March 1, 2008

iBook Photo Frame



After fixing an iBook, my next plan was to change it into a digital picture frame. This is something that many people have done with every old laptop you can imagine. So I took the stripped down iBook, and completely disassembled the lcd screen, down to just the panel, and took some measurements for a frame. The closest frame I could find to the screen size is a 8.5 x 11 inch with a nice looking border. The screen fit well in this, but it would need a bit more room to fit the rest of the iBook. So a box that fits inside the frame was made and attached with screws to the sides. Small wood dividers hold the lcd in place, while adding some space for air flow. I also cut out the holes for various connections, air vents and for the optical drive. It all just perfectly fits snugly inside. The back cover is attached to the sides of the box by small blocks of wood, and puts some pressure on everything below it with. All it needs a quick paint job, probably black to match, but that is for another weekend.

The end result looks amazing. Another successful project, completed!

2 comments:

Efeion said...

Michael Moore said...

What software are you using to rotate your pictures?

I've done this before with Linux on other machines, but don't want to bother with an install since OSX is working fine.

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Efeion said...

I am just using the built in photo screensaver, as it look quite nice and is easy to setup to start after a minute or two of the frame being on. Oh and just using a preset folder makes adding photos easy.

You could also use iPhoto, but I found that to be a little more work then what I was looking for.