So I think I finally have this photoframe working properly.
Over the past several days, I’ve been trying to get the wireless card working. I was worried that spending only $20 on a wifi card would be a mistake, and that a more expensive card would be a better investment.
On the one hand, that’s true, as there are many wifi cards that don’t work with Ubuntu.
But on the other hand, if I had managed to buy a wifi card that worked without any problems, I wouldn’t have learned so much about Ubuntu.
The process of getting this particular wifi card to work in Ubuntu was nothing short of exasperating, but I think I finally did it.
The solution, it seems, was to re-install Ubuntu and install the Windows XP drivers found on the CD that came with the card. Now I could swear I tried that already and it didn’t work, but this time the Linux gods were nice to me.
So far, I have a working laptop sans frame that can (finally) reliably connect to the internet. When the system boots, it automatically loads the Firefox browser full-screen and opens to a Google homepage which contains only calendar, weather forecast and radar widgets. I’ll have access to an on-screen keyboard as well, to allow text input with just a mouse/touchpad.
The system is also accessible via VNC so I can adjust it remotely from the other computers in the house. This will make changing settings much easier once it’s all built.
Stuff left to do:
- Buy the frame
I’ll have to pick a solid wooden frame with a wide border, and will most likely have to build the back panel from scratch for securely mounting the laptop guts.
- Attach the touchpad (so access to the keyboard isn’t required) – I’d like to either make the touchpad hidden from view unless needed (like having it slide out from behind the frame, or maybe even create a hinged section of the frame border itself with the touchpad mounted on the back surface, so it’s accessible by flipping down the hinged piece of the frame.
I’ll post pictures later.