iBook Clamshell to Digital Picture Frame
Written by Rick Warren   
Tuesday, 10 August 2004

I started out with an iBook Clameshell, a $30 picture frame, and $5 of balsa wood.

 

First step was to work out what parts I would need from the ibook.

Then I had a box of  left over bits.

I then used a hot glue gun, to glue the display to the matting of the picture frame. I just glued over the corners of the display.

I then used the balsa wood to make a box around the picture frame, to house the logicboard. I moved the standoffs to the other side of the logic board, to keep it off the display. I cut out a hole for the DC-in board to go through, and also a hole for a USB extender cable to go through.I put this piece in last. I worked out you need the external sound board, so the internal speaker will work. I have installed an airport card, and the antena in the box.

A bit of special tape to keep all the cables in order. Now before you put the back of the picture frame on, make sure you drill a hole in the cover, above the power button. I worked this out, after I glued it on the first time.

I have 10.3.4 installed, and am using Apple Remote Desktop, to control it. Just copying over several folders full of pictures over. It is set to start up at 5pm and shut off at 11:30pm each day. The screen saver comes on after 3 minutes, and goes through the folders of pictures.

I get many visitors, asking how I get the picture to change, or how I got a back light behind the picture. It is much brighter then this picture shows. I hope this helps many iboos to live a bit longer life.




Comments (4)
22-08-2008 04:34
 
Still running fine. Running OSX 10.3
Guest
 
Rick Warren
16-05-2008 16:57
 
Possible fire hazard?
Guest
 
Franklin
16-03-2008 14:47
 
i am building a stand alone digital picture one that can be operated with our a computer to assist beyond the one inside of it, i have looked into many operating systems that can do this. 
 
any suggestions
Guest
 
What is the best stand alone o
26-04-2007 18:38
 
What about the heat sink
It looks as though you've eliminated the main heat sink, and I wonder (three years on) if that's caused any problems. 
Other sites warn pretty strenuously about this, and I wonder how much it matters for this application. 
 
I'm doing a similar project using ubuntu for the os.
Registered
 

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