scudderfish
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 11:46 AM |
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Megasquirt & Android phones/tablets
I'm really on a bit of a fishing expedition to see if there is any interest in this. I'm currently ploughing through gobs of C++ from
Megatune and converting parts of it to Java with the idea of running it on Android devices using a bluetooth connection to MS. Right now, I'm
only looking at logging and some rudimentary data display. A full Megatune/TunerStudio type user interface is never going to work on a small touch
device so this would be a supplement to a laptop. Use MT/TS on the laptop for initial config and set up, then do on the road tuning/logging to the
phone in your pocket rather than have the laptop skating around in the footwell. To this end, I've got a few questions for you :-
1) Are you interested in this?
2) What version of Android are you running?
3) What Megasquirt hardware/firmware do you have ?
4) Bluetooth serial adapters cost about £20-£50, would this put you off?
5) What would you be prepared to pay for such an application given all of the above?
Regards,
Dave
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mad4x4
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 12:11 PM |
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Would be slightly intrested in this,
Android Version 2.2 (HTC DESIRE HD)
Problem I foresee is connecting the Phone to the Megasquirt. Most USB to Blue tooth are designed with the idea of bule tooth enabling a computer
not bule tooth enabling a device.
You may need to look at building a custom "Android" cable. Then you have the problems of linking it to the phone.
Scot's do it better in Kilts.
MK INDY's Don't Self Centre Regardless of MK Setting !
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scudderfish
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 12:16 PM |
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Not a USB - bluetooth (which are dirt cheap), but an RS232 - Bluetooth adapter, which are not dirt cheap. Something like this (which happens to be
two of them)
RS232 Serial Bluetooth Adapters (Pair) Brand New on eBay (end time 06-Feb-11 06:47:42 GMT)
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blakep82
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 01:47 PM |
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the problem i see with the serial bluetooth adapters is how to power them. i don't think serial sockets have power supplies built in, like USB
does... 
would be good for finding and fixing ignition faults on the car when you're awya from home though. i'd like it, if it could be used for
everything rather than just logging. however i don't have a smartphone. considering iphone, but i'm not going to pay for one lol. plus
o've only got ignition anyway, as my car's on carbs
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don't write OT on a new thread title, you're creating the topic, everything you write is very much ON topic!
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 02:05 PM |
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I'd be up for this.
Presently running an Orange version of Android on a San Francisco, but don't mind reinstalling the OS from a more normal source.
MS is MS2 daughter card upgrade.
Have you considered using a cable instead of the bluetooth? That is what I had going with my palm pilot. I don't mind "investing"
in a serial bluetooth adapter if that is what is needed though.
It would be megacool to integrate this app. with the GPS accelerometer datalogging stuff that is out there for these phones, with a bit of
intelligent software it could do some nice stuff once you could integrate this stuff together.
Matt
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scudderfish
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 02:33 PM |
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The megasquirt powers the bluetooth adapter. One of the pins (pin 9 I think) provides the requisite juice. I haven't looked too deeply into
any sort of cable as far as I can see there is no standard cable based capability with Android devices, where as bluetooth is pretty much everywhere
(except the really cheap tablets that Maplins sell). I was looking to see if it was possible to do RS232 over the headphone socket by bit banging the
audio hardware, but there doesn't seem to be anything out there about that idea.
As for logging, I'd love to throw in GPS, compass & accelerometer as well, but that may mean taking liberties with the format expected by
megalogviewer. It won't be as accurate as dedicated data loggers, but it'll be good enough for most people. First steps first though,
I've got to get it correctly decoding all the INI files for the various different megasquirts.
Regards,
Dave
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James
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 03:59 PM |
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Certainly an interesting idea.
Sadly I have neither MS (yet!) or a decent phone! 
I know that as long as 4 or so years ago CalvinX was converting MS to run with Bluetooth instead of serial so if you can track him down (I believe
some people on here are still in touch with him) then he might be able to help.
Cheers,
James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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scudderfish
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| posted on 3/2/11 at 04:09 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by James
Certainly an interesting idea.
Sadly I have neither MS (yet!) or a decent phone!
I know that as long as 4 or so years ago CalvinX was converting MS to run with Bluetooth instead of serial so if you can track him down (I believe
some people on here are still in touch with him) then he might be able to help.
Cheers,
James
People handy with a soldering iron could probably mount something like this
Wireless Bluetooth Transceiver Module RS232 TTL 3.3V on eBay (end time 07-Feb-11 14:21:43 GMT)
in the MS. Certainly a cheaper option than something that plugs into the DB9 socket.
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martyn_16v
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| posted on 6/2/11 at 10:37 AM |
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Plenty of people on the msefi forums that have fiddled with serial bluetooth adaptors, but hardly any at all that have had any kind of reliability.
Most people's experiences seem to be that if they can even connect at all, it'll last for a matter of seconds then drop the connection.
There's a project going to get a similar app on the iphone that is based
around using a serial to wifi module instead, mainly to circumvent the restrictions apple place on using the serial interface. It does have a slightly
higher initial cost but appears to be more reliable from early indications, and has the benefit of being totally platform agnostic. They have been
using a wi-fly/rn-134 module, although I've recently seen a SPI-wifi module from H&D wireless that looks promising and is dirt cheap (£28
for the module, but will need a few quid's extra hardware to get it passing RS232).
The developers behind both Tunerstudio and Megatunix are apparently planning to look at this 'at some point' as well. If you need advice
regarding log file formats and things then Phil Tobin (Tunerstudio) appears to be quite helpful if you ask him nicely.
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prelude1980
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| posted on 6/2/11 at 11:02 AM |
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This would be very interesting, i have been using a Bluetooth Socket like this
linky
on tunerstudio and megatune for a couple of years now, i've been looking for phone version as i really want to datalog without the laptop.
So i'll definitely be wanting this thread
Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary... that's what
gets you.
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/dodd1980
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scudderfish
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| posted on 6/2/11 at 11:43 AM |
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I'm going for bluetooth right now as I have a couple of BT-RS232 adapters kicking around and I'm not fighting the limitations on the iOS
platform. It should be feasible to interface over both in the s/w though.
I'm not going to have anything available for a few months yet, but I'll keep this thread alive with progress for those who are
interested.
Regards,
Dave
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omega 24 v6
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| posted on 6/2/11 at 09:05 PM |
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Not interested myself but saw this and thought of you.
http://www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=122&t=34779&sid=df5ed9dda03b713a886043e7d15f60c6
If it looks wrong it probably is wrong.
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scudderfish
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| posted on 6/2/11 at 09:18 PM |
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 I posted on that thread when I was doing this for the Nokia N900. I've abandoned that line of code though as the platform is a dead end.
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scudderfish
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| posted on 10/2/11 at 02:45 PM |
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OK, I've written a MS simulator that takes log files and pumps them out as if it is a megasquirt. It should be adaptable based upon the log
file format it is fed to simulate different flavours of megasquirt. This way I can push the main development ahead without being tied to the actual
hardware.
I need your log files!
I've only got ones generated by my MS so if you have anything other than a MS1Extra I'd be grateful if you could send me a sample log
file. No multi megabyte beasts, but at least a couple of minutes of run time. If it also captures starting or stopping the engine that'd be
great. Send them to me at dave.g.smith@gmail.com
Regards,
Dave
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 10/2/11 at 09:40 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
OK, I've written a MS simulator that takes log files and pumps them out as if it is a megasquirt. It should be adaptable based upon the log
file format it is fed to simulate different flavours of megasquirt. This way I can push the main development ahead without being tied to the actual
hardware.
I need your log files!
I've only got ones generated by my MS so if you have anything other than a MS1Extra I'd be grateful if you could send me a sample log
file. No multi megabyte beasts, but at least a couple of minutes of run time. If it also captures starting or stopping the engine that'd be
great. Send them to me at dave.g.smith@gmail.com
Regards,
Dave
I didnt know you could speak chinese?
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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scudderfish
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| posted on 15/2/11 at 11:42 AM |
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My wife just phoned me to let me know that the cheap Android tablet I bought from eBay has arrived Now I have real hardware to develop with (and a
weeks holiday coming up), I should make more progress.
Instead of trying to support every MS version under the sun, for now I'm only going to target MS1/Extra and MS2/Extra. If you have anything
else and you're interested in this, send me some log files.
Regards,
Dave
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HowardB
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| posted on 15/2/11 at 01:18 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
I posted on that thread when I was doing this for the Nokia N900. I've abandoned that line of code though as the platform is a dead end.
My N900 still works and there seems to be stuff about. Guess it just wasn't popular enough.
Having said that I now use it as a web browser, and email client at home to save booting the PC.
Howard
Fisher Fury was 2000 Zetec - now a 1600 (it Lives again and goes zoom)
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scudderfish
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| posted on 15/2/11 at 02:00 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by HowardB
quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
I posted on that thread when I was doing this for the Nokia N900. I've abandoned that line of code though as the platform is a dead end.
My N900 still works and there seems to be stuff about. Guess it just wasn't popular enough.
Having said that I now use it as a web browser, and email client at home to save booting the PC.
Don't get me wrong, I think the N900 is a good phone, and I still use mine, it's just that for developing new software it's dead.
It's never going to be upgraded and any newer models have been strangled at birth by Nokia. Maemo/Meego/QT development is a waste of time.
Nokia have really screwed up. I really wish they hadn't.
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HowardB
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| posted on 15/2/11 at 03:39 PM |
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not getting you wrong, and I am with you on their misdirection, I have told Nokia of my thoughts and no doubt they will ignore me along with many
millions of their loyal followers by teaming up with micro$oft!
oh well, what we had were phones, now we have computers that allow us to make phone calls occasionally,...
Howard
Fisher Fury was 2000 Zetec - now a 1600 (it Lives again and goes zoom)
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blakep82
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| posted on 20/2/11 at 05:51 PM |
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what about doing one for megajolt? as a programmer? would that work?
just got an HTC desire HD, so now thinking it waould be awesome, but i'm using megajolt.
i'd give it a go myself but haven't got a clue where to start lol
edit, looks like autosport labs are already on it
http://www.autosportlabs.org/viewtopic.php?p=16131&sid=c4f220b19fd0b35e048ef01040182518
just need to find a way to get my older megajolt to work on bluetooth reliably, and see if new megajolt software works properly with my old version of
megajolt... should have waited to get my megajolt shouldn't i? lol
[Edited on 20/2/11 by blakep82]
________________________
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don't write OT on a new thread title, you're creating the topic, everything you write is very much ON topic!
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scudderfish
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| posted on 2/3/11 at 09:57 PM |
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Been playing a bit with the UI as I got bored fiddling with the code that runs in the background. Given the small nature and low res of the target
screens it probably won't get much more advanced than this mock up, probably a few LED type indicators for 'oh sh*t' values.
 
Description
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ashg
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| posted on 3/3/11 at 07:34 AM |
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looks really good i can get you some ms3 logs but they will only be a startup idle and shutoff as the car isnt taxed at the moment. i acording to
james and ken the jump from ms2extra to ms3 isnt to bad in terms of what you are trying to achieve.
Anything With Tits or Wheels Will cost you MONEY!!
Haynes Roadster (Finished)
Exocet (Finished & Sold)
New Project (Started)
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 4/3/11 at 10:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
Been playing a bit with the UI as I got bored fiddling
Youll go blind!!
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 7/3/11 at 05:41 PM |
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That will look nice.
Have you considered whether you could recycle the .dash dashboard file format that is implemented in TunerStudio. It is a simple xml format, so is
human readable.
It is more than you really need, but if you implemented a gauge and a labelled warning light, then you would have everything that you have talked
about. The only other thing would be a graph (i.e. AFR versus time, RPM versus time and TPS versus time) but these are not as essential.
Matt
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scudderfish
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| posted on 7/3/11 at 06:27 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by matt_gsxr
That will look nice.
Have you considered whether you could recycle the .dash dashboard file format that is implemented in TunerStudio. It is a simple xml format, so is
human readable.
It is more than you really need, but if you implemented a gauge and a labelled warning light, then you would have everything that you have talked
about. The only other thing would be a graph (i.e. AFR versus time, RPM versus time and TPS versus time) but these are not as essential.
Matt
I considered it, but there is some TS dependencies in it, and the files will never realistically be transferrable due the extreme differences in
display capabilities. I think 3 gauges is pushing it on most devices, it's the difference between 'ooo, pretty' and what is
actually practical/usable.
v0.01 is probably going to be hardwired to what I want it to look like with configuration coming later.
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