2003 BMW M3 Custom Dash / Overhead Console - Page 6

jonee · 03-23-2004, 01:05 AM

Great work!

I visited the hacktheibus forum but I didn't get any wiser, and it's a nightmare to find the info you need out there.
So here my question: Could you use the OBD plug to connect the carpc to the I-Bus and do the stuff you did? I know it wouldn't look good to have a cable running in front of the dash, between the carpc and the OBD plug, but I just want to know if it's the same connector.

gork · 03-23-2004, 01:10 AM

To be honest, I do not know if the I-Bus is available onthe OBD plug. There's a good chance it is, but it's also likely that it's not.. It's available on the factory radio harness, in the trunk on the CD changer harness, and in the center console under the cupholders if your car is "pre wired" for the BMW phone...

It's not too hard to find the I-Bus wire if you have an oscilloscope. It will be constant 12V and when there is activity you will see some 'bursts' down to 0V. If you want to be sure you've got I-Bus, try putting the key into and out of the ignition a few times. There is an I-Bus message generated when you put something into the key slot on the steering column and when you take it out...

96infmsM3 · 03-26-2004, 08:29 PM

Any word on a possible write up for your installation? I'd be really interested since I have an E36 and some of the same stuff might apply to me. I especially want to know more about that firewire-ide bridge that you used. If you could direct me to a place where I could pick that up that would be awesome.
Thanks
Kyle

gork · 03-26-2004, 09:54 PM

The plan has always been to do a write-up "when it's finished" -- this has been somewhat long in the coming but now that it's warmer out in the garage, I'm working on it again and I'm making fast progress...

Currently My checklist to finish (at leat to have the items I initially wanted when I started the project) is looking like this:

Clean up and secure the components in the trunk so I can actually autocross without my case and stuff flying around - DONE (and wait till you see it!)
Switch to Lilliput Screen - DONE
OBD-II Interface - Installed - Haven't written software yet
Reverse Camera (automaticlly switch when the car is in reverse) - All hardware acquired; not yet installed.
Switch to Linux-compatible hardware - Done
Move to Linux - Installed. Working on software
LinuxBIOS - Mostly working; still having trouble with PIRQ routing, VGA BIOS, and SDRAM detection-- this will be a few weeks probably. Power on to userland times are currently around 3.5s in my setup, but I have a lot of room left to improve that

My goals are to have a system that not only looks great but functions even better than it looks. My main reasons for moving to Linux are: 1) I can actually program in Linux and 2) I should be able to achieve a boot time of <5s from turning the key.

I started a media player app in VB (if you dig around in these forums really deep you can probably find the screenshots), but it got clunky really really fast. I personally believe Windows to be a dead end on the car-pc front (for me anyway). My XMPC-CAR app will soon be released under the BSD license so that MediaEngine, MediaCar, et. al. will be able to freely incorporate it. It is a tedium of VB!

Anyway, I have lots of stuff going on the car front right now, so stay tuned

shakes · 03-27-2004, 10:08 PM

what do you plan to do for GPS in linux? As i understand it there are no vector based GPS products for linux ... they all just use JPG sections of the maps??

gork · 03-28-2004, 10:26 AM

I don't know yet.

Copilot 2003 + wine is a possibility. So is destinator + wine. Wine-x may run things that the regular distro of wine may not. If all else fails, I could even set up a vmware session with undoable disks that starts directly into a running copilot/destinator/mappoint/what have you. The vmware idea for GPS is actually a pretty attractive option since it could use a modified 95lite install and only take about 32MB of ram.

As far as linux native support goes, Xastir supports the vector data from Tiger but it's not really a navigation application. There are actually a lot of apps out there...

Evanrude · 04-03-2004, 10:11 PM

Bow before GoRK's mad photoshop skills.

I live with this crazy bastard. He's nuts. All is **** is cool though. Seeing it in person as it goes through the development cycle is pretty amazing.

Once I have the funding to do the same thing to my Cooper S I will begin the project. So far all my car has is a nice sound system. Or when my photoshop skills get better...

brrman · 04-05-2004, 10:20 AM

LOL - so Gork, is Evanrude saying that you haven't really done any of this? You only photoshopped everything into your car?

Mastermind · 04-05-2004, 10:38 AM

Nah, he's not saying that everything gork has done to the car is photoshopped. All he's saying is he owns photoshop, and the car is dope.

gork · 04-05-2004, 10:51 AM

brrman: I am about 4 days too late to make a post about how it's all photoshopped and I'm really 12 years old and the only thing I've ever been able to drive legally is a golf cart --- or else I would

But we will see what happens when he asks me for some help on his Cooper --- "OOPS, sorry man, I spilled bondo all over your dash and carpet and seats, and also a can or two spilled into the engine!!!"

smg · 04-06-2004, 10:50 PM

Gork - mad setup. Once you're done you should contact BMW's R&D department in Germany and show them your stuff

Can a CarPC with GPS be set up in a location other than the radio bay, so that the stock radio can still be used as a tuner and CD player, while allowing the CarPC to have an aux capability of MP3 playback? Basically I would like to keep my radio but have the ability to play MP3. Can the two systems be spliced into one another?
Thanks for your help, and all the best with your project!

gork · 04-06-2004, 11:53 PM

smg - thanks fof the compliments.

As to your question -- you can put the screen anywhere you want. I guess you could put it down by the shifter in place of the ash tray assembly and storage bin. Some aftermarket nav systems for the E46 do that. That would allow you to keep the factory radio. BMW has an aux input adaptor that they sell for the stereo that would make it easy to get audio into it, or you could use one of the projects that emulates a cd-changer via I-Bus.

captain_jim1 · 04-07-2004, 03:17 PM

Gork -- I also own an e46 and am keeping my stock H/K System and installing a Lilliput into the 'area' below the stereo.

I'm curious as to exactly how the whole cd/dvd-drive works. I want to mount a slim line (or possibly laptop) drive in the center console behind the cupholders (Will be custom fabbed of course), but am cruious as to how exactly I get the ide cables, power to the drive over such a distance. You mentioned you used an Oxford-911 bridge board. Could you give me more information about that? Does the firewire power the drive? If not, did you just run 4 long wires with molex connectors on them to power the drive?

Thanks..

A fellow New Jersey man.....

-Capt.Jim
mp323i

remote · 04-07-2004, 03:21 PM

I dont have words to decribe how amazing your car looks with that carputer. Even more impresive is its capabilities.

bravo....

gork · 04-07-2004, 04:24 PM

captain jim1: Well, laptop drives and slimline drives are essentially the same -- they have the same connectors and everything; but you can sometimes get used laptop drives really cheap.. Anyway, the firewire does not power the drive, so I extended 4 power cables up to the power connector. The best cable run from the trunk is under the back seat and under the center console. If you plan on powering your lilliput via your computer's power supply also, you'll already be running two of the necessary cables through this location. You can get a bridge board that will work out of pretty much any firewire enclosure for a 3.5" drive... Most bridge boards also need external power of some sort (though some don't) -- you'll probably find a header on the board for connecting 5v or something when you take the drive enclosure apart.

Good luck getting a drive to fit where you want it, though.. There's not a lot of room in the center console as you'll see when you get it apart...

remote: Thanks for your compliments. Wait until you see the update