i-drive knob

**RoyN** · 04-18-2005, 10:59 PM

Hi Guys,

I was thinking of adding a powermate to my system for general naviagation as well as volume, list scrolling etc...

Then I thought about adding something like a BMW i-Drive knob, which is basically a wheel, as shown in this picture, but which can move turn-wise, and then like a joystick up-down-left-right (and diagonally 4 ways) as well as being pressed...

I thought about hacking something together but I couldnt find anything that would rotate+do joystickmovements+button in one...

So now I am thinking if it would be possible to buy a spare from BMW and integrate it and then fab it in the dash....

your ideas?

BMW I-Drive Wheel

(last pic stolen from the MMI skin thread in RR Skin's forum)...

Anyone has any idea of where/how/howmuch to get this or similar system?

**RoyN** · 04-18-2005, 11:02 PM

oh just to make things clearer, I will somehow map this into the PC, and then my plan was to either add support natively in the frontend (depending on whether the frontend would allow so much integration) or otherwise make a small plugin that would use the frontend's SDK to send differnet commands depending on what screen is loaded, etc.... or maybe use girder or something...

**NiN^_^NiN** · 04-19-2005, 03:20 AM

that is simple enough

There is a product already out there for MAME users

Look for Mame arcade spinners you will find they have spinners with 4 directional and push down buttons plus x and y axis scroll for spinner games.

Best of all it's made so you can remove the spinner knob to install a diff spinner knob so you could easily use this with a knob from radioshack or even rip 1 off a bmw and ise it

www.oscar.com should have it i think not sure if thats theright address it's called oscar controls

**RoyN** · 04-19-2005, 03:23 AM

hmm its oscarcontrols.com but I dont see anything close to what we are speaking about.... I'll

other mame usb controllers....

Any idea where to get the spinner from BMW?
Any comments on the overall idea? I think it would be niftier than just a powermate

**RoyN** · 04-19-2005, 03:53 AM

update:

so i'm looking for a rotary joystick with 8-way joystick movement, and free rotation (if possible though i might be able to hack this) and a pushdown button on the entire joystick axis...

Havent found anything so far...

I'm beginning to think it might just be easier to try and get the BMW parts for the system, surely they must sell them, no? I havent been able to find them though... does anyone have a bmw parts manual?

what I need is basically this: http://www.trimoor.com/rotary_joystick/ but i need a much smaller version of that, that will be tidier hoepfuly to stick in my rmrest or close-by in the car...

i have also looked at the fidgets joystick which looks like it might do the trick if coupled with a rotator somehow... (the phidgets one even has a down action, although it is only 4 way I can calculate the other 4 (corners) in the software)

**LagunaICE** · 04-19-2005, 04:09 AM

Thats lotta hacking. Save yourself some nerves and buy this:
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?hand..._pcodeid=68807

**RoyN** · 04-19-2005, 04:15 AM

man that is amazing..... from the pdf I see it has all te functions! I just think the limitation is the 30 detents on the rotary encoder, which I would translate as 15 stages to each side, is that so?

What way would one interface this? are there boards that would take the analog (encoder) AND digital (joystick) signal and translate it all into on USB phidget like interface where I can have some software do the magic?

I'm going to look at mouser if I find one that would be free spinning encoder, if not this one will have to do! thanks for the help though!

**Kalt** · 04-19-2005, 04:16 AM

I use a 8way directional and rotary encoder with push swich i got from mouser, it works great, i hooked it up to a hacked up keyboard for the directional functions and a Mouse for the rotary and push function. Its also free spinning like you said you wanted.
http://www3.alps.co.jp/pdf/2004pdf/p...ulti/rkjxt.pdf

**RoyN** · 04-19-2005, 04:19 AM

broken link Kalt, but i would think it is the same as above link from mouser, no?

Can you possibly take some pics of how you hooked it up, your actual install etc? what knob did you put on top of it?

Are you know using a keyboard AND mouse port for this? like 2 USBs?

edit: cheeky man! u updated the link!

**Kalt** · 04-19-2005, 04:46 AM

Originally Posted by RoyN

broken link Kalt, but i would think it is the same as above link from mouser, no?

Can you possibly take some pics of how you hooked it up, your actual install etc? what knob did you put on top of it?

Are you know using a keyboard AND mouse port for this? like 2 USBs?

edit: cheeky man! u updated the link!

Sorry i don't have any pictures of how i have it hooked up cause its behinde my dash, and it was a pain to get it working right. I have the Keyboard and mouse hooked up to the computer via a ps2 to usb cable, and i use gider to control the input from the switch. I was able to use the knob from my factory radio seen in this picture . I wanted to have it setup similar to the bmw but i just did not have enough space for that, so im thinking having one for the rear passengers so they can control certain features.