Digital Picture Frame Hacking Roundup
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
With all the nice hacks on digital picture frames scattered around the web, I decided to put them all in one place for reference. Due thanks to all the hackers out there who put their work out for everyone to see. It’s the joy in reverse engineering. For some of the hacks I’ve included a compressed file with the code and webpage archived in case the original site goes down. If you are the author an would not like it, please let me know.
PHILIPS Picture Frames
[v]incent was able to display his images directly to the frame by writing a little script which prepends a binary header to the JPEG file. There is a detailed writeup on how he reverse engineered the picture frame format.
Detailed info:
- Models: 7FF1AW, 7FFICMI
- Webpage[Archive]
- jpg2frame Script
CEIVA Picture Frames
The CEIVA runs on a Cirrus Logic Maverick(EP7212) controller. It’s based on a ARM720T core with 2Mb Flash and 4Mb DRAM.
Initial hack done by [c]olin. The frame runs on Linux. Necessary patches and images are provided. [b]rad keeps a worklog here
New code can be loaded via a serial port on the PCB through a simple level converter.
Detailed info:
- Models : Not Specified
- Webpage
- Webpage and Code [Archive]
KeyChain Displays
[j]eroen from Spritesmods maintains a wiki of compatible keychain displays with his firmware hack. He and a couple of guys regularly update it with new displays. Most of the displays use the SITRONIX ST2205U controller in them. I tried my hand in doing the same with the Hannah Montana Vu-Me photo frame. I got close, but bricked it in the end.
Their code is maintained at Google code
Detailed info:
- Models:
- TomTec
- Coby DP-151SX/DPKEY
- HK unbranded
- Keypix
- Dealxtreme SKU5218
- Innovage
- Dig-291
- Innovalley
- Webpage
- Wiki
- Google code
DIGITAL SPECTRUM MemoryFrame
The MemoryFrames run on WindowsCE5. [r]etoor from mozy.org managed to crash the frame using a keyboard, mouse and following a sequence. The frame runs on an ARM920T – a 32bit Arm9 processor. The following is an excerpt from his “YouTube’s more info…” link:
…”Basically you need both the mouse and keyboard plugged in, scroll down past the “Settings” option, scroll back up, and click the word “Settings” with your mouse. There is no enter key on the keyboard so you have to click the mouse….”
Detailed info:
SAMSUNG SPF-83v Frames
The frame parses feeds and regular html pages for images and displays them. You can use the frame’s i-net-functions to serve it data.
[t]obe from Infolexikon uses PHP to gather data and writes it all to an image using gd. These images are then pushed to the frame at regular intervals.
Detailed info:
- Webpage
- Script-[Original][Archive] Thanks for the update [d]p
- Buy – Amazon
JUICEBOX Digital Frames
[j]oevennix managed to rip out the LCD from a Juicebox and enclose it in his own custom frame. He didn’t have the mp3 kit at that time( although you can get it online), so he soldered a SD card slot into the cartridge connector. His webpage is down. The following is an archive of his work.
Detailed info:
- Archive
If you find this interesting or have some new ideas or links on frames, please post in the comments. Don’t forget to Subscribe [email]for more followups and hacks. To get updates on this page, subscribe to the comments below.
