No Mirror = Awesome Daily Assistant Frame

TazDev

hey everybody,

after quite some while I finally can hang my ~~mirror~~ 2k Picture Frame :)
I love the whole project and am sure its even better when you don’t use it with the mirror feature :)

What you see here is an iMac 2010/2011 27" Screen with a 2k 2560x1440 resolution. It looks really nice even standing in front of it. I think this screen from Apple is the perfect fit. It’s powered by a Pi 4 2GB and inside the frame there is also an USB IR Touch Frame to control the system.

I also included a long ribbon camera band to expose behind the frame and print a housing for it. Serves for face recognition and photo booth in the future.

So much more is planned with this system and I wanted to thank everyone doing the magic software stuff like OS and plugins :)

More pictures to follow if needed

The Build

TazDev

Overview Parts

TazDev

Put everything together

Rayvenhaus

I bloody love it!! Looks beautiful. A couple of questions;

How much trouble did you have disassembling the monitor?
Where did you get your frame from?
Are you using WiFi or Ethernet for the internet connection?

TazDev

@Rayvenhaus

thank you very much. its really an eye-catcher in the kitchen.

How much trouble did you have disassembling the monitor?
» none, iMacs are easy to disassemble, see here

Where did you get your frame from?
» designed and build it with my neighbor myself

Are you using WiFi or Ethernet for the internet connection?
» wifi in this case and its working flawlessly, I have a good mesh network in my home already

more fotos from inside

TazDev

Cost Overview

iMac Screen 27" with Front Glas, 2k from 2009 to 2011: depends where you harvest it: from 50€ to 300€
Driver Board: ~60€, ebay
USB Touch Frame: ~70€ in this size, from aliexpress or ebay
Raspberry Pi 4, 45€, good times ;)
Pi Aluminum Case: 12€, ebay
Pi Power, Slim Version: 11€, amazon
Pi Camera Extension Flexcable Ribbon 30cm, black: ~5€
HDMI Cable Pi to Driver Board: 5€
Power Extension, 3 slots, Slim Version: 7€, ebay
Wood for Frame, Oak 2x 120x26x1,5cm: 40€, ebay
(todo) Playstation PS3 Move Camera and Mic Array, USB: 5€, ebay
(todo) Pi Camera: ~25€

OberfragGER

@TazDev …Looks nice so far.
Can you provide a front-picture of the assembled Frame?

What do you want to do with the move cam, Mic-Array and PI-Cam?

TazDev

@OberfragGER

sure, here you go, still WIP, I need to fix 2 borders and decide if I want to paint it black.

the camera from the playstation move is deactivated, I removed everything and try to use the mic array inside the frame. I want to use it for voice stuff, but honestly the touch frame with MMM-Touch is already awesome to control.

the PI Cam should be used for face recognition & photo booth fun with guests.

also I try to add PS3 Controllers and use the Screen as a retro game console in the kitchen.