Marsupial

Anyone interfaced a sony "joystick" audio commander that is intended to be plugged in a head unit to their computer?


I got a RM-X1S commander and am trying to find a way to interface this to my computer so I could use it to change track/volume from my sterring wheel.


I found a site about interfacing the RM-X2S to Linux, but the X1S remote seams not to be working the same way as the X2S and RM-X4S, so I'm a little stucked.

I think I'll have to rewire it to be able to interface it

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zijester

Ive been looking for the same thing for a while now. If you come up with anything let me know please.

Marsupial

Zijester do you have a RM-X2S/RM-X4S or a RM-X1S?

My RM-X1S seams to be different to the X2S and X4S - there is only resistors in the X2S/X4S (its acting like a precise variable resistor...) while mine have an IC onboard, so I doubt its the same way to control.

I think I'll rewire mine to a X2S and connect it to the joystick plugin of girder (the software I'll use to control the whole carputer).

if you have other ideas, I'm all ears.

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zijester

I dont have the remote. Was going to pick one up if i found anything that works with windows.

dansoton

For me this seems the best way of controlling music selection (and other selection for that reason) - seems a lot less distracting than fiddling with a touchscreen all the time.

I just wish I had an idea of how to interface them.

Ormo

In a similar vein, Sony do a "Hiband" controller that looks pretty cool and would be great to wire up to a carputer..

RM-X6S

Marsupial

According to my researches, the RM-X2S and RM-X4S can be pretty easily interfaced within the PC, depending how you plan on using the carputer software-wise.

Since I am using girder, I am almost certain to be able to interface those to a joystick port.


I have the RM-X1S and its not the same, and that is causingme some troubles... the X2S is mainly a variable resistor, while the X1S have a microchip onboard.

I will most likely rewire the X1S to complies with the X2S setup.

The RM-X6S is a IR wireless setup. I electronically discussed with a guy that acquired one and we didn't find a way to "understand" the signals from the remote.

I do agree it seams to be more natural and less disctractive then the touchscreen. The touchscreen is mainly for navigation in my ways, not for music. I'll have a VFD for title displayal.

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P4_2.66GHz

If it is IR controlled, there are devices that can read IR codes and feed them to girder. I am using one with Creative PC-DVD remote control.

dansoton

Marsupial,

Could you post any websites where it gives info on interfacing the RM-X4S with the PC as this is what I'm looking to do. You say about interfacing it with the joystick port, but what about interfacing it with the serial port, as this would seem to make more sense (?).

Having had a quick google, I found this website, which interfaces via a serial port, but to an Empeg car stereo rather than a PC.

Could be of help though - might be worth emailing him to see if he could help us with our quest. (I've no experience of PIC programming though).

http://www.armory.com/~charlie/empeg1/index.html

Marsupial

I have this one:
http://llg.cubic.org/tools/sonyrm/

the RM-X2S and RM-X4S is mainly a variable resistor: different resistance according to the button pressed.

the way to get the proper reading includes simply to pass the output to an analog to digital converter.

you have one in the joystick port, or you can use an external processor and convert the signal to serial pulse of your making... I prefer the easiest way

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Miraqdata

I have an old Sony head unit called XR-C500 , and it has a remote that looks just like the one on this link http://llg.cubic.org/tools/sonyrm/
Are there different versions of this kind of looking remote, or is it just one of a kind? Does it work with windows?

Andrew Taylor

I have been wanting to do the same thing for a while myself. I am using windows XP and do not have a game port on my MII1000 board. Anyone got any ideas?

jics

Hi,

I've coded a interface to a RM-X4S some time ago. The code is for linux, but it may give you some inspiration on how to handle this device under windows.
In any case you will need to implement some kind of calibration programm, as the resistor values change slightly after some usage. (They also seem to depend a little bit on the temperature in the car)

hope it helps...


PS #1.: I had to rename the files to .txt to be able to attach them.
PS #2.: Why is this attachment-feature not working under mozilla ?

Attached Files

	stick.cc.txt (8.2 KB, 602 views)
	stick.h.txt (3.0 KB, 346 views)

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dansoton

Thanks jics, much appreciated. Interesting what you say about calibration, I wonder how the head units deal with this? Also how did you interface the joystick with the PC, using the game port? Just I'll have to interface it with the serial port as I've got a M10000N board which doesn't have a gameport.

If anyone has any ideas about interfacing it with a serial port, it would be much appreciated. Cheers guys.

Marsupial

according to jics's post, the variable resistor myth is proven to be real.

I plan on simply using girder to control the game controller simulated by this joystick (and a proper interface), it should be relatively easy.

there are guys at girder that are developping the analog joystick support for it. Its pretty sweet.

Windows would then include you calibration

I still have to transform my RM-X1S into an X2S or X4S compliant... anyone have the resistor values?

thanks.

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