Thanks, I have the doco. If I had the cable, I could make some open Source Windows API for whoever needed it, but alas, no cable. I don't program in C++ or Java either, so no, I don't think that source could help either.
Would it be easy to port it over to DOS? I have a very old laptop here that my sister bought for $9 that would be perfect for this.
Law says you can't view 'video' or use your mobile phone. Programming a GPS while driving is fine, can't see why using the screen wouldn't be.
You're not allowed to do anything that will distract you from driving. That includes changing radio stations, adjusting air-con, lighting a ciggie, etc. I've been grilled about that before when involved in an accident. Thankfully I was fully aware of what was happening and wasn't fiddling with anything in the car so I was only burnt for 'following too closely'.
Ecstazy I'm the member flame is referring to that wrote Ecstazy. It's really only designed for people who know their way around a command line environment. It's all CLI/ncurses based. Having said that, it is quite powerful -- I developed it to do my own tuning. It can edit all the ECU parameters that you can poke a stick at -- the tuning/editing interface is somewhat vi inspired. It'll also stream the ECU sensors and use the appropriate values (if available) for a map trace while you're editing your tune. If you have a romulator it can also write the values you change back to the romulator in real time. It'll also read and display the value from the serial interface on an AEM UEGO wideband.
I hope you don't mind that I'm using your project as a blueprint for a Windows .NET version. I don't intend on making any money with it btw. What is a ROMulator?
Sure thing. The layer that talks to the ECU would be very easily ported to any environment. As long as you adhere to the terms of the GPL license with respect to derivative works, then there's no issue. See http://secure.transtronics.com/EPROM Emulator.html for more info about the romulator. It basically emulates a ROM chip (as used in the Z32 ECU).
Quick question. why not do the 701 EEE PC touchscreen mod and mount the E in either the centre console or the glovebox? both of which are easily done with minor modifactions and minimal damage to the look of the Z. as for a te windows based problem why not set up either a sdhc card with linux on it or a usb stick and install the program, given that the 701 E has a 2 /4 /8 gb ssd it makes running VM's (virtual machines) a bitch, that way u can dual boot the OS and use the pc like normal or purely for engine dignostics. not a fan of the massive 15 inch touch screen. should of mounted it on either the passenger sun visor or once again the glovebox.
That's what I'm going to do. I have already bought an older console and cut it just below the A\C vents. I have then gotten a piece of MDF the correct size and shape and have it ready to fit the hole. As I don't own the Eee yet, I don't want to cut the hole into the MDF for the display just yet.
yeah best bet is to walk into a hardly normal (harvey Norman) with your MDF and a pencil and esure it up. E's cost about $250 wholsaleatm and about $325 retail atm. if you are good with a soldering iorn u can mod it to a touch screen but i have a touchscreen head unit atm so i will just grab a vga to rca video conveter for her and mount the E in the centre console with my switching unit.
I can get one from work to measure up, but that's just the outside dimensions. I won't have the display in the case, so I don't want to do anything until I can get one apart. Those Composite units aren't the best IMHO.
More than I wanted to spend in the first place Dave and it sort of got out of control on mr. You know how those things go. I started that project over 3 years ago. The Transflective display alone cost over $700USD and it's still at that price. Probably since there's nothing out yet that beats it's quality or tech. I'm sure the main pc components now would cost almost half of what I payed for them back then but that's how the pc world goes anyway. Without the display I'd say I probably spent close to 1,000.00 on all of the bits - case, WIFI, new external WIFI antenna's and cabling, GPS, video card, mother board, processor, HDD, power supply (not cheap), etc. RadioShark and other small bits like keyboard and such are not expensive. Here's a good place to price various quality carpc goodies - http://store.mp3car.com/ The radioShark is not a good CarPC type of tuner. There have been people that have fitted a Motorola antenna cable to it's internal one to improve upon signal strength but it's still nowhere near as good as typical head unit tuners. It was designed for home pc use. The HQCT is still regarded as one of the best carpc type tuners - http://store.mp3car.com/HQCT_1_0_High_Quality_Car_Tuner_FM_Radio_p/com-009.htm Cheers, John
Thanks John. I'm hoping to spend not a lot more than the EeePC, the tuner and volume control, and a bit of time. Anything like your $1000 is more like $1500 here, and that's over the budget.
Understood. With the exception of the TS monitor, you could easily build one for under $200 to $300AUD, find a used TS Lilliput or Xenarc for less than $200 and your set. If you've got the time to flip through www.mp3car.com , there's tons of budget builds there with suggestions for various alternatives. It's quite a flexible hobby really given the scads amount of platforms one can build their carpc from. You can source a fair amount from the Aussie Ebay site as well since a number of vendors sell there as well. My costs were driven by certain needs. I wanted to have true 5.1 in my car and in order to do that I sourced a true 5.1 amp that accepted optical (SPDIF) input as was my choice for the motherboard which also has optical (SPDIF) output. This gave me the benefit of one optical cable running from the motherboard for all 5 channels instead of 5 separate RCA cables to the amp. Choices like those is what drove my cost up not to mention that I started building this almost 3 years ago and those prices now are significantly lower as the pc industry is always so fast paced. I hope this may encourage a second look. Good luck John
