Software
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First,
you'll need to head over to the DSL
website and download the latest iso of Damn Small Linux and
burn it to CD. It's about 50MB so I'll wait.....Oh good your back.
Preparing the Disk
Boot
the DSL liveCD. You should be at a boot command line where you can
press F2 for more options. For my install I chose the following, your
mileage may vary.
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| #
fb800x600 noscsi nousb noagp noswap noapm noapic nomce noddc expert |
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A bit of booting you should get a screen that asks
how you want to run X (Xvesa or Xfbdev). Since this is old hardware
it’s safer to choose Xfbdev. Next you’ll be asked
if you have a USB mouse, if you do you shouldn’t have booted
with the nousb option, select no. You’ll now be asked if you
have an IMPS2 mouse. I selected no, IMPS/2 is a Microsoft
scroll mouse. Most mice run on the PS2 port so select PS2 at the next
screen and then 2 buttons.
After a bit if all goes well X will start then
you’ll see fluxbox run and your now running DSL off the CD.
Now, we have to get it onto the harddrive.
If you’ve never used fluxbox before
here’s the basics: Right click on the
‘desktop’ to get your menu and work from there. You
shouldn’t have to fiddle with the slit on the bottom. If you
think this interface is really cool and you’d like to have it
for you windows machine then goto to www.bb4win.org
it’s sister ‘blackbox’ has been ported to
the windows platform and it’s got some extras. I’ve
been using it at home since the first alpha.
Linux really doesn’t like it if you
shutdown the computer by pulling the plug. In fact, you may end up with
an umountable file system the next time you start up. So,
we’re going to make the filesystem read-only. That way
there’s no chance of Borking the filesystem by pulling the
plug. Of course from time to time we’ll want to add pictures
to our frame so we’ll need two partitions. One for DSL and
antoher for data.
Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get TTY1 terminal and type
the following
# sudo passwd root
# su
# cfdisk |
You’ll now be in the cfdisk editor.
You’ll want to delete and partitions that currently exist,
then create following three primary partitions
hda1 bootable 60MB
[NEW] [PRIMARY] Size (in mb) : 60 [Beginning] Bootable
hda2 10mb
[NEW] [PRIMARY] Size (in mb) : 10 [Beginning]
hda3 rest of drive
[NEW] [PRIMARY] rest of disk
| Create the Filesystems |
# mke2fs /dev/hda1
# mke2fs /dev/hda2
# mke2fs /dev/hda3 |
Install
DSL
Now, reboot the computer and at the boot prompt type
Select option: 4
Target Partition: /hda1
Install from [l] : livecd
reboot
feh,unclutter,backup/restore,
ssh,scripts
feh/unclutter
There's few ways of getting feh and unclutter
1. Using the menu items Enable
Apt > Apt-get install feh unlcutter dpkg-tools
Then use deb2dsl to create a .dsl package
Save the .dsl to the root /hda2
use Mydsl and do a load local
2. wget http://www.frontiernet.net/~pictureframe/mydsl/feh.dsl
wget
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pictureframe/mydsl/unclutter.dsl
There's a feh.unc available using the mydsl
repository but I haven't tested this method yet.
Use method 2 I've already done the hard part for you
#
sudo mount /dev/hda2
# cd
/mnt/hda2
# sudo wget
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pictureframe/mydsl/feh.dsl
# sudo wget
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pictureframe/mydsl/unclutter.dsl
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Use the MyDSL tool and select "load local"
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ssh/grub - Custom Boot Command Line Variables
Since we'll be using ssh to be able to remote into the machine and run
from a command line we'll need to set up a password for our users. DSL
ships with the following users: root, dsl. Without this you won't be able to
ssh into your machine!
#
sudo passwd root
follow
the prompts and choose a password for root
# sudo
passwd dsl
follow the prompts and choose a
password for dsl
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THIS
NEEDS TO BE DONE FROM A LIVE-CD BOOT. You can't mount or remount the
drive you've booted from. I.E. you can mount a currently active
partition
To make your root drive read-only you'll need to mount and modify your
grub command line and
#
sudo mount /dev/hda1
# sudo mount /dev/hda1 -o remount,rw
#
cd /mnt/hda1
#
sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst
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remove the frugal
boot option
add root=/dev/hda2 pictures=/path/to/pictures
scripts=/path/to/scripts to the line under
fb800x600 that starts with "kernel"
Under Timeout option type
hiddenmenu
| /boot/grub/menu.lst |
default
0
timeout 0
hiddenmenu
title DSL fb800x600
kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2 quiet vga=788 atapicd noideraid
nosound noapic noacpi acpi=off noscsi noapm nofirewire noagp
nomce
pictures=/mnt/hda3/Pictures scripts=/mnt/hda3/scripts
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| This is my low memory minimal boot (WATCH
FOR LINE WRAPPING) |
Backup/restore
Now because we've chosen a frugal install its like runnin off the CD
everytime so we have to backup/restore our changes. Luckily DSL has a
utility to do this and it's called Backup/Restore.
In the fluxbox menu it can be found in System > Backup/Restore
start the utility and enter hda2
as the backup/restore location and click backup
In order for the frame to be bulle-proof you'll need to do a successful
backup first.
The
backup restore utility, backs up based on the .filetool.lst and the
default it to backup everything in your home directory! Do not put
large files in your home directory /home/dsl/* and whatever you do DO
NOT map shared drives to a directory located in your home directory as
the backup utility will go out and backup all the files on that shared
drive!
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This is what makes it a picture
frame, the scripts.You can
spend them to type these out by hand or just use your favorite method
(dillo,wget,etc) to save the copies I've provided in the scripts
directory.
Depending on the version of DSL you have you may first want to compare
the files and find the differences, lest my copy breaks something new.
I've highlighted in Red the new stuff |
| /opt/bootlocal.sh |
#!/bin/bash
# put other system startup command here
mount
/dev/hda3
sudo
mount /dev/hda3 -o remount,ro
loadkeys us
/etc/init.d/ssh
start
/opt/myiwconfig.sh
#
for usb automount and copy
mount
/dev/sda1
/mnt/dev/sda1/autorun.sh
sudo
umount /dev/sda1
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| this script mounts the picture partition
read-only, starts sshd and runs the script to configure the wireless
card |
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| ~/.xinitrc - file is hidden so to use 'ls -a' to show hidden files |
#
put X windows programs that you want started here.
# Be sure to add at the end of each command the &
KEYTABLE="$(getknoppixparam.lua KEYTABLE)"
DESKTOP="$(getoption.lua $HOME/.desktop wm)"
ICONS="$(getoption.lua $HOME/.desktop icons)"
. /etc/init.d/dsl-functions
CMDLINE="$(cat
/proc/cmdline)"
PICTURES="$(getbootparam
pictures)"
[ -d "$PICTURES" ] || PICTURES="/var/Pictures"
SCRIPTS="$(getbootparam scripts)"
[ -d "$SCRIPTS" ] || scripts="/home/dsl/scripts"
# For non-US Keyboards
if [ ${KEYTABLE:0:2} != "us" ]; then
xmodmap -e "clear Mod4" -e "add Mod5 = Mode_switch" &
fi
#if egrep -qv noicons /proc/cmdline 2>/dev/null; then
if [ "$ICONS" == 1 ]; then
for x in `ls -1 .xtdesktop/*.hide 2>/dev/null`; do rm
-f ${x%.*}; done
iconsnap.lua &>/dev/null &
xtdesk.sh
fi
#dillo
/usr/share/doc/dsl/getting_started.html &>/dev/null
&
torsmo 2>/dev/null &
xset
s off
noblank
xset
s off
"$SCRIPTS"/cron_start_frame.sh
&
case $DESKTOP in
fluxbox )
fluxter &>/dev/null
&
wmswallow -geometry 70x80
docked docked.lua &
exec fluxbox
2>/dev/null
;;
jwm )
./.background
sleep 2
exec jwm 2>/dev/null
;;
* )
exec fluxbox 2>/dev/null
;;
esac
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| this script is called at the startup of
X-windows and calls the script to start the slideshow |
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| ~/.bash_profile - file is hidden so to use 'ls -a' to show hidden files |
#!/bin/bash
export IRCNICK=DSL
export DISPLAY=:0
SSH=`env | grep SSH_CONNECTION`
RUNLEVEL=`runlevel|cut -f2 -d' '`
if [ -z "$SSH" ]; then
if [ $RUNLEVEL -eq 5 ]; then
startx
fi
fi
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| The "export DISPLAY=:0" line is very
important. With out this line, any
scripts run from a remote ssh connection will not show on the display. |
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| ~/.filetool.lst - file is hidden so to use 'ls -a' to show hidden files |
opt/ppp
opt/bootlocal.sh
opt/myiwconfig.sh
opt/powerdown.sh
opt/.dslrc
opt/.mydsl_dir
home/dsl/
/etc/ssh/
/etc/shadow
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| This is used by the backup/restore utility
to tell it what directories to backup/restore. |
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| /opt/myiwconfig.sh |
#!/bin/sh
#
# Script to set up wireless card
# beakmyn@frontiernet.net
#
# Set display so that script will effect the local screen
export DISPLAY=:0
sudo iwconfig eth0 essid "Your Essid" enc DE:AD:BE:EF:41
#sudo ifconfig eth0 10.10.0.10
#sudo route add default gw 10.10.0.1
sudo pump -i eth0
exit 0
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| This is used to automatically configure the
wireless at boot |
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The Scripts
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The following scripts/text are copied
from The Warehouse
and are localized.
In his version he uses CRON to start/stop the picture show at a given
time, if you're interested in that take a look. I won't go into that
here, although it's a trivial operation. I've kept the same filenames
for portability. |
| $SCRIPTS/cron_start_frame.sh |
#!/bin/sh
#
# Script to run Digital Picture Frame using Feh
# drware@thewares.net
# Modified to add boot command line beakmyn@frontiernet.net
# Change number below to the duration, in seconds
# for each photo to be displayed
#DELAY="300"
# hide the cursor after 15 seconds
/usr/X11R6/bin/unclutter -idle 15 &
. /etc/init.d/dsl-functions
CMDLINE="$(cat /proc/cmdline)"
PICTURES="$(getbootparam pictures)"
[ -d "$PICTURES" ] || PICTURES="/var/Pictures"
SCRIPTS="$(getbootparam scripts)"
[ -d "$SCRIPTS" ] || scripts="/home/dsl/scripts"
# Start slide show
/usr/bin/feh -qzrZF -D 120 "$PICTURES" &
# Phone home and sync
#"$SCRIPTS"/rsync.sh
exit 0
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| this script mounts the picture partition
read-only, starts sshd and runs the script to configure the wireless
card |
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| $SCRIPTS/cron_reload_frame.sh |
#!/bin/sh
#
# Script to run Digital Picture Frame using Feh
# drware@thewares.net
#
# Change number below to the duration, in seconds
# for each photo to be displayed
#DELAY="300"
# Set display so that the script will effect
# the screen on the frame
export DISPLAY=:0
. /etc/init.d/dsl-functions
CMDLINE="$(cat /proc/cmdline)"
PICTURES="$(getbootparam pictures)"
[ -d "$PICTURES" ] || PICTURES="/var/Pictures"
SCRIPTS="$(getbootparam scripts)"
[ -d "$SCRIPTS" ] || scripts="/home/dsl/scripts"
# Stop the currently running Slide show
"$SCRIPTS"/kill.sh feh
sleep 10s
# Start slide show
feh -qzrZF -D 120 "$PICTURES" &
exit 0
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| The cron_reload_frame.sh script is used to
restart the slide show on
the frame via cron. Restarting the slide show will add any new photos
that have been copied to the frame to the presentation. |
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| $SCRIPTS/manual_restart.sh |
#!/bin/sh
#
# Script to run Digital Picture Frame using Feh
# drware@thewares.net
# Modified to add boot command line beakmyn@frontiernet.net
#
# Set display so that the script will effect
# the screen on the frame
export DISPLAY=:0
. /etc/init.d/dsl-functions
CMDLINE="$(cat /proc/cmdline)"
PICTURES="$(getbootparam pictures)"
[ -d "$PICTURES" ] || PICTURES="/var/Pictures"
SCRIPTS="$(getbootparam scripts)"
[ -d "$SCRIPTS" ] || scripts="/home/dsl/scripts"
# Stop the currently running Slide show
"$SCRIPTS"/kill.sh feh
clear
echo ""
echo -n "Enter the number of seconds for photo rotation"
echo -n "and press [ENTER]: "
read var_seconds
echo ""
/usr/bin/feh -qzrZF -D $var_seconds "$PICTURES" &
exit 0
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| The manual_restart.sh script is used to
restart the slide show from the
command line. The script asks for input on the duration in seconds that
each photo should be displayed. |
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| $SCRIPTS/dir_frame.sh |
#!/bin/sh
#
# Script to run Digital Picture Frame using Feh
# drware@thewares.net
# Modified to add boot command line beakmyn@frontiernet.net
#
# Set display so that the script will effect
# the screen on the frame
export DISPLAY=:0
. /etc/init.d/dsl-functions
CMDLINE="$(cat /proc/cmdline)"
PICTURES="$(getbootparam pictures)"
[ -d "$PICTURES" ] || PICTURES="/var/Pictures"
SCRIPTS="$(getbootparam scripts)"
[ -d "$SCRIPTS" ] || scripts="/home/dsl/scripts"
# Stop the currently running Slide show
"$SCRIPTS"/kill.sh feh
clear
echo ""
echo -n "Enter the number of seconds for photo rotation "
echo -n "and press [ENTER]: "
read var_seconds
echo ""
echo "Available options for the directory are:"
ls "$PICTURES"
echo ""
echo -n "Enter the directory of photos to display and "
echo -n "press [ENTER]: "
read var_dir
echo ""
/usr/bin/feh -qzrZF -D $var_seconds "$PICTURES"/$var_dir &
exit 0
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| The dir_frame.sh script is used to restart
the slide show from the command line and will ask you which sub
directory to display. |
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| $SCRIPTS/kill.sh |
#!/bin/bash
if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
PROCESS=$1
PIDS=`ps -ax | grep $PROCESS | sed -e "s/.*killp.*//"
-e "s/ *\([0-9]\{1,6\}\) .*/\1/" | grep -v "^$"`
if [ ! -z "$PIDS" ]; then
echo Killing $PROCESS pid=$PIDS
kill -9 $PIDS
else
echo No process $PROCESS in process list
fi
else
echo Usage : $0 process_name
fi
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The kill.sh script is called by other
scripts so the slide shows can be stopped and restarted.
Beakmyn's
Note:
This script isn't the prettiest when it runs as it doesn't quite remove
unneeded text and results benign error output |
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| root
of usb drive autorun.sh assumes pictures are on /mnt/hda3/Pictures |
#!/bin/bash
echo Found USB Memory
sudo mount /dev/hda3 -o remount,rw
cd /mnt/sda1/
echo Updating Pictures
cp -u -r *.jpg /mnt/hda3/Pictures/
cd /
sudo
mount /dev/hda3 -o remount,ro
echo File
Copy Finished
exit 0
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| This is Beta script to automatically
copy files from a USB memory drive to the picture drive. You must have
the drive inserted at boot up as bootlocal.sh initiates it. |
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Getting Pictures to the frame
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I use PuTTY on my windows machine to ssh into my
DPF and then I mount a Network
File
System
share to a shared drive on my windows machine. I use NFSAxe on the
windows machine to provide a simple NFS server environment. To mount
the share
#
sudo mkdir /mnt/tmp
# sudo
mount -t nfs 192.168.0.1:/pictures /mnt/tmp
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Now /mnt/tmp is mapped to the shared folder in NFSAxe so you can copy
the pictures your picture partition (/mnt/hda3/). The "free" version of
NFSAxe will only run for 30 minutes which is usually enough time to
copy your pictures over. If you were to purchase it you could
conceivably mount the NFS share in a subdirectory of your picture
partition and feh would grab pictures from it!
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So that's pretty much it. You should now a
picture frame that runs at
boot-up automatically and you can pull the plug without worry about
corrupting your installation.
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