​​DIY Photo frame

The new year holidays gave me some free time to build a DIY photo frame. We had a smaller google device but needed something bigger and also wanted better control over the photos displayed.

This is the current set up for the photo frame. I followed instructions from https://www.thedigitalpictureframe.com/ to set up the device. The site has a ton of information and is not the easiest to navigate but by the end of the project I found good leads on what I needed to do.

Hardware is a Raspberry Pi 3 with a 15.6" Portable Monitor for the display. They are connected via an HDMI port. I had a spare Pi and hence my cost was the monitor which was around $80 and labor (arguably free).

Software setup and configuration is not trivial for noobs. For most people, I'd recommend a photo frame appliance like Aura. Their 15" models cost around $300 though. This option might be cheaper, but if you end up adding costs to build a good case then it's likely comparable. As a software engineer though, having bare wires in the drawing room feels like a good aesthetic. Let's see how long before anyone else in the house objects.

The base operating system is the Debian-derived Raspberry PI OS. For sharing pictures to the device, samba is set up for file sharing over the local network. The primary photo software is pictureframe. Picture frame loads the photos from the configured folder and displays them based on configuration. After booting up, the Pi automatically starts the pictureframe service which shows the photos in a loop and feels like any other regular digital photo frame.

Advantages of the software are-

• Control over images being displayed. You can select images and share those with the device to be shown.

• Support for multiple galleries. We have a bug folder with the kid's favorites and another one for the family pics. These are just folders in the folder and you can switch based on the mood.

• There are many effects for displaying photos like blending, showing full screen, or a border mat, or motion called ken burns effect

• Photo metadata like location, date, etc can be added.

• Additional metadata like a clock can be added.

• There are advanced features like remote control and automation that I still need to experiment with. Since you are also running a Pi with Linux, you also have access to the Pi extensions like light sensors, or rclone for cloud syncing of photos.

Essentially you get a lot more control than a closed appliance, if you have basic Linux administration capabilities (and patience).

I still have many follow-up tasks on the project to be done.

• Power controls to automatically turn off the monitor are not working.

• Switching of photo galleries is manual via ssh commands. This needs to be made accessible for the family. Maybe some phone app or automation extension.

• Maybe make a wooden frame to hide the wires and give it a respectable look.

• There are currently two independent power supplies to the pi and display. Have to see if those can be integrated somehow.

The current state of the project was a good enough improvement for the family. This is also one of the few times my wife finds my profession useful, so that's another way to showcase some skills. Next, I've got to be able to get sponsorship for additional single function smart frames.