Let's eliminate analogue bulletin boards!

A few weeks ago I stepped over this article from Lifehacker where they explained how to make a digital picture frame from an old Laptop.

Picture from lifehacker.com

I have a few old laptops lying under my bed, waiting for better times and I thought I'd give it a try.

While I was wiping the dust of an old ThinkPad I thought about what to put on the device when I have it hanging on the wall.

I thought it would be best if I just display my Google Calendar on it and hang it near the door so I can have a look what I have planned today before I leave without having to boot up my computer.

"naked" ThinkPad

A couple of dozen screws later I was booting Debian from my first "victim"
and it was working like charm.

"naked" ThinkPad folded to a tablet-like thing

So I had a working digital picture frame that didn't cost me anything and I thought this would be perfect for the school I work for.

We were looking quite a while for information screens we can hang in school to inform students of certain things or just display random pictures of previous activities. The problem is that the 40'' screens needed are very expensive and also there has to be some wiring done and it needs to be controlled by a computer somehow.

These modified laptops were perfect for that. We could hang as many as we wish, we would reuse old hardware that would otherwise be junked and it wouldn't cost us much (or anything depending on how many laptops we can get).


The idea was good but I still needed to put something on those screens and it should be updateable from a central computer. So I wrote a Webservice with HTML5 and PHP.

This is what will be displayed on an Infoscreen (the design is oriented on Microsofts Metro):

"information screen" of a School

The tiles are dynamic. The empty ones change color from time to time and and they check every 15-30 seconds if there is new information available and if it is, an empty tile displays the new information.

If there is no empty tile one of the others fade out, change color and fade in with the new information.

The tile count is adaptive and changes depending on the resolution of the browser. But at least 3x3 tiles must be displayed at all times. If the browser window is smaller, scroll bars are displayed.

Same screen viewed in full-HD resolution

Some hard facts:

• Tiles change, the screen seems alive and not static
• Tiles can be edited, deleted and created with ease and all "information screens" change within seconds
• There are special (javascript powered) tiles that display the time and update quicker than the tile itself (count down)
• Tiles that have more information than they can show, scroll automatically
• Pictures can be displayed in tiles
• Tiles are placed and colored at random. If you hang two "information screens" next to each other they won't look the same
• The screen can also be embedded in web- and intranet sites
• Login can be required to gain access to the screen (google oAuth)

Use cases

• Information screens in corporations or schools
• Picture frame for your parents (you choose the pictures they see on their wall)
• Entertainment screens in visitor centres
• Infotainment screens in waiting rooms (hospitals or doctor's offices)
• (software only) To-do list on your PC (via active desktop even as desktop background)
• etc (end of thinking capacity)..

I hope I can hang the first screen this week in the school I work for and I'll keep you updated on this topic.

Here is a live version of the screen (needs a modern browser): live version