Yesterday my friend was showing off his home brew car computer that he'd made himself using a mini-itx board. It was pretty impressive and got me thinking ... would it be possible to have something similar on the 1400 GTR? As I've started to mess about with a Beagleboard (http://beagleboard.org/hardware-xM)which can run Ubuntu and Android OS to name a few on a very small form factor. Wouldn't it be marvellous if the existing onboard computer could be replaced with this?
Obviously the first issue is knowing what the interface specification is on the GTR and then bridging it as well as writing a device driver for it. From my research so far, the GTR uses a CAN BUS system so it should be possible to get a OBD reader to scan the codes from which it'll be possible through trial and error to workout which device they relate to. This is just so you can display the existing onboard computer info (and possibly more)
Then there's the cost involved as you'd need a display (touchscreen?) etc but if it could be done you'd have a fully functioning onboard computer that could stream music, on board sat nav and whatever other goodies you fancied.
Here's an example of some of the interfaces:
(http://guino.home.insightbb.com/RRMain.jpg)
Anyone tried anything like this for a motorbike? Of course, you could just a get a Android mobile device and stick it on top, but that's not the point! It's been quite a while since I've done something challenging and this would make an interesting project.
NB, I couldn't even fit a radiator guard.... ;D
I have Roadrunner in my GT4, it's a pretty good interface. (full fat PC stripped and mounted up behine the glovebox:))
I have had a mini pc mounted in the tail of my Hayabusa for a while. I used a lilliput 7inch touchscreen which failed on the 2nd or 3rd day i Europe. An electrical fault on the PCB I think.
It was repaired but I always have the thought that it maybe was the vibrations of the bike that caused it, just look at the first gen TomTom Ride. The mounts broke on quite a number and was factored down to vibration if I remember correctly and a number of units failed too.
If you put anything on the bike rubber mount is a must IMO.
Got to admit this threads over my head. ::)
But I do concur with Nygie, about the initial Tom Tom Rider V1. The cheap plastic mount just shook itself to bits. Thats about the only remotely constructive input I'm going to be able to offer on this topic. :-[
Not very neat but it works as well as I need really.
It's really do-able, there's boards smaller than mini itx too, there's micro itx and evn pico itx i think.
A good source of info can be found at...
www.mp3car.com
www.digital-car.co.uk
I had thought about it already but satnav today with mp3 and phone built in is there need for anything else and speaking from experience the latter is definately the cheaper option if not as much fun for those who like to "mess/play/built/create"
I'm quite alarmed that you are listening to Huey Lewis & The Power Of Love :o
Power of Love!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NMph943tsw)
Adding an external device would be relatively straight forward. What I'm talking about is replacing the onboard computer with a bespoke one. Looks like the CAN BUS on the GTR doesn't follow standard specification so to get the codes can't be done by an OBD II device which is a shame.
Maybe I need to hook into the CAN Bus high and low and read the raw data. Can be done but would take a while to reverse engineer everything. I really need to delve into something highly technical to keep the brain ticking
Quote from: Lonewolf on December 19, 2010, 11:23:17 PM
I'm quite alarmed that you are listening to Huey Lewis & The Power Of Love :o
Power of Love!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NMph943tsw)
I think it's Frankie goes to Hollywood's version, no better I know lol
Quote from: Norman Bates on December 19, 2010, 11:49:47 PM
Adding an external device would be relatively straight forward. What I'm talking about is replacing the onboard computer with a bespoke one. Looks like the CAN BUS on the GTR doesn't follow standard specification so to get the codes can't be done by an OBD II device which is a shame.
Maybe I need to hook into the CAN Bus high and low and read the raw data. Can be done but would take a while to reverse engineer everything. I really need to delve into something highly technical to keep the brain ticking
That is super technical, would have to be pretty special to replace the ECU. After all there are no OBD codes until the ECU decifers the data and compares it to the "limits".
I actually find it really strange that they use CAN bus on bikes, it's not like there's miles of cables to do away with.
The ECU would have a chip to decode the data and likewise the instrument cluster. The CAN BUS will be following a specification so it won't be too hard to get a reader. Unless I can find some existing code, the hard part would be writing the implementation of the specification and then decoding all the instructions and mapping them to each sensor/device. Should be an interesting little project ;D
I just want to replace the onboard computer with one that I have control over. It'll be easier mount another android device but where's the fun in that ;D
Too much time on your hands bud, great to have techies like yourself onboard tho.
Keep us posted.
unless u know the protocol that kawasali use there gonna be probs. there's about six diffewrent protocols. once you've id the protocol then it should be be poss to work out what data each sensor is sending
building the comp should be easy. its the can bus stuff that's the tricky bit and then writing the software ontop
interesting proj though. these might help
http://carputers.org/
http://www.mp3car.com/
Thanks for those guys. I've almost identified what's required to sniff the codes from the CAN BUS. If I go with an Android OS, there's applications on Android that will display the data in a GUI. Unfortunately that's not what I want (just need the service layer) so may have to implement the specification myself or port one over. I'll also look at Linux.
Hopefully I'll get some time over xmas to drill down to what is required.