Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech.
Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics.
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Summary
- Raspberry Pi frame shows Telegram photos, videos, and voice notes on a 10.1" HDMI screen via 4G.
- It has a simple, four-button UI: previous message, hold-to-record reply, listen again, and next message — no touchscreen or menus.
- Grandma uses it daily; family messages pair photos with voice replies for simple sharing.
Some of the more ingenious projects I've reported on were born from limitations. While tinkerers will gladly load up their gadgets with as many features as possible, things change when they want to make something for someone who may not be as big of a tech geek as they are. Such is the case of this lovely Raspberry Pi project that allowed a grandma to keep up with the family's Telegram group with minimal interaction.
This Raspberry Pi-powered frame makes it easy to keep tabs on the family
It requires minimal interaction to use
This project comes to us via Jonalus, who posted about it over on the Raspberry Pi subreddit. Jonalus had a problem; they wanted to share photos and videos with their grandma, but she didn't have a smartphone. As such, Jonalus got to work creating a wooden picture frame housing a 10.1'' HDMI display, speakers, a Raspberry Pi 4, and a 4G dongle.
The goal was to allow family members to send their grandma everything they wanted to share, while still allowing her to reply to them in as simple a way as possible. Here's how Jonalus designed it:
"The family sends photos, videos and voice notes to a Telegram group with a bot. If you reply to a photo with a voice note, the frame pairs them, so she hears you telling the story behind it. Her buttons are previous, record (hold to talk, release to send her reply to the family), listen again, and next. There's no touchscreen or menus.
She's had it for a couple of weeks and uses it every day."
If you'd like to make your own, Jonalus was nice enough to share the source code over on GitHub. While this would make a fantastic gift for people who aren't huge on tech, I can imagine this also being a lovely set piece for a home office or living room. It's almost like an answering machine but for Telegram.