My Own Digital Picture Frame – Part 2
So where am I with my digital picture frame? Not where I expected to be. I took me a little longer to get the mat made. I thought I’d try it myself – but it’s about $30.00 for the mat. If I mess it up – it’s garbage.
Oh here is the link to the first part of this post – That’s Soooo Geek! Making My Own Digital Picture Frame!
So I headed over to Michaels (Arts & Crafts Store) and had them create a custom mat for me. It will take about 5-7 days before I get it then (and only then) will I start cutting the backing where the LCD will be held along with the motherboard and other stuff.
The cost of the mat with all taxes is about $40.00 — twice as much as the frame!!! So this better come out good.
So total cost so far has been $23.00 for the frame, and around $38.00 for the mat for a total of $61.00. I have to spend a little more on plastic (or wood) risers so that I can mount the laptop and probably some additional stuff to ensure that the LCD stays in place. I figure another $20.00 – $50.00 (max) on the additional items.
The image to the just above is a mock-up of what it will look like when it’s done. The LCD is 12×9 so the frame is MUCH bigger than that, so what I decided is was to keep about 3″ from the top, left and right and center it there. I’ll put some random black and whites along the bottom as I’ve shown. This will keep things in balance, and hopefully look good.
The mat is white, can’t remember the exact color though but it is slightly off-white. Although I’ve shown color pictures along the bottom, they will probably be black and whites that I’ve taken of my son (those pictures are of my son).
I’m going to start loading software onto the hard drive this week, but first need to dig up my copy of Windows 2000 – it’s somewhere in a box as that is what I used on my old desktop.
I tried some sample placements of the frame, and found that I may need to create some flat cables for the LCD because of how everything fits together. I’m not using a heat sink, so I hope that the sucker doesn’t overheat… it shouldn’t.
I will also need to purchase a longer IDE cable because there will not be enough room for the HD otherwise. So while it won’t be as simple as I expected it to be – it’s slowly starting to come together!
I bought my son a new laptop, nothing extravagant for a 5-year old, it’s an Acer Aspire 5315 that I picked up on clearance from Staples. Brand new, and in the box for a measly $300.00. Sure it only has 512mb memory and 80gb hard drive — but for a kid that does nothing more than play around and watch Pingo on YouTube — worth every penny! The only upgrade that I plan on making is memory, from 512mb to 2gb as it is running Windows Vista Home (basic) – it runs OK but videos really crap out.
I bought a frame from Ikea for around $20.00 CDN (that’s like $20.00 US) and it will work perfect! I’m now installing software onto the 60gb HD and will start mounting shortly. I have to get a custom mat made for it as the display is 12″ x 9″ and the mat is 11.75″ x 11.75″ — just a tad too high but length was OK.
