Introduction

LinDPF is a Linux-based Digital Picture Frame that uses a stripped down installation of the CentOS 5 GNU/Linux distribution with a minimal installation of X.org X11, ImageMagick and xcreensaver, plus some shell scripts to provide a basic management mechanism.  The intention of the project is to create a nice looking digital picture frame, using an old laptop that is otherwise useless to the owner due to processor speed, memory capacity and/or hard disk capacity.  The system requirements for LinDPF are aimed at being as low as possible so that the oldest laptops can be used.

To create a LinDPF system, the CentOS installation is modified to auto-login as root, run some scripts to import and manage pictures, start X as a non-root user and start xscreensaver.  Xscreensaver is configured to run a small list of xscreensaver hacks.  Currently, only images that are stored on the hard disk can be displayed, but support for Flickr and generic web server access are coming soon.  The system is controlled without the use of a mouse or keyboard, but rather with files that are placed on an external (typically USB) storage device that is read at boot time.  Refereces to this device on the LinDPF system and documentation are usually stated as the “thumb drive” because that is what I used when I build the first system.  Since CentOS uses udev, pretty much any external storage can be used, ranging from USB flash drives to most flash media cards to USB hard disks and even PC-card devices.

Any GNU/Linux distribution could be used.  But I chose CentOS because I use RedHat EL at work and so CentOS is perfectly familiar. As such, all of the documentation assumes you are using CentOS 5.

User Features

  • Auto-import images from USB storage or CD/DVDs during startup
  • Enable, disable or delete a set of imported images
  • Enable, disable or delete ALL sets of imported images at once
  • Show the names of the pictures in a set.
  • Show the names of the sets of imported pictures
  • Enable or disable the pre-loaded (included) pictures
  • Support for JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIF images
  • Shows image counts and disk space at startup

Admin Features

  • Provide pre-loaded (included) pictures
  • Update the system, scripts, etc via utility.sh

Todo

  1. Finish installation doc and format it so it’s readable on line
  2. Create a means to backup all the data
  3. DIY doc on building the frame (I took photos of the process during last one I built!)
  4. Flickr integration
  5. Generic web server integration