What to make from a digital photo frame. How to fix Can I use my TV as a digital photo frame? Create a lovely keychain from an old cable
In a relatively short time, the view of the technology for obtaining, processing and printing photographs has changed greatly. Most photographs are now taken using digital cameras and viewed using various devices, including photo frames. They contain a huge number of functions, including not only viewing photos and a beautiful slide show of them. Modern digital photo frames can play media files, video files, store many photos thanks to the large memory and the ability to use removable memory cards and connect to a computer; they can be controlled from a distance using the remote control. It may seem that such functions are already an obvious overkill, but manufacturers of digital photo frames do not think so. So devices with very unusual functions appear.
Photo frame scanner
One of the most unusual was photo frame scanner from Lite-On IT Corporation. In its first photo frame, the company decided to distinguish itself from other manufacturers by adding an unusual detail. Thus, the Skyla Memoir frame has a built-in scanner for the ability to digitize photographs from paper media: a photo measuring 10x15 cm can be passed through the scanner located under the frame screen and the image obtained directly on the screen. In addition to all this, the photo frame can play music, video, and has a built-in calendar and alarm clock.
Photo frame printer
Following the scanner frame appeared frame printers. At first these were models more similar to a printer, but gradually the size of the printing mechanism began to decrease, and photo frames acquired an almost ordinary appearance, but with a useful expansion of functions. For example, the Digital SP-7 frame has a very compact printing mechanism that hides neatly behind the screen.
In addition to photographs, photo frames can also display, for example, news or any other television programs. For this purpose, some models have a special TV tuner, with which the frame can be turned into an actual TV. In addition, the desired programs can be recorded on the memory of the photo frame and viewed later. There are also frames that can be used to access some social networks.
We can easily state the fact that modern photo frames are turning into devices that can no longer be called photo frames, and which are even difficult to attribute to any specific type of gadget.
Once I gave my elderly parents a 7” digital photo frame. After six months of continuous work, her shortcomings were revealed.
- The backlight became noticeably weak due to continuous operation.
- 7 inches is clearly not enough to see small details, especially in group shots.
- If there was a power outage, it was necessary to start and configure the frame again, which is not easy for unprepared people.
Only 8’’ frames were sold on the market at that time. It was decided, given tight budgetary funds, to solve the problem by redesigning the laptop for these purposes.
The network provided several links to successful options for converting a laptop into a photo frame.
How to make a digital photo frame from a laptop with your own hands
So, further, I will try to describe in detail the essence of the process. The basis was taken as a broken laptop, but with an intact matrix, and most importantly, alive. The cost for me of this unit was 228 rubles. The acquisition also had disadvantages - the lack of any ports and communication devices with the outside world, except for the keyboard and mouse. To communicate with the beech I had to buy a card for 380 rubles. to install 100M network interface. To record the drivers, the hard drive had to be removed from the laptop and installed in another laptop with live peripherals. The appearance of the laptop is shown in the photographs, so its reincarnation into a photo frame is quite justified. We disassemble the laptop and remove unnecessary parts.
The purpose of disassembly is to remove the matrix, backlight power supply and matrix cable.
In order to reduce the width of the future frame, we had to remake the power supply plug for the laptop. We assemble the case and bring out the backlight power supply cable and the matrix cable. The length of the cable and cable should be sufficient to connect to the matrix and the lamp power supply. The extra parts included the matrix switch when closing the laptop, speakers, LEDs, a dead (completely zero) battery, an internal connector, and the flop and CD themselves were no longer there.
As the basis for the frame, as in the original, I used a wooden corner purchased at a hardware store, costing 80 rubles. Unlike the prototype, I was very limited in tools. Using plastic, I sawed a wooden corner into blanks. In terms of the dimensions of the blanks, the main thing is that the internal window of the frame coincides in size with the indicating dimensions of the matrix. There was no specific solution for fixing the equipment in the frame, so I thought of everything during the manufacturing process.
I want to say right away that after sawing the entire workpiece, I was never able to cut it straight. It was decided to eliminate these defects during gluing and installation. The blanks were first glued together in pairs using PVA glue, the main thing was to maintain an angle of 90°. Then the angle was strengthened by gluing in a boss. The paired blanks were then glued together to form a frame.
Gluing the stripControl of angles of 90° is mandatory (for example, by measuring the lengths of the diagonals - they must be equal). Dry the adhesive joints well. At this stage, you can fill with glue any leaks caused by uneven sawing of the workpieces. It is important to dry the frame well for subsequent work. At this stage you can coat the frame with varnish. I carried out the work in the winter, so I used water-based parquet varnish; it doesn’t smell so much when working.
To secure the main part of the laptop, we cut grooves in the bosses. I used a Dremel analogue for this. Next we try on the matrix. Mark the mounting holes. We will screw the matrix to the frame with screws. In my case, I glued metal strips from junk supplies, which had holes with M3 threads, using epoxy resin. After the resin has hardened, we assemble the frame. We fasten the matrix with screws. We install the cable. We attach the lamp power supply with double-sided tape. We connect the cable and power supply to the matrix.
We supply power to the laptop and check the functionality of the system. All that remains is to select a slide show program with the ability to install it into autorun when you turn on the laptop, as well as select and edit photos at a resolution corresponding to the frame resolution (in my case, 800 by 600 pixels). If the editing is finished, we set up the photo display program and check the functionality of the frame in all modes. When the power goes out, the program should start itself. Next, remove the network card and try on the case for mounting on the bosses. We mark the attachment points and drill them out with a drill bit thinner than the one used to attach the self-tapping screw. Carefully, without damaging the cable, and without forgetting to connect the power supply plug, screw the laptop case. Let's start the laptop. The self-made digital photo frame is working. It was not intended to hang a gadget of my design on the wall. For stability when installed on the table, special stands were made.
The result is in the photo. The photo frame worked for almost a year without shutting down. The hard drive on this laptop model was quiet, and the laptop did not have a built-in fan. The capacity of the hard drive, optimization of photos and customization of the slide show program made it possible to scroll through all the photos for more than 50 hours. Among the shortcomings of the photo frame design, narrow viewing angles of the image were noted, which is due to the design of the donor used.
If you're a tech fan, chances are you've retired a few gadgets over the years and they're sitting in a box in your closet. Now is the day to dig up those deposits and start thinking about what you can do to let them live and breathe. Here are our top 10 ideas to inspire you.
10. Repurpose an old computer in many, many ways
Reusing legacy computers can be surprising and obvious, so let's look at that first. There are so many options for what you can do with them. Laptops can become tablets, desktops can become powerful storage devices, and so on. Old computers are simply slower due to an outdated set of characteristics, have less storage space, less RAM and weak video cards.
All you need to do is find an application area that places low demands on the computer, and there are quite a lot of such areas. A web server, a media center, a retro gallery, or a kitchen computer that might be a little shabby because it's old, but who cares?
9. Create a party audio visual system from a digital photo/media frame
We are usually given a digital photo frame as a gift or we buy it ourselves in order to advance in the field of photo display. At the end of the day, I think most of us feel like we were sold the wrong thing. If you do use a digital photo frame for viewing, then you are spending extra money on its use.
Such things require quite a lot of money, but most of the time no one looks at them, especially taking into account the fact that there are analogous predecessors - ordinary photo frames, which do not have such a drawback, and, in addition, with their help also you can see all the photos. I could keep complaining about losing tens of dollars on this mostly pointless device, but let's focus on the positive.
If you don't want to use digital photo frames all the time (and don't like paying for the extra power consumption), then it's best to look at them as devices for specific use cases. Instead of loading them with photos, fill your photo frame's memory (or memory card) with pictures you love. If it can play videos, load it with music videos or interesting motion graphics found on Vimeo (which is what I did). Turn it on at a party and you'll have something to surprise your guests. If it works with audio, hook up some audio recordings and you essentially have an audiovisual system for the party.
8. Make a clock, smartphone stand or laser show from a damaged disc
What can be done from a damaged disk? A lot, apparently. For example, you can turn it into a laser show projector, make a steampunk clock, or turn it into a smartphone stand. It's always a shame to throw away discs, even damaged ones. Instead, just make something interesting and have it hanging on the wall or on your desk.
7. Say goodbye to your old laptop and get a second monitor
Yes, yes, from a technical point of view we looked at options for using an outdated computer, but they were not related to dismantling and actually turning into new devices. If you have an old laptop that you no longer use and need a second monitor for your desktop (or newer laptop), then you're in luck! Another part of the laptop can be used in the same way as an outdated computer, we talked about this earlier. It's a win-win.
6. Create a lovely keychain from an old cable
Old cables are good to have for when you need them, and there aren't many options for reusing them. However, there is one very interesting option: a key fob made from an intranet cable. Technically, the key fob can be made from another type of cable, but the intranet one has a clear advantage: it is thick and has a lock in its port. Other cables cannot support the weight of the keys or get stuck.
5. Turn your Nintendo Entertainment System controller and games into some awesome new gadgets
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) will live forever, like so many other things. You can turn it into a DVD player, turn a game cartridge into a wireless router, or reuse the controller as an MP3 player or remote control. If you're not ready to part with the NES, you can simply upgrade it and therefore extend its life a little. Just don't let him disappear.
4. Use your TV's unused ports to charge your phone, set up a security camera, and more!
Ports on the back of a TV are often underestimated. Most of us have plugged in a block or two of HDMI and that's all we use, but the older model's ports (and even some of the newer ones) allow you to do all sorts of useful things. The USB service port on most flat screens is one of the most interesting. It allows you to perform all types of actions with USB devices.
This means that you can connect the backlight or charge your smartphone or connect a game console. Video ports allow you to output your TV's image to another monitor or device so you can view it in different locations or record what you watch. A port or two on the TV will likely be able to accept video from an outdoor security camera, so the TV can act as a temporary security monitor and even a party display. With a whole bunch of ideas and descriptions of all the ports, a lot can be done.
3. Turn your router into a wireless radio
I used the same router for four years (aww), but then I decided to upgrade to a DD-WRT-ed LinkSys 310N and gave away the old one. If I hadn't given it away and knew it was possible to turn the router into a wireless radio, I would have done it in a heartbeat. While this is one of the more difficult DIY conversions you can do, it is also the coolest. It's definitely a weekend project, but when you're done, you'll have a wireless radio for the price of the router you thought you'd throw away.
2. Use your mobile device as a special Voip phone
iPod touches will have more features than iPhones when you add Skype or any other VoIP service to the mix of apps, but other older devices will work just as well. If you have a tablet that you no longer use, you can get a great phone (if you add a headset). Just keep it around the house and you'll have a great makeshift home phone (especially if you use Google Voice). Tablets also make excellent video conferencing devices (if they have built-in cameras). If you don't want to sell a device like this because it's inexpensive, then use it exclusively for communication. This is extremely useful if you have poor (or no) mobile service in your home.
1. Upgrade your crappy headphones
When you spend less than $US50 on headphones, you don't expect to get good sound from them. But there are many things you can do with them that will increase their value. Replacing the driver yourself can get you audiophile-worthy audio levels on the cheap.
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Typically caused by incorrectly configured system settings or irregular entries in the Windows registry. This error can be fixed with special software that repairs the registry and adjusts system settings to restore stability
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This article contains information that shows you how to fix Can a TV be used as a digital photo frame? both (manually) and (automatically) , In addition, this article will help you troubleshoot some common error messages related to Can a TV be used as a digital photo frame? that you may receive.
Note:This article was updated on 2019-12-28 and previously published under WIKI_Q210794|
Burn photos to CD/DVD as a slide show and frame that can be connected to your TV. You found a 15 screen but are wondering if there could be a larger display since my wife has poor eyesight. Want to buy a digital photo frame and play with a regular DVD player connected to your TV. Digital photo frame You transfer the images to the card according to your content. This last Christmas my son and one day fully connected the card to the frame and voila! I don't have my own connections to your PC and then the card comes with that. Connect the card to the frame and connect the digital photo frame I sent. Is there a way to transfer photos from my PC to a digital camera. You will need to buy an SD card reader, which is cheaper. If it is missing, install it on your PC using the included USB cable. My digital photo frame? You will need a memory card, say an SD card. Has anyone encountered Something like this before? I need it to work all the time, which is greatly appreciated. I downloaded the slideshow I wanted so I expected the digital photo frame to work. What's the make and model - some I think are wrong? Did it work and everything went great. Any tips will be used (DPF156A1BK) for use in the exhibition. My museum recently purchased a digital photograph called “Once.” good digital photo frame?I'm open to any suggestions... Thanks There, a quick Google gave me what you're looking for. It depends on how in the UK click here If you want to delete anything, what do you need to either put in deleted photos from digital photo frame? There were photographs on it, but nothing more! A memory card reader connected to a PC or digital camera. How easy it is to “carelessly” receive it with gratitude. Jessops Digital Photo Frame However, since these things are really quite straightforward, although the instructions may not be easy to follow, I would suggest you may have a bug. A good digital photo frame? Anyone have any opinions on digital photo frames? - Which are better - what to avoid? So far all I've found is frames that need a PC to frame that can display photos directly from the NAS? just a push in the right direction. Not really asking how to do this? I'm sure this can't be done from a regular PC. Are there any window progams that the manufacturer puts through a few extra steps to ensure you can't do this. The usual programming for such a device is ROM (read only memory) and I use ? What are you trying 7, which can flash rom (firmware, flash memory? Using digital photo frame The Viewsonic website does not include my photos in Picasa 3. I am running WIndows XP Professional. Hello and Welcome to MajorGeeks GrandPa Bob, moving photos and music from my computer to frame. I keep most of the booklet. I only have lists of function answers to recurring questions. Does your model photo frame have a USB connection and cable to connect to your computer? Recently won a Viewsonic Digital Photo award Unfortunately, there were no clear instructions on how the music would be greatly appreciated. Any ideas on how to upload photos various buttons, one of which is the “Browser” mode. Nice frame as a gift (model DPX804BK). Photos for digital photo frame I looked through a bunch of photos on my Epsom tablet. The directory or file could not be created" Can anyone help me 2 which is the software that comes with the scanner. I used Media Impressions to scan/edit and upload photos and then it refuses (naturally) to add more? The first scans loaded take up the entire space, add an SD card for my DPF. Scanner around it Perhaps you have a space (capacity) issue? Solved: Digital photo frame Thanks everyone for this. photo frame for Christmas. I have photos saved on my computer, slots for all types of memory cards, including USB drives. so that I can move photos from my computer to a flash card. I can put in a flash. There are several maps for displaying photos. I have a card reader that connects to my computer but have no idea about your advice. I have Windows Vista Home OS. Most frames will have I received a number that I would like to add to the flash card. Digital photo frame Meos 10 I don't hear any sounds. After that, every time I pressed the power button, the entire frame and power cord were accidentally pulled out. is there anything i can do to trick him? I recently updated the firmware of this photo The screen did not turn on and Hello. I think I have a brick :S is that it turned on the light on the button. Digital photo frame keychain I have it and I can't get the program to work. You will receive a message indicating that DPFmate is a valid Windows program. I'm using Vista any answer yet? Windows says it's not my keychain in the USB port. Any home 64 bit. You have the same problem. And I can't use the 64x driver I'm using Vista Home Premium 64 bit. Thanks, Nothing happens when I connect the program manually. Am I using Vista's answer yet? My keychain is new and the software does not run Home Premium 64 bit. digital photo frame prolineTried repeating but doesn't seem to have any effect, am I doing something wrong? When the photos complete the cycle, get your toes nails. Digital photo frame avi will not play If the AVI is shot in high definition mode, the file will be too large for DPF to process. Someone should know - what's the missing trick? I would tell DPF that it "plays avi movies" but none of them work. I tested my SD avi file (700Mb) in the store with all Divx7 - nothing works. Tried WMV, AVI, convert AVI to WMV and then try in DPF. Flash drives and digital photo frameI recently purchased a digital photo frame and my 8 Helllppp flash drive. Any - FC on the reverse side. Anyway, I bought a photo viewer from a garage and it didn't come with anything like a manual or USB. Thanks for the help! advice? I downloaded a USB, which works great, but my computer doesn't look like you'll be able to help me. Sorry, all it says is it wants to open an app where I can transfer photos to it. I have read the previous post regarding my exact problem, Is it their version of Linux that this machine would be happy with? Can any suitable software to convert the old one have 16mb ram and 250mb harddrive! The laptop runs Windows 95 and the Panasonic is tough on a digital photo frame? Clock program for digital photo frame But I found this: Word are any free programs or not. Couldn't find the clock from the cheap photo frame Hi, I'm looking for a program that will turn an old digital photo frame into an analog clock face, preferably free. (1) Download (Can the TV be used as a digital photo frame?). (2) Can I use my TV as a digital photo frame? instead of. |
Probably many, looking at a digital photo frame, have wondered: is it possible to display on it your own information that changes over time? Since I have been the owner of a photo frame for several years now, the same thought occurred to me - the frame would be perfect for displaying the weather forecast and information from a smart home. Read about how to implement such functionality without interfering with the design of the frame.
Implementation methods
The easiest way to control the image displayed on a digital photo frame is to simply switch pre-prepared images stored in its memory as needed. Here is an example of the implementation of this method. Obviously, this method is not very flexible - you can output one single variable number, and the process of changing this number will be quite slow.Thus, provided that it is impossible to disassemble the frame, all that remains is to use its external memory interfaces - SPI (for working with SD Card) and USB. It is enough to make a device that imitates an external drive, connect it to the frame - and it will itself request images from such a device. It is quite difficult to emulate an SD card using a microcontroller, and the form factor of the card itself is quite difficult to replicate. It would be possible to use a ready-made WiFi SD card, but all such cards that I know of were too expensive (>40$, which is close to the cost of the frame itself).
Using USB for solving this problem is more suitable - it’s not a problem to find a productive microcontroller with USB support; connection to the frame is carried out with a standard connector. Moreover, there was already a publication on Habré dedicated to emulating a USB drive using the stm32 microcontroller. In the comments to this article, the possibility of transferring dynamically changing data using this method was discussed. Because the operating system caches data when reading a file, there is no point in changing the contents of emulated files - the OS simply will not request them, since it will not be able to know that they have changed. However, photo frames do not cache files (they simply do not have the required amount of RAM)! You can check this by connecting any USB flash drive to the photo frame, with an LED blinking when reading files - it will blink constantly when reading files. Therefore, I decided to use this method.
Software part
I already had an STM32F4DISCOVERY development board, so I decided to check out the “emfat” library suggested in the above article. There were no problems with Windows 7, but the photo frame could not detect files on the “virtual” disk. As it turned out later, the Android tablet also did not detect the drive. Another Ubuntu computer detected the USB device but was unable to mount the drive.I had to look deeper into the problem. As it turned out, even though Windows detected the drive and could read files from it, TestDisk could not determine the file system on it:
Gradually, studying the results of the “raw” data produced by TestDisk, as well as delving into the source code of this program, I realized that one of the criteria by which TestDisk determines the file system used is the disk size. In emfat, the size of the emulated disk depends on the amount of data on it. Thus, if there are one or more small files on the disk, then the disk size will not exceed 16 MB. At the same time, FAT32 imposes restrictions on the minimum volume size - at least 65527 clusters. Considering that in “emfat” one cluster takes up 4096 bytes, then to comply with FAT32 the disk size should be 65527*4096 ~ 268MB. In reality, this is not the case, which causes errors when determining the file system type. An attempt to increase the disk capacity by increasing the size of the emulated file to 400 MB did not work - perhaps something else was not adding up. So I decided to remake "emfat" to emulate the FAT16 file system.
Ultimately, this was successful, and the drive began to be correctly detected by all devices:
It is worth noting that FAT16 also has a limitation on disk size - at least 4087 clusters, that is, 16 MB in this case. To fulfill this condition, you have to create a 20 MB virtual file in “emfat”.
Testing with the photo frame went well - the frame successfully displayed the test image stored in the controller's Flash memory. The next stage is the output of custom images. The easiest way to emulate BMP files is that they have a fairly simple structure; the image can be 256-color, i.e. There is one byte per pixel. But in this case, to store an 800*600 image you will need 480 KB of RAM. The microcontroller does not have such a memory capacity, which means there is only one option left - to form an image on the fly. The principle of operation is as follows - in the case when the host device requests data from a file from the drive, “emfat” calls the callback function corresponding to this file. This function receives the number of the sector from which data is requested and the pointer to which this data should be written. Knowing the sector number, you can determine which part of the image is requested and generate it.
During the experiments, an unpleasant fact was discovered - Windows can request data from sectors out of order. Why this was done is unclear, but it complicates the formation of an image on the fly, since it is necessary to calculate, using the sector number, which section of data is being requested at the moment. Another problem is that the lines in BMP files go from bottom to top, which further confuses the position calculation.
To display the text I used the mcufont library. It is convenient because it allows you to use compressed fonts, which significantly reduces the use of Flash memory. Since I used fairly large fonts, this feature is quite important.
This library directly writes the generated image into memory, so for the library to work, you have to allocate a separate array in RAM.
I also implemented drawing images from the controller memory. All images, like text, are displayed in black and white, due to which information about 8 pixels can be stored in one byte of the image. In order to convert ordinary images into a form suitable for connection to the project, the LCD Assistant program was used.
As a result, an image like this is formed on the connected USB drive:
Heading
After the operation of the program was tested on the STM32F4DISCOVERY, I made the device itself, which is a microcontroller with a WiFi module connected to it on an ESP8266. Of the suitable ones, I only had the STM32F107RCT7 controller.
The diagram of the resulting device was quite simple:
But due to restrictions on the size of the board - 17x36mm (I planned to install it in a ready-made case) and the large size of the controller, the printed circuit board was not the easiest to manufacture - double-sided, with parts mounted on both sides. At the same time, some power lines had to be wired.
View of the resulting board (in the process of debugging together with the ESP-01 module):
Given the indicated board sizes, the ESP-03 WiFi module was the most suitable. This is what the resulting board looks like with the module already installed:
And from the controller side:
During the experiments, it turned out that the sensitivity of the ceramic antenna was clearly not enough - the module had difficulty connecting to the router. After connecting a piece of wire 31 mm long to the WIFI_ANT pin, the sensitivity improved noticeably and became similar to the sensitivity of the ESP-01. The place where the photo frame is permanently installed is located a few meters from the router, and the module’s native antenna works normally there, so there is no additional antenna in the photo.
Since the ESP8266 got quite hot when constantly running, I decided to turn it on only during requests for information. Power control can be done using the CH_PD pin of the module. Setting this pin to 0 causes the ESP8266 to enter low consumption mode.
To make it more convenient to test the operation of the ESP8266, I wrote separate firmware for the microcontroller that implements the USB-UART bridge. It is through this that the module is configured to work with the router, so that after turning on the ESP8266 automatically connects to it.
The operating principle of the resulting device is quite simple - every 10 minutes the controller tries to request data from the server, and if this succeeds, it updates the weather data. Data on the current temperature and forecast for 3 days ahead are taken from the website openweathermap.org, information on the temperature outside and inside the balcony - from the majordomo server. At the same time, the photo frame requests an image every 6 seconds, while displaying current information. Since both processes can happen simultaneously, DMA is used to receive data from the ESP8266.
As a result, the following image is displayed on the photo frame: 
