Hacking a Digital Picture Frame?

[ComputerWizKid]

I have a digital picture frame that someone gave me because the DC jack was broken (Which I fixed) I have no use for it and I was wondering if anybody has hacked these things
I have no idea of what to do with it? (Anyone have an idea?) However it does have a nice 7" LCD Screen Widescreen I think
The company that made it is OOB (How surprising NOT!)
Here are some pictures of the innards

I connected to my PC and Windows 7 installed the drivers for an "Alcor USB Flash Device" AKA Mass Storage Device Driver with 128MB of internal memory

So if the ATHT (AnandTech Highly Technical) Crew could give me any ideas that would be cheap and easy that would be great (I mostly want a giant clock/Thermometer) But I don't think I can do that easily


Thanks

 

[CycloWizard]

I'm not really sure what type of signal the LCD expects, but if it's something like I2C, then you could easily set it up as a clock/thermometer using an Arduino with the I2C library. Just connect up a temperature sensor (less than $1) and you'll be ready to go. If you want to do it without a microprocessor, good luck.

 

[ComputerWizKid]

I'm not really sure what type of signal the LCD expects, but if it's something like I2C, then you could easily set it up as a clock/thermometer using an Arduino with the I2C library. Just connect up a temperature sensor (less than $1) and you'll be ready to go. If you want to do it without a microprocessor, good luck.

Is there an easy way to find out what kind of signal the LCD expects?

Here is a closeup of the LCD Connector

 

[CycloWizard]

Is there an easy way to find out what kind of signal the LCD expects?

Here is a closeup of the LCD Connector

Not really sure. You'd have to look up the part number for the controller and check the data sheet I think.

 

[ComputerWizKid]

I could not find the datasheet for the controller however I did find the datasheet for the LCD

The LCD expects an analog signal

Here is a link to the datasheet (PDF)

 

[CycloWizard]

Looks scary. I'm afraid that's well above my paygrade. Someone here can probably help you, but it's not me.

 

[Modelworks]

It is basically useless for anyone not willing to spend a hell of a lot of time getting it to work. The chipset is most likely by amlogic, they make a lot of frames for companies like pandigital. The chipset is application specific meaning it contains all the hardware to control the screen, the ports, and what can be done. The LCD used are generally controllerless with the chipset doing everything internally. The problem is amlogic and others are not hobby friendly and as such release zero information like datasheets.

If you wanted to use the display with another controller you need something like an ARM core cpu because you will need to typically drive 24 different lines, RGBx8 , usually with LVDS type signalling. You might also have to supply bias power supplies to the LCD and any other support functions it requires.

It really isn't something I would attempt, and I have been and EE for 20+ years. It just isn't worth it for the result when screens that size with full datasheets and interface circuits are available.



Couldn't download the pdf of the lcd at first. So everything applies about what I said except the signaling interface.
The LCD is using analog for the color information but digital for clocking in that data to the correct locations to form each line, very similar to how older crt monitors did it. The easiest way to use the display would be hacking into the amlogic chip and changing the firmware, the next best option is using a controller chip to do the work. The problem with just using another chip like a ARM core by itself is the color information is analog and you will have to output digital colors, convert that to analog then send it to the display, the analog color really makes it more complicated. I would try to use the existing hardware with new firmware , otherwise you are looking at having to put together multiple chips to do the interface.