Raspberry Pi - Who's gonna have a dabble?

[TotalControl]

Registered interest on the R.S site.

[james_tigerwoods]

I've just Pre ordered one from Farnell - I reckon it'll work as a media PC connected to my NAS and HDMI Tv...

[va1o]

james_tigerwoods said:

I've just Pre ordered one from Farnell - I reckon it'll work as a media PC connected to my NAS and HDMI Tv...

Likewise, got an email from Farnell today saying its open for pre-order and comes with a free T-Shirt

[annodomini2]

va1o said:

james_tigerwoods said:

I've just Pre ordered one from Farnell - I reckon it'll work as a media PC connected to my NAS and HDMI Tv...

Likewise, got an email from Farnell today saying its open for pre-order and comes with a free T-Shirt

Me too, it's cheaper aswell, they were just under £32 inc vat for the first pre-orders, now just under £30 with a free t-shirt!

[dxg]

Is it just me, but it this thing *absolutely ripe* for a lovely little little ECU data block logger / plotter?

I'm thinking, a screen, some buttons for input, a logging function (rather than just plotting), a graphing package, a block querying / extraction package (this would be the hardest part), and a "interface" module that would define which blocks to request and how to display them. Changing this last element would allow the device to be readily moved from car to car.

I had a LiquidGauge in my last car and it was fantastic. The shear geekery of being able to watch boost pressure lagging (not by much, of course ) behind command pressure, for example, was awesome. It could even calculate live engine power readings...

Hell, if I can find some documentation on ECU interrogation over OBD-II (and details of the pin outs), I may well give it a go over summer... How hard can it be??

[annodomini2]

dxg said:

Is it just me, but it this thing *absolutely ripe* for a lovely little little ECU data block logger / plotter?

I'm thinking, a screen, some buttons for input, a logging function (rather than just plotting), a graphing package, a block querying / extraction package (this would be the hardest part), and a "interface" module that would define which blocks to request and how to display them. Changing this last element would allow the device to be readily moved from car to car.

I had a LiquidGauge in my last car and it was fantastic. The shear geekery of being able to watch boost pressure lagging (not by much, of course ) behind command pressure, for example, was awesome. It could even calculate live engine power readings...

Hell, if I can find some documentation on ECU interrogation over OBD-II (and details of the pin outs), I may well give it a go over summer... How hard can it be??

RPI doesn't have the required interfaces for automotive, additional hardware would be required

The key ones are:

CAN (Controller Area Network)
K-Line
J1850

On top of that you need the basic protocol information.

Then the OBD2 protocol, if using this, or the manufacturers EODB interface requirements (manufacturer and sometimes vehicle specific)

[Morningside]

annodomini2 said:

Odie said:

Odie said:

cazzer said:

I know its off topic and extremely anal but it gets me annoyed that one

Back on topic, the power supply will probably be an issue for a car computer as it needs to be heavily rectified.

It shouldn't do. Car electrics are already heavily rectified to 12v dc. The rasp pi uses 6v dc I think. (it can run on 4 AA batteries, I was considering its use in a low earth orbit satellite and was doing a little research It's also possible to solar power it, it only needs 700mA)

Unless your concerned about surge? An inline fuse should keep it safe.

<< hardware hacker

It's a 5v supply, so standard USB charger should do.

Not only do you need a dropper but you also need an inline module that removes power to the unit if the battery voltage drops below a certain voltage.
Saves many a flat battery

[james_tigerwoods]

Does anyone actually have one yet - how do you get the OS on to the SD card in the first place?

[OldJohnnyYen]

I pre ordered one but didn't have that order fulfilled so still waiting. not sure what ill be doing with one in the short term, but long term im hoping it could take over from my arduino.

[fadeaway]

Got an email from RS today. Says that they don't have any stock. When they do they will be allocating them on a first come first served basis, based on when you registered interest.

[OldJohnnyYen]

Ive just received an email from Farnells, I pre ordered a while ago and my lead time is 58 days from today.

[fadeaway]

james_tigerwoods said:

Does anyone actually have one yet - how do you get the OS on to the SD card in the first place?

You need to download the OS and put it onto an SD card using another computer first. Then pop that card into a Raspberry Pi, and away you go.

Info is here:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

[dxg]

annodomini2 said:

dxg said:

Is it just me, but it this thing *absolutely ripe* for a lovely little little ECU data block logger / plotter?

I'm thinking, a screen, some buttons for input, a logging function (rather than just plotting), a graphing package, a block querying / extraction package (this would be the hardest part), and a "interface" module that would define which blocks to request and how to display them. Changing this last element would allow the device to be readily moved from car to car.

I had a LiquidGauge in my last car and it was fantastic. The shear geekery of being able to watch boost pressure lagging (not by much, of course ) behind command pressure, for example, was awesome. It could even calculate live engine power readings...

Hell, if I can find some documentation on ECU interrogation over OBD-II (and details of the pin outs), I may well give it a go over summer... How hard can it be??

RPI doesn't have the required interfaces for automotive, additional hardware would be required

The key ones are:

CAN (Controller Area Network)
K-Line
J1850

On top of that you need the basic protocol information.

Then the OBD2 protocol, if using this, or the manufacturers EODB interface requirements (manufacturer and sometimes vehicle specific)

I was thinking of the live data stream that the ISO 9141-2 reports, as far as I can tell. That would limit me to pre 2004 European cars, but mine just happens to be one of those...

There's even a(n abandoned) open source project for decoding the protocol: http://freediag.sourceforge.net/

And there's serial cables (with the decoupling stuff in the header) available on ebay for a few quid.

When you add in the I2C connections on the PI itself and the fact that GPIO drivers seem to be available on Linux, how hard can it be? It would certainly be a learning experience...

This is what I use to have: http://www.awesome-gti.co.uk/product.php?xProd=107... which is a commercialised form a single guy's hobby. So it's doable, but is it easy?

I would not have a clue for the CAN BUS stuff, which I guess would rule our commercialisation as it wouldn't work on most modern cars, but do they also have the ISO data blocks available? I spend hours noodling our on the net last night looking into this. It seems that while there are plenty of commercial readers available, decoding the actual protocol seems to be the hardest to pin down.

Edited by dxg on Sunday 4th March 13:06

[Stew2000]

Judging by my random guess work. They will need about 200k produced this month to keep everyone happy.

[mxspyder]

Morningside said:

annodomini2 said:

Odie said:

Odie said:

cazzer said:

I know its off topic and extremely anal but it gets me annoyed that one

Back on topic, the power supply will probably be an issue for a car computer as it needs to be heavily rectified.

It shouldn't do. Car electrics are already heavily rectified to 12v dc. The rasp pi uses 6v dc I think. (it can run on 4 AA batteries, I was considering its use in a low earth orbit satellite and was doing a little research It's also possible to solar power it, it only needs 700mA)

Unless your concerned about surge? An inline fuse should keep it safe.

<< hardware hacker

It's a 5v supply, so standard USB charger should do.

Not only do you need a dropper but you also need an inline module that removes power to the unit if the battery voltage drops below a certain voltage.
Saves many a flat battery

If it uses a 5v mini USB, what would be the issue with using an equivalent in car phone charger?

[Stew2000]

It's been said on the official forum the only thing people can't understand is how to get it to run sensibly on AA batteries.
Any other type of 5V mobile phone charger will do.

[pidsy]

This could head 4tb of film storage i have?

Can you buy a "case" for it? Just so it fits in with my home cinema.

Sorry my question is a but ghey, i'm not very up on IT. I'd gave to get someone to build it all for me too.

[0000]

pidsy said:

This could head 4tb of film storage i have?

Yes.

pidsy said:

Can you buy a "case" for it? Just so it fits in with my home cinema.

I think they said they were thinking of bringing a case out at some point. I'm sure some third party will if not. Or perhaps you could just tape it to be back of the TV?

[tank slapper]

Stew2000 said:

It's been said on the official forum the only thing people can't understand is how to get it to run sensibly on AA batteries.
Any other type of 5V mobile phone charger will do.

It just needs someone to do some experimenting with a bench power supply to determine what the boards voltage tolerances are. I don't know if there is any on board voltage regulation, but it may be that it will work straight off 4xAAs without any additional regulation. If it can cope with slightly under 5v then 4x NiMH cells might do the job. If not, it wouldn't be too difficult to knock up a simple voltage regulator circuit.

[va1o]

0000 said:

pidsy said:

Can you buy a "case" for it? Just so it fits in with my home cinema.

I think they said they were thinking of bringing a case out at some point. I'm sure some third party will if not. Or perhaps you could just tape it to be back of the TV?

I'd imagine third party cases should soon some out once the RPi has been more widely distributed, has the potential to be extremely popular