea, but I was hoping he was using the PIC to drive the panel directly. It'll cost a few bucks to keep this picture frame running.

I've driven VGA monitors from a FPGA before, but never a LCD panel directly - they're typically nightmares to work with. It strikes me that a digital picture frame might be a great project for someone to work on, and a practical application for some of the stuff over at OpenCores.

A low-end Spartan FPGA would do the trick (or maybe even something more lowly than that). You'd need to implement a driver core for SVGA or a DVI interface, a interface to a compactflash card, some glue logic for that, and not much else. And a PCB to hold it together.

Unfortunately I'm much too busy to tackle something like this myself right now, but if anyone would like to try it, I could point them in the right direction to get started.

Re:IR control

[Rolo Tomasi]

Heard of WinLIRC?

So yes, the IR receiver wasn't really necessary (maybe he did it for the learning experience though, or maybe he can use the code for something else).

But Win98, WTF? This is probably the first picture frame that has to be rebooted daily.

Re:Analog

[mdamaged]

Analog picture frame

Re:Only a 1 on the coolness scale

[Milkyman]

+5 funny but there's really no elegance to this frame, he just ripped open the lcd clamped a frame to it and then flipped the laptop on its keyboard.

this one is much nicer
http://www.applefritter.com/hacks/duodigitalframe/