Digital picture frame file systems - FAT or NTFS on SD card

Wow, it took me a lot longer to load some pictures on some digital photo frames than it should have.  We have two digital photo frames - one that someone gave us and one that we just bought.  The one someone gave us is a few (??) years old.  It had a 2 GB SD card in it with 172 photos.  I just wanted to add 100 photos and be done.  No problem!

Turns out I could only add about 20 more before I got an error: "The root of drive F:\ is formatted with FAT file system and can only store a limited number of items, store in a sub-folder or reformat the drive using NTFS file system ".  After doing some reading online, only the oldest FAT format has this limitation, but FAT32 does not.  And since I wasn't positive that the frame supported NTFS.  I decided to format the SD card as FAT32 (after backing up all the files of course).

I formatted the SD card as FAT32, was able to add back all 272 files, and view them all on the older frame.  That was great, but I wanted to see how much better they would look on the new frame.  So I took the SD card out of the old frame and put it in the new frame.  Hmmmm..... the new frame is not recognizing the SD card. Well, since the frame is new and FAT is an old file system format, I figured maybe I need to format the card as NTFS for the new frame.

Now I formatted the SD card as NTFS and added back all 272 pictures a second time.  Put it back in the new frame....still not recognized.  I pressed every button on the thing trying to get it to read from the SD card instead of internal memory.  No luck.  It was reading pics from internal memory just fine though.  So I figure at least I can copy them to internal memory and it will work.

I copy all 272 files (third time) to the internal memory of the frame.  Now the new frame is showing the photos and looks great.  My wife tells me that someone else she knew had the same problem with an older memory card.  Sounds like the new frames don't recognize old SD cards, no matter what their file system is.

Since the new frame can't use the SD card, I figure I might as well put the card back with the old frame.  Oh, guess what?  Now the SD card is formatted as NTFS and the old frame doesn't recognize it.  So I reformat the SD card (third formatting) back to FAT32 and copy the 272 files (fourth copying) back to the card, put it into the old frame, and now we have two frames showing the same 272 pictures.   Hooray!

Get in line with text messages at Olathe DMV

DMV's always get a bad rap.  I had a great experience at the Olathe DMV today, so thought I should give them some credit.  They use a system that allows you to start getting in line before you're even there by sending them a text message.  It puts you in line and tells you your estimated wait time.  That way you can schedule it to show up right before you're up, so its almost like having an appointment.

I had to go get a license today, so I used the system.  Turns out they didn't even have a wait anyway!  First I got in line and it said I was up in 10 minutes.  I wasn't planning to be there for half an hour or more, so I cancelled that one.  When I was ready to leave, there was only a 1 minute wait!  Another nice feature is if your turn comes up and you're not there, you can still push yourself to the front of the line if you show up anytime in the next 30 minutes.  So that's what I did when I got there, even though the line was only one person long.

The system is developed by QLess.  Here's a text message transcript of my texts this morning.  You start the queueing process by texting them "Olathe DL"

Me: Olathe DL 10:47 AM

+17143331234: Welcome to QLess - KS Drivers License Office! Reply with 1 for Renewals, Replacements, Name & Address Changes, or 2 for Originals Issuance, Upgrades, Transfers 10:47 AM

Me: 2 10:48 AM

+17143331234: Thanks! Your est. wait is now 10 min. We'll let you know when you reach the front. Commands you can send: "S" - Status update, "L" - Leave, "H" - Help10:48 AM

Me: L 10:49 AM

+17143331234: Ok, you have left all lines. See you next time! 10:49 AM

(Later)

Me: Olathe DL 11:10 AM

+17143331234: Welcome to QLess - KS Drivers License Office! Reply with 1 for Renewals, Replacements, Name & Address Changes, or 2 for Originals Issuance, Upgrades, Transfers 11:10 AM

Me: 2 11:10 AM

+17143331234: Thanks! Your est. wait is now 1 min. We'll let you know when you reach the front. Commands you can send: "S" - Status update, "L" - Leave, "H" - Help11:11 AM

+19097445555: Status update: Not ready yet, but your estimated wait is now 1 min. Please head back to the License Office. Need more time? Reply with "M". 11:11 AM

Me: M 11:11 AM

+19097445555: Ok, we pushed your spot all the way to the back of the line to give you as much time as we can. Your estimated wait is now 1 min. 11:12 AM

+19097445555: You have reached the front of the Originals Issuance, Upgrades, Transfers line! Please proceed to Window 6. Thanks! - http://QLess.com 11:14 AM

+19097445555: Sorry, we still haven't heard back from you, so we had to give your spot to someone else. You have 30 min to rejoin the front of the line - reply with "J".11:15 AM

Me: J 11:32 AM

+19097445555: Thanks! Your est. wait is now 1 min. We'll let you know when you reach the front. Commands you can send: "S" - Status update, "L" - Leave, "H" - Help11:33 AM

+19097445555: You have reached the front of the Originals Issuance, Upgrades, Transfers line! Please proceed to Window 2. Thanks! - http://QLess.com 11:33 AM

+19099391234: We hope you enjoyed using our QLess service to avoid standing in line. Please text us back & let us know about your waiting experience! Thanks! http://QLess.com 11:44 AM

Me: It worked great. Thanks! 11:56 AM