Digital Picture Frame with chatbot

Create a digital picture frame and connect it with a Rasbperry Pi. Control your slideshows and more with a Telegram chatbot.

Idea
1.1. Basic functions
1.2. Implemented so far
1.3. Todo next
1.4. Ideas for future extensions
Setup Raspberry Pi
2.1. Install Raspbian Jessie
2.2. Update Rasperry Pi configurations
2.3. Checkout this repository
2.4. Autostart Midori on boot

1. Idea

1.1. Basic functions

Digital Picture Frame is connected via HDMI to a Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi with Raspbian starts on Boot a fullscreen webbrowser
A chatbot based on python can be sent pictures and more
The python script generates a html page with the pictures
A slideshow of the images is played with javascript

1.2. Implemented so far

Fully documented setup the Raspberry Pi
Start a Fullscreen Browser
Generate and display an example slideshow

1.3. Todo next

Build the picture frame and document it
Chatbot

1.4. Ideas for future extensions

Switch the display on and off with either hdmi cec or with a relay controlled via the gpio interface
Turn on the screen while moving, a motion sensor is required
Show statutes and more with html pages
Play YouTube videos

2. Setup Raspberry Pi

2.1. Install Raspbian Jessie

2.1.1 Download Image

Downlad and unzip Raspbian Jessie with Pixel

2.1.2. Format your sd card

On Windows:

Download SDFormatter
Install Setup
Set fomat size adjustment to on
Format sd card

2.1.3. Install Image

On Windows:

Download Win32DiskImager
Install Setup
Choose Raspbian Jessie as Image File and your sd card as device
Write

2.1.4. Setup WiFi-Connection (optional)

With the Raspberry Pi Zero W or the Raspberry Pi 3 It is possible to establish a wifi connection without connecting any USB device. Two files must be created on the boot partition before the first boot. An empty file named ssh and a file named wpa_supplicant.conf with the following content:

network={
       ssid="wifi-name"
       psk="passowrd"
       key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

After the first boot, you can connect to the Raspberry Pi via a ssh client like Putty
ssh pi@raspberrypi
Password: "raspberry"

2.1.5. Update

Start the terminal and update your system:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y && sudo apt-get autoremove -y && sudo reboot

2.2 Update Rasperry Pi configurations

Enter the following command to change the Raspberry Pi settings:

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to 3 Boot Options, choose B1 Desktop / CLI and then choose B2 Console Autologin
If you have a black frame on your display, navigate to 7 Advanced Options, choose A2 Overscan and choose no

2.3 Checkout this repository

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Andre0512/PictureFrameBot

2.4 Autostart Midori on boot

2.4.1 Why Midori?

With a sample slide show, I tested the startup time with different browsers on my Raspberry Pi Zero W:

Chromium: 22,7s
Epiphany: 8,1s
Firefox: 30,1s
Midori: 5,3s

I choose the Midori browser because it was the fastest in my test scenario and was the easiest to configure for my project.

2.4.2 Install Midori

Install Midori Browser, matchbox as running environment and unclutter for hidding cursor from screen:

sudo apt-get install midori unclutter matchbox xautomation

2.4.3 Update browser setting

Execute this script to change the Midori settings:

sudo bash /home/pi/PictureFrameBot/midori-settings.sh

2.4.4 Start at boot

Autostart Midori at boot with Cron:

(cat /etc/crontab && echo "@reboot root xinit /home/pi/PictureFrameBot/start_midori.sh &") | sudo tee /etc/crontab

Andre0512/PictureFrameBot