I thought i'd leave a note to say that I support this project and i'm very intersted in it. I've had very similar ideas to those mentioned earlier, as well as something else cool. Not to take anything away from ECUTalk, but what I want to have is a USB LCD/LED screen that display info from the ECU from a "black box" carpc. I'd mount it the screen inside the cluster, replacing the boost gauge or oil gauge. I like the idea of having a carpc with a screen and all of that, but I also love the idea of a really light carpc/black box setup that is screen less, but has interaction through standard controls - like a dummy stereo head unit and an LCD display unit in the cluster for diagnostics, etc. Maybe its just because I really really love the idea of retrofitting stuff (I always used to want an 8-track for my old 70's falcon that was really an mp3 player on the inside). There's a freeware program called LCD Smartie that supports 3rd party plugins for the LCD screen. It would be ideal to have ODBI info in there....so the only limit is your imagination.
If you're going for the carpc with a touch screen setup, mayb look at something like in the r34, r35. There are all the menu's in tabs so as you go through them you get different information. Ie the first tab shows diagnostics, 2nd tab shows gps, 3rd tab is media etc. Admittedly I've never used something like that but it looks fairly user friendly while having the possibility to be quite powerful at the same time. Either way, this sounds interesting and I'll be watching how this folds out.
Resources and volunteers Ok, so there is obviously a lot of interest. At this time we are looking at the lowest levels of the project - i.e. those parts that talk to the hardware (the car). In the fullness of time we will look at other aspects (playing DVD's, answering Bluetooth phones, displaying GPS track info etc), however, without the low level stuff done, this is just another Media player, or at worst, a pipedream. Accordingly, I need to know who has the following experience in an Application development context, and that can freely provide said expertise: Project Management Hardware interaction\handshaking (specifically serial) Protocol development Technical Documentation Hardware development (PIC) Electronic Engineering (for developing supporting boards\circuits) At some point we will probably need some web space to store all this. Obviously something a little better than just a website, as the aim of the game is collaboration. i am trying to get something in DotnetNuke sorted, and that may be the way to go, but my bandwidth\speed is limited (ADSL1). I can do all of the above, however I don't profess to be a master of any of them. Volunteers... ?
I am capable of doing 1 to 5 but for my needs (a pico-ITX based project) 5 and 6 are not yet relevant. 1 should be up to you, our illustrious leader. 3 is already done, that's what we're going to be coding against. 4 - no way, already done too much of that in my life. So I put my hand up for 2. Have you looked at starting a project on sourceforge? Cheers, Evan.
No project on Sourceforge, but I don't know if I want to put the source out there for all to see. I would rather we choose who sees it. Ok, so far we have the following: Project Management (Dave) Hardware interaction\handshaking (specifically serial) (Evan) Protocol development (Nissan) Technical Documentation (Open - me at the moment) Hardware development (PIC) - FUTURE Electronic Engineering (for developing supporting boards\circuits) - FUTURE What have I left out? System Design (ie Overall design)
Post 1 said open source, but I don't really care either way. I doubt if anyone is going to make any money from the library anyway (Maybe a couple of schneckles from cool apps written on top of it). However, I guess that we need to get that straight before any of us (either of us?) make any substantial effort. Initially we need some form of WAN version control. I'm familiar with SVN and CVS but can live with anything if you know of something else. If you're a coder too there will be plenty of opportunities to fill in the pieces - e.g. reading a value from a register will be done in one place but someone is going to have to fill in the bit that does the conversion for a specific parameter to a meaningful value. After that we're going to need issue tracking for our army of eager testers to report bugs / enhancements. As far as overall design goes, if I'm going to code it, I'm also going to design it. I'm more than happy for any design to be reviewed and critiqued before implementation begins. So PM, we need, Source control Bullet point requirements for version 1 (they should be modest for v1 - i.e. read values from registers, active tests...) Timeframe Issue tracking
in effect what u want is to mod a version of nistune. so that you can read all that data realtime via a conzult cable that doesnt need a license key !... this could be done if u have a version that is viewing only not tuning.. or checkout calumsuit. or techu
You're partly right. We want all of that info that is available in those sorts of programs but we want to be able to use it in any way that we (or anyone else) chooses. Nistune is more of a chip emulator but we're not proposing to do that.
Yep, agreed. The first thing we will be creating won't really be anything that 'normal' (i.e. non developer) users will be able to use. But Developers should get pretty excited about it, because they can then write software to read all sorts of stuff from their zed. You gotta crawl before you can walk!
In my opinion, it should really be free open source. The problem so far is that none of the ECU applications are open source. Great things can come from this.
Or the compiled assembly can be freely available, but the Intellectual Property of the source code remains ours. This is my preference. Either way, anyone can use it freely.
I like what this is set to be and want it lke everyone else. After reading what is involved for such a progect i feel useless toward it as i have none of these skills (i swing spanners for a living) but if there is any way that i can help without these skills i will gladly voulenteer!
Let me think a little, and I'll let you know. Doing two engine pulls this weekend, so a little tied up.
ECU wiring Anyone got an ECU wiring loom, or at least the wiring that connects to the ECU. We will at some stage also need each of the other units: AT AirCon Speed Hicas Each of these will need wiring (i.e. plugs\connectors) so we can hook into them. We will be able to return these, however, there is a SLIGHT possiblity they would get damaged. I'm just being upfront because I don't want someone chasing me for a couple of hundred dollars of [Insert Module Name Here]. It SHOULD be ok. We will also need sensors, including possibly PTU. Right now, we just need to connect to the ECU, so a Diagnostics plug (i.e. Consult interface) and ECU plug is our immediate requirement. Anyone have anything to donate?
i can host it at my house here if ur get desperate. I have a domain name plus a 9mbit down / 1.2mbit upload just like my gallery for my photo's for cruizes and such. www.candltimber.com.au/gallery
Great! I may have to pop around on the weekend. For the greater good of the zed community. TADA! lol :thumbup: :zlove:
