Thread: Scion xB '06, in-dash Atom 330, Lilliput 889GL; details, pictures, links. Index: pg 1

Originally Posted by rdholtz

No -- it's not for the key! It's just for whenever I need light. The interior lights are relatively dim, and, until I get brighter lights installed, I need a flashlight to find stuff in there.



No, I'll go with a simple alarm system at first, one that attracts a lot of attention and makes the thieves wish they were somewhere else. It isn't like it's a $40,000 car -- only about half of that. Well, except for the $20,000 of labor I have in it, but that isn't recoverable in a theft.

If I get an always-on connection to the Interwebs in there, then I'd like a system that will send alarm warnings -- or even video -- to my phone. That'd be fun to develop. I like the little Sheevaplug system that Bugbyte is working on, but I'm not a Linux jock, and have no plans to become one, so it'll have to be a Windows setup. I've even wondered about putting something like a pico-ITX solution in as the server. But, since I already have a PC, I think that would do fine at sending sound/pix/video (and -- oh, yeah -- I'd need to get a camera in there, too).

Its actually not expensive though, although to install is. Now they also have alarm systems that when the car is broken into, it starts to take pictures and then sends the images to you OLED key chain. I wanted this one at first, but it was missing so many features like autostart and what not.

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

Its actually not expensive though, although to install is. Now they also have alarm systems that when the car is broken into, it starts to take pictures and then sends the images to you OLED key chain. I wanted this one at first, but it was missing so many features like autostart and what not.

Now this is where the Arduino and Fusion Brain get interesting. I wonder if one of them couldn't be the inexpensive brains of a security system.

For my birthday, Josh gave me an Arduino and a bunch of extra goodies to go with it. This is one of the things that would be very interesting: could we get some sensors and build our own alarm system control with relatively simple programming?

Adding a camera -- or cameras -- wouldn't be that hard. I don't need an OLED keychain; I have an iPhone. The system could send pictures there (and to our home server, so they'd be saved for evidence even if the car was taken). A digital horn could say, "This vehicle is being stolen. Call the police!" or some such thing. A painfully loud horn could shriek inside the car.

Hmmmm . . .

Originally Posted by rdholtz

Now this is where the Arduino and Fusion Brain get interesting. I wonder if one of them couldn't be the inexpensive brains of a security system.

For my birthday, Josh gave me an Arduino and a bunch of extra goodies to go with it. This is one of the things that would be very interesting: could we get some sensors and build our own alarm system control with relatively simple programming?

Adding a camera -- or cameras -- wouldn't be that hard. I don't need an OLED keychain; I have an iPhone. The system could send pictures there (and to our home server, so they'd be saved for evidence even if the car was taken). A digital horn could say, "This vehicle is being stolen. Call the police!" or some such thing. A painfully loud horn could shriek inside the car.

Hmmmm . . .

Arduino boards are great! I have the Duemilanove model. I haven't really played with it in a year..but i will be getting back to it after my CarPC project is stable. You can program your Arduino for all kinds of things...possibilities are endless.

Arduino Daydreams

Originally Posted by hexxamillion

Arduino boards are great! I have the Duemilanove model. I haven't really played with it in a year..but i will be getting back to it after my CarPC project is stable. You can program your Arduino for all kinds of things...possibilities are endless.

Josh got us the Mega model. We'll probably have more than one of them as we get into it. The auto alarm system sounds very useful, and then there's a really neat off-topic project that looks like a lot of fun to use: and Arduino-enabled radio-controlled power lawn mower, on Instructables.com.

I like the look of that project. I'd prefer to have a steering-wheel type control rather than the R/C car device, perhaps even a Wii-type wheel for control.

I thought the running wheels were too big at first, but there's some pretty rough terrain to negotiate in our yard, so they'll be fine. I'd go with a larger-diameter deck to get all our grass done faster.

It would be really interesting to make it operate like a Roomba -- with self control, rather than operator control. But the Roomba does a lot of areas many times, since it uses motions controlled by things it runs into, plus a pattern of running modes that apparently depend on the impact sensors. It would be interesting to develop a camera system that detects whether grass it sees has been mowed, so the mower tracks along the edge of the mowed area.

Gee, if we lived further north, maybe we could build the same sort of thing as a snow blower. That's the ticket: we could be standing in the front room looking out the window, guiding the snow blower around the driveway and sidewalks, while we drink coffee and stay warm. Slick.

So many projects to imagine . . .

Keyboarding

I'm experimenting with two keyboards in the car. One's a nearly-full-size presentation-style 2.4 GHz wireless unit with a mouse control built in. The other is a Bluetooth mini-keyboard without any mouse functions.

When I was installing the PC in the dash, I needed a location for the wireless keyboard's receiver -- a place that would hide the base, but make the antenna visible. Then it occurred to me that (1) the dash is plastic, (2) the receiver has a 30-foot range, and (3) I don't need the antenna visible because it uses Radio Frequency, not optics (like InfraRed). So, before I installed the PC in the dash, I zip-tied the receiver to an OEM wire bundle inside the dash on the driver's side

Reception is great, since the signal only has to go about two feet. And, since the head is powered by the USB cable, there are no batteries to replace in it. There are AA batteries in the keyboard, but they seem to last a very long time. There's a Low Battery indicator light on the keyboard, too, so they'll be easy to monitor.

I'm not crazy about this presentation keyboard; the mouse knob is a little slow for me. A USB version is sold on MP3Car as the SpecResearch RF Wireless Mini Keyboard with Optical Trackball for $73, and I expect the trackball works better:

I'll admit that it's handy to have a nearly full-size keyboard when I need it. Since I don't need it often, I'll probably store it under the driver's seat.

The Bluetooth mini-keyboard has only seen a little use, and I can't give much of an opinion on it, yet; so far, it's been good enough, but I don't have a handle on its battery life. I'm using the Mini Wireless 83-Key Bluetooth Keyboard For Sony-HP-IBM, available on eBay from several vendors for as low as $24 shipped (from Hong Kong):

Click image to enlarge.

I like its size -- it sits in a little shelf on the dash, right in front of the driver, and takes up practically no space.

There are times when, even with an 8-inch screen, my fingers are too big on the touchscreen. But if the little keyboard does what I need, maybe I could just use the Lilliput stylus as the mouse.

Placing the GPS Head

I wanted the GlobalSat BU-353 GPS head out where it will have clear reception, but I wanted to keep the dash as clean as possible. I don't want accessories to stand out and say, "Steal me!" to people who look into the car. I wanted to place the GPS head in the center of the dash, where it would be hardly noticeable. I couldn't put it there right away, because that would put it right under the radar detector, which mounted low on the windshield, dead center.

That meant I had to do some changes. Today I got the OEM mirror removed from its ceiling mount, and glued a new windshield-mounted mirror as its replacement. The radar detector will mount up on top of the mirror, now.

With the instrument cluster pulled out (to install the PC in the dash), it was easy to run the cable over to it. Here's how it looks from inside:

While I was installing the unit, I made a tiny opening for it where the edges of the dash panels meet, so the cable wouldn't be crushed when I put the panels back in place. The cuts are almost unnoticeable; if I need to, they'll be easy to fill.

The GPS head has a magnetic bottom, but the dash is plastic, so I got out the Gorilla Glue and a small piece of steel. I glued the steel to the underside of the dash right in the center over the mounting brace. I held it in place with a hard drive magnet on the top of the dash while the adhesive set. A few hours later, I pulled the magnet off and replaced it with the GPS head, which grabbed right onto the hidden steel; it stays in place just fine.

Here's the appearance through the windshield

I'm hoping the black BU-353 head, sitting on a black dash, will just hide in plain sight; while it's visible, it doesn't have the "steal me" look of a full GPS.

NOTE: I was having trouble getting images uploaded, and it appeared to be a problem on the MP3Car server. I've asked for the MP3Car team's help on it. In the meantime, the pictures are on Picasa Web Albums. I'll move them to the MP3Car server when they get it healed.

Placing the WiFi Head

The D-Link DWA-140B1 is an 802.11 b/g/n WiFi USB stick that comes with a USB base; that makes it excellent for carPC use. The system stands out on the dash a little more than I'd like, but the USB head itself is easily removable from its base, so I can slip it into one of the dash cubbyholes while I'm out of the car. I put Velcro pieces on the bottom of the base and matching pieces on the dash, just to the left of the speedometer, and pressed it in place. The base doesn't move, and the stick is easily removable if I don't want it sticking up.

The base provides yet another USB port if I need it (but, with 5 ports in the dash, I probably won't ). It's also a fine place to plug in the Sprint or AT&T Access Stick if I'm running always-on interwebs.

Here's how it looks on the dash, after some modifications:

The modifications had to do with concealment. As delivered, the D-Link stick had white sides, a big white label on the back, and the D-Link logo in silver on the front. The base had a silver logo, too. To make it stand out a little less, I took the head apart and sprayed the white plastic parts black (with Krylon Fusion plastic paint), covered the label with black tape, and overwrote the logo on the base with a black Sharpie. At first -- as seen in the picture -- I just overwrote the logo on the stick, but it looked lousy, so I used black tape over that, and it's nice and clean. Now, except for the orange power indicator, it's just a no-name black thing sitting on the dash.

NOTE: I was having trouble getting images uploaded, and it appeared to be a problem on the MP3Car server. I've asked for the MP3Car team's help on it. In the meantime, the pictures are on Picasa Web Albums. I'll move them to the MP3Car server when they get it healed.

Pictures Are Up

NOTE: I was having trouble uploading images for the two previous posts, and it appeared to be a problem on the MP3Car server. I've asked for the MP3Car team's help on it. In the meantime, I took freeflashstuff's suggestion and used a web album; the pictures are on Picasa Web Albums, and they're visible in the posts. I'll move them to the MP3Car server when they get it healed.

Thanks for your patience . . .

Originally Posted by rdholtz

Pictures Are Up

NOTE: I was having trouble uploading images for the two previous posts, and it appeared to be a problem on the MP3Car server. I've asked for the MP3Car team's help on it. In the meantime, I took freeflashstuff's suggestion and used a web album; the pictures are on Picasa Web Albums, and they're visible in the posts. I'll move them to the MP3Car server when they get it healed.

Thanks for your patience . . .

Looking good! Hopefully those pesky bugs will be exterminated soon...