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My CarPC in PORSCHE
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: Sa Nov 05, 2005 - 12:59

Hallo Smile

Here are few snapshots of my system running with Linux.
The software which drives everything inside is home made including the interface.

The system first started in summer 2003 with a Playstation's LCD screen and an old pentium overclocked 133 Mhz.


It was hard to make it work but finnaly it worked, the first results were very poor with black and white picture then came the color
but introducing another stability difficulty.



anyway those difficulties have been solved to give this result



After time spent with experiiments at home it was time to put
all the stuff in the car.



I was happy with my thing in car, having music with a multi format able player then i had the idea to be able to stop my car.
There are not so much options, first started thinking about recognizing
dtmf sequences sent to a handy but unfortunately my handy was unable to recognize those sequences through it's port.
So no more options but using then sms.
Now simply sending a sms is ok but reading it's content is something else, more than that it's even harder to recognize the caller ID (i mean for a machine).
That's why i started again experiments at home till it worked fine.
here's the screenshot of what happens when the machine receives the sms.
The picture is too big you can access to it at http://81.56.210.152/capturesms.jpg
In the same time i made something to wear the metal bezel.
Ok don't laugh at this time i was with no more job, hard times so difficult to have a beautiful screen.


Now it was time to put some more software inside.
I wanted a voice synthesis, then i used the Carnegie Melon University
festival project.
I wanted also to have a gps so i started using GPSdrive but i had to let it because that there's no cartography library and the displayed cards are static.
I wanted too that the system was automated so i don't have to bother
with stupid buttons everywhere.

And finally here's the result with the multimedia player XMMS which was good for the task i wanted at this time.


Was it enough ?
No it wasn't as those little systems are so addictive.
More i had more i wanted. Why not now let the computer make some
monitoring ?
Yes good idea, unfortunately the Porsche 944 before 1988 was with no OBD nor pre-OBD so what now ?
I refused to accept the defeat and built my own system to gather informations form the car.

10 channels with a refresh speed of 5000 measures per second.
We are far best from OBD aren't we Frin


The first attempt was to get the air/fuel rate with two ways of displaying.
One with a simple display and another with fine curves displaying what was hapening to the lambda sensor in real time




And today ?
Today i changed every little part but this is for the next part...with still home made interface, with a home made kernel using another hadware
and new features included...



By: mrsony6
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 112
From: n/a
Posted: Sa Nov 05, 2005 - 02:45

FrinRoll EyesShocked


Recpect, thats very good work!! And does OBD work by you?
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: Mo Nov 07, 2005 - 07:20

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I have no OBD that's why i had to build my own stuff to catch informations from the car.
Old Motronic doesn't have any output Sad

Later i received my first hardware (motherboard and display) but using simply what was existing in my old system was too old timer looking so i decided to build my own interface as what i found was not so exciting at least in linux world.
Here's the result...







and last but not least...internet aboard using a bluetooth connection and my GPRS modem, well the one built in my Motorola V3


here accessing the internet Smile



I'll take more pics, of course the phone do not need to be opened, nor you have to dial something. The Car PC is managing everything. The phone can be even forgotten in the luggage, it's the same, it will access to the internet Cool!
Now i'm working on a parser to make my creature reading my mails aloud with a pretty nice voice.
By: steels
Rank: Starfleet Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Postings: 13
From: n/a
Posted: Di Nov 08, 2005 - 12:13

cool man! linux powa!

what do you use now for gps in linux? and what app is that player?
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: Di Nov 08, 2005 - 08:04

I use Navigator for linux as GPSdrive is unfortunately not accurate for what i expect from a gps, this is the only commercial software i use.
The player is mplayer that i modified to be in harmony with the interface i designed.
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: So Nov 13, 2005 - 05:28

Some news about the browser i'm building, it's for now in early state but i think it'll work today Smile

By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: So Nov 13, 2005 - 10:58



City traffic in real time


Autobahn traffic in real time


Wheater forecast


Hotel reservation


Search engine


Any website
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: Mo Nov 14, 2005 - 11:20

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Here are few pictures i took this morning using my handy Frin
It works really fine and the speed is up to 128 Kb.
So i can surf on the net, get real time informations, make hotel reservations...









I'll try to make better pics later with a real photo camera
By: steels
Rank: Starfleet Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Postings: 13
From: n/a
Posted: Mo Nov 14, 2005 - 01:50

i´m impressed!
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: Mi Dez 14, 2005 - 07:17

Thanks steels Wink

It evolved since last time and now it manages my phone communications using bluetooth, the audio part is redirected to the audio installation of the car through the computer. I had to change the design of the main panel.
Here's the phone manager panel, including a binding for the rescue without having to dial the number, this could be usefull in case of emergency.
I have also a phonebook manager included.


the redefined main panel
By: foehn
Rank: Starfleet Ensign
Postings: 1
From: n/a
Posted: Sa Dez 24, 2005 - 02:07

Hello Pierre,
I'm happy to find someone that uses linux. I'm thinking to buy a car pc next year, but the fact that the main applications like GPS and cellphone adapter is working with windows only, was blocking my decition - till now.

Do you plan to distribute your operating system and share it with others. What is the name of the company of the GPS software? How long your system needs to boot??

Regards Foehn and merry X-mas
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: Fr Dez 30, 2005 - 12:28

Hi Foehn

The cellphone bluetooth is working fine with Motorola RAZR V3 but to be honest it's a pain to have it working in handsfree mode through the computer. A lot of work is awaiting you.
The GPS is a real pain too but fortunately one company in the world is distributing a software made for Linux.
Have a look at mapfactor with google Wink
The boot timing was originaly at 11 seconds but it dropped again at 20 s just because there are more and more elements coming on the USB ports and this is time eating, anyway 20s is very acceptable when considering that with linux we are really viruses free, i can't figure what mess it could be with a windows running car pc in which would run few viruses, should be party aboard Frin

Now for the releasing part, well this is not what i was really seeing as i'm back with the idea to start a little business just because again, i worked for a company which closed on the last 23rd december, nice christmas present, now i have no more job and i don't know what to do to earn life so i have no option but sell or at least try to Undecided
I'm considering the idea to open a shop with compliant linux stuff but i can't figure how to do it yet.
I understand that this is not what you were expecting as reply and i'm really sorry about it Sad
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: So Jan 01, 2006 - 10:35

Screenshot of the bluetooth phone manager in operation Smile

By: 0utlaw
Rank: Starfleet Ensign
Postings: 3
From: n/a
Posted: Fr Jan 13, 2006 - 07:36

Hi Pierre

Hope the new year is bringing you new job opportunities. Getting retrenched is not kewl. Anyway, after hours and hours of online searching i just happened to stumble onto this forum. All i can say is fantastic. Linux carpc needs more people like you. I too would be interrested in the front end that you have been working on. Please can you share it with some fellow enthusiasts. Yes, i am willing to make a donation to your project if needs be. Free is always better, but sometimes there is something that is just worth paying for.

I am in the process of getting a carpc running. I am not a microsnot fan and would love this little project of mine to run on linux.

Anyway, keep up the great work and hope to hear from you soon.

Later

Terry
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: So Jan 15, 2006 - 07:30

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Hi Terry

The new year will bring nothing in my country i'm afraid...A more precise description of the features of my system on http://81.56.210.152
By: Pierre
Rank: Starfleet Captain
Postings: 117
From: n/a
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Posted: So Jan 22, 2006 - 01:01

Another skin Smile
 
Welcome Anonymous User
Mo Jun 03, 2024 - 18:09
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