• Electronic pictureframe - a slideshow (sequential or random order) of pictures. Cycles indefinitely through a selected directory under a few basic user controlled parameters:
  • interval (between pictures)
• directory
• overlayed date stamp
• full-screen vs windowed mode
• stop/pause modes - "esc" terminates slide show, "space bar" pauses show
• Batch image processor - performs some basic but useful processing steps on all images in a directory. Useful for prepping pictures prior to sending out for digital prints, or for preparing pictures for use on a digital pictureframe:
  • resolution reduction
  • image compression (reduction in quality)
  • superimposed date stamp

Download the Medcosm Pictureframe program. It can be run as a GUI by double clicking on it or calling it as:

    java -jar pictureframe.jar

or it can be run from the command line using the syntax:
 
    java -Ddir=/pics -Ddelay=30 -jar pictureframe.jar
or
    java -Ddir=c:\\pictures -Ddelay=30 -Dborder=true -jar pictureframe.jar

The "-Dborder=true" will display the usual frame with minimize/maximize/quit buttons around the picture, otherwise the program displays images in full-screen mode.

The source code is released under the GPL and can be found here.

I whipped this up because I was building an electronic picture frame and couldn't find a simple program to just display full screen images after a pause.  Yes, 'zgv' does a similar feat without the JVM from a frame-buffer (eg, non-X-window) console, but the video didn't work on my old laptop even after I spent considerable time compiling static binaries and 'xzgv' doesn't have a slideshow.  There are plenty of other ways to do the software for an electronic picture frame (eg, scripting an image load into the background, lots of image viewer utilities that also have a slideshow mode, etc.), but I like the write-once-run-anywhere nature of Java, it works fine on my 10 year old laptop with pretty modest resources, and it didn't take very long to create. 

By the way, if you find the process of examining thousands of photographs so that you can extract some good ones for display in your electronic picture frame tedious, then look at the sparse file copier.

Cookbook steps for creating an electronic picture frame

DSL (DamnSmallLinux) is a natural for the pictureframe since it works well on pretty old (and inexpensive) equipment. My goal was to build some low-power low-maintainance, and low-cost systems filled with hundreds (or thousands!) of digital pictures that I have taken over the years. These systems are destined to be holiday gifts for those in the family who might appreciate such things. There are definitely more efficient ways to do this than the way I chose (using Java), but it does work well, so I don't feel the need to redo it at present. Here is a quick overview of the process:

1. Obtain an old laptop with adequate specs for DSL, java, and some pictures. I recommend a pentium laptop with 64MB and a 500MB or larger HD. Also a network card will make the installation a bit easier. A system like this is obsolete by almost any standards so you might be able to get it for free if you poke around. At worst case, you can probably buy such a system on-line for <$100.
2. Get a recent DSL distribution and create a bootable CD. If you are trying to install DSL to a laptop which has a network connection but doesn't have a CD try this.
3. Boot DSL from CD on the laptop.
4. Do an install of DSL to the laptop harddrive (see the DSL FAQ if needed), an extravagant install of this OS will take up < 200 MB and leaves plenty of space for pictures on my laptop, even though the HD is tiny at 810 MB!
5. Using the "enhanced desktop", the DSL panel will give you the option to install other modules... choose and install Java. It will download it off the net and automatically install it.
6. Download my pictureframe program.
7. Place your pictures in a directory on the laptop via FTP, or copy them from a CD.
8. Try running the pictureframe program to see that things work. It is executed with the command: java -jar pictureframe.jar
9. Make sure that screen blanking is off or else your pictureframe will go black after approximately 20 mintues. This problem can be infuriating since screen-blanking can arise from several different places:
   1. The BIOS - You might need to press ESC, F1, or DEL at boot time to get into the BIOS. Some systems have power-saving features including screen-blanking which will interfere with the performance of your electronic picture frame. Other systems need to run a special program to get into the BIOS settings. Didn't you Google for this type of thing before you bought the laptop?!?
   2. The linux kernel via APM or ACPI - The good news is that your blanking is software controlled, the bad-news is that there's an awful lot of software running in your obsolete-computer-turned-picture-frame. Here are some possibilities:
      1. xset s off
      2. xset s 0 0
      3. xset s noblank
      4. xset -dpms
      5. setterm -blank 0
      6. setterm -blank 0
      7. setterm -powersave off
      8. setterm -powerdown 0
10. Because we want this to be a pictureframe and not a linux-box which needs a login, the console login must be disabled. This can be done as follows:
    1. create the autologinuser program by compiling the following program. Because DSL doesn't have GCC included, I compiled this on a different machine and transferred it to the laptop via a USB flash drive.
       
       int main()
       {
       execlp( "login", "login", "-f", "UserNameGoesHere", 0);
       }
       
       (replace UserNameGoesHere with whatever user you want the pictureframe to run under) Compile with the command
       
       $ gcc -o autologinuser autologinuser.c
       
       if you get errors, then the system you are compiling on might have different libraries than your electronic picture frame. Consider doing the compile with the static flag ("-static") for a larger but more standalone binary.
       
    2. place the autologinuser binary in /usr/local/sbin on the laptop
    3. edit /etc/inittab and replace the line:
       1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
       with a new line such as:
       1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -n -l /usr/local/sbin/autologinuser 38400 tty1
11. You can edit the .xinitrc or similar file so that it runs the pictureframe automatically with the command java -Ddir=/pics -Ddelay=30 -jar pictureframe.jar or something similar. Now the box will boot, login, and run the pictureframe program automatically.
    

Comments

1. My initial goal was to burn DSL with pics to a CD so that the pictureframe doesn't need a harddrive. It can be done, but I didn't have the patience in mastering a new DSL disk with the needed resources. Besides, the CD would spin up and down every 30 seconds. I eventually bought an 810MB drive for <$20 and it has saved hours of hacking. But I'd still like to learn how to master a DSL CD with images, java, and this viewer.
2. For a completely silent solution, you can get DSL on a flash-RAM card and an IDE-Flash drive for <$80 right on the DSL site. Cool.
3. Email me if you find a better (simpler, cheaper, faster, cooler, warmer, or fuzzier) way to make an electronic pictreframe.
4. If you know what you're doing, the whole process can probably be done in an hour.
   

Putting DSL on a laptop which has a network connection, but no CD drive:

The following is from the www.damnsmalllinux.org forums (search for "tomsrtbt") but is shamelessly reproduced here to facilitate getting an OS on your pictureframe quickly:

Having read the many posts of how to install DSL with no cdrom using a hugh stack floppies, I wanted to createa a script using only one floppy.

I wanted to make a simple way to install DSL on older laptops that have NO CDROM.
I started by looking for a single floppy Linux distro with good pcmcia network support.
I have found that TOMSRTBT is very good. It works with several old pcmcia network cards.

The systems that I have used for testing have:

32MB memory
1.44 floppy drive
128MB HD
800x600 screen
Linksys PCMCIA network card model PCMLM56
Also works with Xircom RealPort2 Model R2E-100

I have written a tiny frugal_lite.sh. It is written in ASH shell.
It provides the traditional "poorman's" install and boot floppy creation via the net.

First you must download and create TOMSRTBT disk. (http://www.toms.net/rb/)
With your pcmcia card inserted try booting TOMSRTBT and see if network card is seen.

After booting up TOMSRTBT be sure to REMOVE the TOMSRTBT disk.

Look at the output of the ifconfig command. If you see your IP then you are ready to go.
If you see 1.1.1.1 then you must manually input your IP address. Like the following two lines:

ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.14 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.0.1

Then add your nameserver like this:
echo "nameserver xx.xx.xx.xx" >> /etc/resolv.conf

Next test your network setup by pinging an internet site.

If you made it here you are ready to go!
Next grab the frugal_lite.sh script like this:

wget http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/frugal_lite.sh

Now using fdisk create two linux partitions each large enough to hold DSL. I used 64MB to be safe. Could be smaller.

Format them by using:

mke2fs /dev/hda1
mke2fs /dev/hda2

Next place a GOOD (no bad sectors) floppy into the floppy drive.

Note: The hard drive partitons are NOT mounted. The floppy is NOT mounted.

Finally run the frugal_lite.sh like this:

./frugal_lite.sh

Follow the prompts.

Upon completion the system will reboot off the DSL boot floppy and start loading DSL.
Be sure to boot with the following:

boot: dsl vga=normal

Note: After you get your system running from boot floppy (poorman's) then you can install again into the other partition using the standard frugal_instal.sh giving you much more control of your system. Use the (L)ive CD install option as the poorman's is a virtual liveCD.

Or if the other partiton is large enough then do a regular dsl-hdinstall.

If you do this re-install into the other partition either frugal or full install then you can get rid of the poorman's by using fdisk to change it to
type 82 (swap) and then format it for swap by using the mkswap /dev/hdaX

Note that TOMSRTBT creates an ext2 partition for linux. After you get things working, you probably want to turn it into a journalling system to make it more robust. Use the tune2fs command to do this.
--------------------------------------
example

[boot tomsrtbt]
#fdisk /dev/hda to 2 partitions:
#hda1=64MB or more (must hold DSL then will become swap)
#hda2=rest of disk (256MB+)

#might have to config tcp/ip
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.66
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
echo "nameserver [NAMESERVERIP HERE, eg 1.2.3.4]" >> /etc/resolv.conf

wget http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/frugal_lite.sh
chmod a+x frugal_lite.sh
./frugal_lite.sh
#partition to hold ISO=hda2
#target partition=hda1
#be sure floppy has good 1.44MB disk for DSL boot disk

[boot floppy (poor-mans DSL, will run DSL from hda1)]
dsl-hdinstall (into hda2)
cfdisk hda1 type 83->82
mkswap hda1

reboot (DSL should boot from hda2)
[login as root]
tune2fs -j /dev/hda2
[using VI or something else, edit /etc/fstab and for /dev/hda2, change ext2 to ext3]
reboot


--------------------------------------

How it works:

It grabs the iso from net and temporarily stores it in a partition. It then moves the KNOPPIX folder to the other partition and creates the boot floppy, then iso is removed. System then reboots from boot floppy. Now you are running a poorman's. From there you have the following choices...

1. You are done! You have a poormans/boot floppy all from the net!

2. You boot up your poorman's DSL and run frugal_instal.sh into the now other empty partition. Then you don't need the boot floppy and you have a much more custom system.

3. If the other partition is large enough, then you can: Boot up from floppy and then do a full dsl-hdinstall into the empty partition.

The choice is your any of the three types. Depending on your hardware and/or choice.

For older systems it is best to boot using:

boot: dsl vga=normal

and for installing using options 2 or 3 it is best to use:

boot: dsl 2 vag=normal

Also when you have completed options 2 or 3 you can then change the poorman's partition into a swap partition. From the new DSL system, run cfdisk and change the proper partition from 83 ot 82. Then run mkswap on that partition. Reboot and you are all set.

I hope this helps get DSL on many older computers.

This program and page contents are provided without any warranty at all. Using anything here may make your hair fall out... or worse!