Digital Picture Frames

TOC

• Introduction
• Inventory
• Log

Introduction

Inspired by this page, I'm now collecting old laptops to turn into digital picture frames. Since the cheapest one Froogle finds is US$200 (~A$266), I thought I might aim to be selling something with a more personal touch around half that, maybe even less for B&W.

Inventory

• Powerbook 500-series B&W, still just a laptop
• Powerbook 500-series Colour, still just a laptop
• IPC 486 B&W, still just a laptop
• Toshiba laptop, stripped and ready for frame
• Toshiba laptop.

Parts I don't need;

• A range of dead batteries.
• Netcomm CardModem V.34 (no dongle, untested)
• 24MB RAM upgrade for Toshiba T2130CT/520, working

See my Mac Aquarium page for spun-off Mac parts.

Log

2005.01.24

Finally got a Torx driver that fits the Powerbooks. Now I just need to find a good source of deep frames.

2004.12.07

I've done one PC, just need to find a frame. Shame it won't boot without the hard drive plugged in, but I guess it's quiet enough. And it's a lot of storage.

2004.11.17

Quick picture. Not as nice as I'd like because Photoshop is saying there isn't enough RAM. This could be the first time I've run the old thing since upgrading to a Gig, or maybe the install has corrupted, who knows.

Anyway, scored two more laptops, both colour PCs. One has a dead hard drive, both have dead batteries. None of which matters for this. Also, looks like the old black and white PC I got before might be able to read PCMCIA cards in DOS. A driver sets up letters at boot, but I couldn't get any joy with my 128MB CF card in an adapter -- might be formatted FAT32...

I'm now spoilt for choice and am not sure what I'll work on first. I want to get the software running before I strip anything because it's easier with the machines still vaguely laptop shaped. Probably the new PC with the dud hard drive will be the first one I look at, because I can unscrew it with tools I current own.

2004.11.17

I have sourced three laptops. Two Powerbooks, one colour, one black and white and a 486 which is also black and white. I don't currently have the Torx #6 screwdriver I need to pull apart the Macs, though the colour one almost doesn't need it. I won't promise pictures soon, because if I do they won't be posted until next year.

First thing I've noticed is that hard drive noise will be an issue. It's less of an issue for the Powerbooks as their hard drives are quieter, thanks to Apple's typical high quality. This is handy because I don't know how I would boot the Powerbooks without a hard drive. The 486 hard drive, however, is way too noisy. I can see that one losing the hard drive, booting from floppy and using a RAM disk.

My initial modification plan goes something like this:

• Lose the batteries.
• Pull apart the screen.
• Fold the screen over onto the bottom of the laptop.
• Put in frame.

Other designs have removed the keyboard, but I don't think that's necessary. Still others have completely stripped the machine out of its case, which I also believe is unnecessary. The shell is the best way of keeping things neat.