Building Echo Show Alternative

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1

I am working on building an Echo Show 15 alternative. There are things about the ES 15 I like but think I can improve on with HA. I want a touch screen display that is bigger than 10in

Pros of ES15

  1. 15in touch screen display for dashboard (kind of)
  2. Picture Frame mode
  3. Music interface (use Bluetooth to receiver)
  4. voice commands

Cons of ES15

  1. Dashboard does not stay up (need several steps to open)
  2. Amazon advertisements
  3. limited widgets
  4. have to use Amazon Photo
  5. widgets are always on screen

I have purchased this touch screen monitor.

I have some small PCs laying around. A few pi3B, pi4, Intel NUC. Currently I’m using the pi4 with Raspberry Pi OS to access HA. The dashboard works great and is always on. Its quick to respond and is very clear. I have tried to use a screen save to display photos when not in use but haven’t found anything that looks like a photo frame. I will eventually build a frame to make it look like a picture is the plan.

I’m looking for ideas and maybe some help. The current challenge is trying to find a way to display photos as a picture frame. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

https://www.google.com/search?q=raspberry+pi+picture+frame

3

I have Dynaframe installed and it works great. What I am trying to figure out is how to get it start without rebooting. I can exit it with an http request but I can’t figure out how to get it to start without rebooting.

4

I have Dynaframe installed and it works great. What I am trying to figure out is how to get it start without rebooting. I can exit it with an http request but I can’t figure out how to get it to start without rebooting

5

Dynaframe looks good. Does this help? Dynaframe - a Feature Rich Photo / Video Frame! : 6 Steps - Instructables

6

@nickrout I just tried the link and it said it is temp unavailable and to try again later. I was able to get the photos to work buy using a chrome extension app caller Photo Screen Saver .

Photo Screen Saver works great and it lets me use photos from chromecast, and my own photos as well as a few other. My next step will be to figure out what I want to use for Music. I am currently using the Spotify integration with custom mini media player card but I would like to figure out something with more features.