Using steering wheel controls to control mini mac?

brandondente · 05-11-2005, 01:32 AM

Is there a way to have your factory steering wheel controls ie Volume and Track to control mp3's or cd on mini mac?

avidan · 05-11-2005, 02:55 AM

funny. the top thread is my exact thought for coming to the forums tonight. i have a miniITX winblows pc ready for my car, but would definitely prefer a mini mac...if route 66 gets better

as far as steering wheel control, i was going to use ibus (i have a 2000 bmw), via serial interface in the trunk. i would have to buy a usb serial adapter, but those are real cheap online. the only thing i would need is to go is write some serial interface code, but since the one i have for windows is open source, it shouldnt be too bad. does your car have any sort of serial connectivity options? (look on the windows threads)...
-avidan

stevieg · 05-11-2005, 03:54 AM

You can always cut open the factory controls and connect into a USB inbterface card, keyboard controller, USB gamepad etc if you don't have a system like ibus.

defender90 · 05-11-2005, 04:05 AM

I have been looking for the same. I found out that for several brands, there are converters on the market, which convert the signals from the steeringwheel to infrared.

example

Together with an ir receiver and software for the Mac, like this:

IRTrans + iRed

I think this should work

edit: these also work with other car brands.

BenjaminS · 05-11-2005, 08:38 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by avidan

funny. the top thread is my exact thought for coming to the forums tonight. i have a miniITX winblows pc ready for my car, but would definitely prefer a mini mac...if route 66 gets better

as far as steering wheel control, i was going to use ibus (i have a 2000 bmw), via serial interface in the trunk. i would have to buy a usb serial adapter, but those are real cheap online. the only thing i would need is to go is write some serial interface code, but since the one i have for windows is open source, it shouldnt be too bad. does your car have any sort of serial connectivity options? (look on the windows threads)...
-avidan

If you do get around to porting it are you going to release the code to the public

OT: are smilies an acceptable form of punctuation

modulus · 05-11-2005, 11:12 AM

My steering wheel has volume up/down, mute, and another button..
I'm planning on using a Griffin PowerMate for volume and pause, then using the steering wheel controls for next/previous track, and hopefully roll in some bluetooth cell phone integration..

The plan is probably to use a hacked up usb num pad to interface with the steering wheel controls.. that way no drivers or special software would need to be written..

Bugbyte · 05-11-2005, 11:39 PM

Would an iPac work? It's a USB keyboard emulator, right? If you can get your steering wheel controls to connect to the iPac, the Mini Mac ought to see the iPac as a keyboard, right?

As long as there are key shortcuts for the application, I'd think you'd be golden.

modulus · 05-12-2005, 09:50 AM

Well, the I-Pac definitely has potential.. but I'm not sure how well it would work with iTunes, all of the keyboard commands appear to include a complementing Command keystroke, so it might not work at all. Plus, all of us lightweights that couldn't hook servos up to our screen, and reroute our vents, probably couldn't wire a board up to our car.. haha, props for your install.. it's very clean and comprehensive.

I bought the Griffin PowerMate, this thing is great.. it automatically switches profiles for each application that it recognizes, and you can customize everything. The LEDs in the base change brightness with the volume level..
Default operation in iTunes is as follows:
Spin left/right = volume down/up
Click = play/pause
Click and hold = eject optical drive
Click and spin left/right = previous / next track

I'm still playing with it, but it seems to have the ability to provide a lot of features in a small package.