Help Bugbyte kill his car PC with an iTouch/iPhone install - Page 7

meagain · 03-12-2009, 09:43 PM

In the iPhone, perhaps same as iPod, under - Settings, General, 'Auto-Lock'. Can set it to whatever you want including 'never'.

Bugbyte · 03-12-2009, 11:27 PM

Right - you can set it to never turn off, so there you go!

I agree, the switching between modes is not ideal for the car, but I've got some out of the box ideas about what might be possible. I'm still working them out.

meagain · 03-13-2009, 02:35 PM

http://i.gizmodo.com/5169545/iblueto...over-bluetooth

New app for iPhone bluetooth. There must be some use for this?

pepsibobby · 03-13-2009, 08:58 PM

you have to pay for that program after 10 days of use, just an FYI

Bugbyte · 03-16-2009, 12:39 PM

I've been toying around with Dot.tunes, a really cool OS X remote iTunes access program.

What it does is very simple. You run the program, which effectively turns your computer at home into a server that can be accessed by any browser or your iPhone's Safari browser.

Try it by logging into the Dot.tunes demo server from either you home computer's web browser or your iPhone/iPod touch:

Point your browser to this location, which is http://24.94.41.131:9998

Userid: Guest
Password: leave the password line blank.

You'll see the playlists come up on the left hand side and you can click and select a song to listen to. This is precisely how it works on your own machine.

What this means

Storage limitations for both video and music no longer matter if you have an internet connection.

Enjoy.

chozyn · 03-17-2009, 03:12 PM

Hey Bugbyte, I have been looking at this site as I want to start my first carpc and can say what you are doing is an inspiration. That being said i ran across an article that may be of interest (its on an Android site) and the link is below. Keep up the good work as I have an iphone and am following this thread closely.

http://phandroid.com/2009/03/16/return-of-the-carphone/

Chozyn

meagain · 03-17-2009, 04:14 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

As for the car - tell them to deliver it with no nav, buy a screen, install it and plug your iPhone in.

Bug - or anyone.... Do you think if one has mfr iPod integration in the car for control & full audio..... if one 'could' buy just a screen and sort of just run video to/on that screen with the audio simultaneously going through the mfr iPod fully powering the stock stereo? (I appologize if this is a stupid question).

OK

The big Apple 3.0 SDK announcement. I'm OVERWHELMED. Of note:

1. Full Turn by Turn so TomTom can finally release their app (and Garmin, etc).
2. New SDK for accessories.
3. Full bluetooth - keyboards, speakers, etc. etc.
4. Stereo bluetooth.
5. Push notification for everything. (hmmm....)

So - besides the Turn by Turn of course.... any thoughts on this mere tidbit of what we'll be getting?

Bugbyte · 03-17-2009, 04:20 PM

Answer is in post number 44. Watch the video.

meagain · 03-18-2009, 01:24 AM

VNC doesn't work though. It's not acceptable (IMO). Delay, choppy. It's pretty bad.
So it seems wireing is the only way. I'm personally lost as to how to do that.

In my perfect world, I'd love a Mimo Monitor to somehow hook up to the phone and run the iPhone directly to the car stereo via aux. I wish there was some way to link the iPhone to a mimo. Grab it take it in for use in the home (many uses!) - pop in/out of the car at whim. Simple. Dual-use. I assume there's no way to convert the $50 apple cord video piece to a Mimo. USB video?

Bugbyte · 03-18-2009, 08:22 AM

Well, it requires a wired solution using the cable but the cable plugs into the bottom of the iPod and will charge it if you have 5 volts on the USB.

The mimo requires a computer to drive it. And, you end up in the same place as you did before - you'd still need to connect a USB cable and adaptor between the iPod and the monitor. Presumably, the video quality would be better than it is on composite but that's about it.

Bugbyte · 03-18-2009, 08:50 AM

I had to fiddle with the settings on my monitor to get it to display the iPod. On my install, I'd buried the buttons inside the bezel and left holes to shove a paperclip through in case I needed to activate them. It took awhile to get it set up right, but I got the iPod to output video to the monitor.

I was pretty underwhelmed. The monitor is an 8" Xenarc with native 800 X 480 resolution. It looks sharp when driven by a VGA signal. Reasonably bright, although not sunlight readable, and good color range.

It has a composite video input for a backup camera. The monitor will automatically switch to the composite input when it detects a signal on that input.

The color was washed out and the text was fuzzy when I displayed it using both ScreenSplitr and TVOut. Not only that, but on the 8" screen it looks like it is stretched vertically.

When I flipped the iPod on its side the image didn't flip like it did on my desktop monitor. Rather than the whole image rolling 90 degrees, it simply displayed sideways so the iPod menu bar was along the right hand side of the monitor. I'm not sure if rolling the image over is a feature or a setting of the Xenarc or my desktop monitor but it wasn't the behavior I expected.

When I played a video out to the screen though, it played full screen and looked NICE! The colors were better and the image didn't have much, if any, noticeable stretching.

All in all, a bit of a disappointment. However, it DOES work and last night I began to fashion a way to connect the iPod onto the dash. I've got a long trip coming up on Thursday, so I'll report back on how it worked then.

meagain · 03-18-2009, 01:31 PM

I can't wait to see your pics. I'm puzzled why it would look good with media and bad with apps, etc. Gosh this is frustrating.

tdub24 · 03-19-2009, 02:53 AM

Bug did u by chance watch the apple 3.0 iPhone os presentation? Apple is opening up Bluetooth for deveopers to make custom profiles. Tell me if Im wrong but someone makes a bt touchscreen controller for net books. That would be perfect. All the other stuff that stands in the way is software rrelated right?

Bugbyte · 03-19-2009, 10:27 AM

Yes, I did watch the 3.0 presentation and I thought exactly the same thing! If they open up bluetooth to talk to devices such as a blood pressure monitor, then surely you can talk to devices like touchscreen monitors.

The main question will be whether you can build an app that runs on the iPhone across applications or whether it will be application specific, meaning that you would still have to launch the app from the iPhone screen but could then control it like a conventional front end on a computer.

Do you have any links to the BT touchscreen controller?

meagain · 03-20-2009, 04:16 PM

May I jump in with a quick question?

Say one has a car with factory iPod integration (3.5mm & usb). One can simply buy an appropriate screen that supports the $50 apple cable, and plug a 3.5mm into the cars port to the iPhone's headphone jack. Then say, run iPhone's video to the screen and audio to the cars factory amp - and it'll be in sych (hopefully - right?)....

**** My question is - One can also get audio out the bottom of the iPod Touch/iPhone. Is one better quality than the other in such a situation? I was gleaning that it was better out the bottom than the headphone jack. Is that wrong information? Or are they both the same quality in a situation going to a car's amp powering 10 speakers?

Bugbyte - do you think it prudent to hold off on all this till 3-4 months from now when the accessory floodgates open, new firmware, probably new iPods/iPhones, boatloads of bluetooth items, perhaps new cords, etc? I'm leaning that way. I'm also fully buying into the rumor of a multi-touch tablet and and the possibilities with that (and it talking to the iPhone/iPod) with full touch control all over the place.
I just got myself all excited.

User Name		Remember Me?
Password