Posted by angrycamel at August 27th, 2007

The project request on SourceForge.net was approved and we now have the project page. You can view the project status and get regular updates about it here.

A couple old friends of mine have signed up to help with development of the app and have already started making pretty good progress. I have worked with these two a lot in the past since they were the two that helped make Mimesis a reality. (there is a link to the Mimesis website in my signature, in case anyone is interested as well as a good writeup about it on my site)

Now back to IEBus Studio… we will soon have the ability to export a DLL from a device/event library defined within IEBus Studio. This means that, as described in an earlier post, you will use IEBus Studio to discover events and devices by watching the data pass over the bus, then storing the identified events in a vehicle specific library file as you go. Once you have defined all of the events for your vehicle, you will have the ability to then export those events out as a custom built DLL. The reason we are going with a DLL is because it allows for event handlers to be built into any language that you can plug the DLL into. In addition, the DLL will come fully equipped with an intellisense file which contains descriptions for all events and devices defined in the DLL. This is very handy for you to reference when building your event handlers.

The firmware is coming along nicely as well. It is taking packets, forming them into easily digestible blocks and sending them up to the PC so that IEBus Studio can handle them in any way that you want. I have written the code which allows for you to send down Master and Slave filters from IEBus Studio when in discovery mode. This will mean faster identification of events so that you can store them to the vehicle library then build your DLL!

Now, just in case anyone is wondering… the discovery of events and devices for a vehicle (as long as it is done correctly) only needs to be done once. So if you are thinking that this sure sounds like a lot of work, then don’t worry. At least for the ‘04 Acura TSX, this will already be done by the time I am ready for anyone else to beta this thing. So that will make it easier for you guys to pick it up and start using it.

There it is, a much longer update than I intended to write, but informative nonetheless.

Posted by angrycamel at August 26th, 2007

I have been getting a lot of emails lately requesting a link to download the conversions map pack that I put together for Halo 1 a couple years ago. Since the torrent doesn’t have anyone seeding it at this point and the number of downloads will likely be small, I have added links to download the files form this site on the project page.

For those who care, enjoy!

Posted by angrycamel at August 25th, 2007

I have made a bit of progress on the sniffer console/library builder thingy that I am calling the IEBus StudioBridge. I am wondering if anyone else here knows C# and would like to give a hand at coding this thing?

Its not a question of CAN I keep working on it, but there are some subtle things about C# that I do not have as much experience with and I would like to spend more time on the firmware. Having both developed at the same time would speed up development significantly.

Below is a shot of what I have working now. The reason you see the same message over and over again is because I currently have the Mega8 programmed to send it in a loop for testing. There is a parsed tab for showing the translated version of the message by referencing the selected library (but there are no libs yet, so it isn’t complete). Then there is also a tab for viewing the raw serial data as it comes in.

The message format coming out of the chip is like this:
Code:

~1:2A:A8:01:6:2E:4F:FF:12:0C:8B^\r\n

If you really know that you can handle a program like this please let me know. If you don’t think you will have the time or the know how, please do not offer, because it will most likely end up delaying things. I need someone who can take this and run with it and get a finished product quickly for it to be worth while.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by angrycamel at August 20th, 2007

I finally got it all together and working tonight. Here is a run down of where I am at now on the IEBus project:

Dom’s video converter unit is installed and mounted cleanly in the trunk next to the navigation unit
I have a carpc built and working (it’s still very rough around the edges, so I will not be permanently installing it just yet)
The IEBus sniffer breadboard is put together and working

So now I will begin to work on the firmware. I want the ability to control the carpc by using the stock navigation’s touch screen events which are passed over the IEBus. I also plan to generalize the code base to allow for implementation in vehicles other than just mine.

I put together a video from the first tests tonight. Pictures and data log files will come later. (If the embeded video doesn’t load click here for a direct link to the video page on YouTube.)

Posted by angrycamel at August 18th, 2007

I have been working on the IEBus project a lot these past few weeks and I realized that I have been updating the forum thread, but never updating the site with my progress, so we are.

Just to recap where I am on the project… I found research that others have done regarding the AVC-LAN (Toyota’s name for the IEBus) and have been working towards building a circuit of my own based on their designs. I received most all of the parts from Digikey yesterday and the programmer for the ATMega8 arrived this afternoon, so I have been getting familiar with the it’s programming procedures and installing the IDE’s this evening. I must say, this thing is really fun and easy to work with. I can’t believe I am only just now getting into working with IC’s! This stuff is cool. I feel like a kid in a candy store; like I can make anything do anything now. Well maybe not anything, but world domination is coming soon, so look out Bill Gates, I am learning how to program IC’s!

Seriously though, I have the (IC -> MAX232 -> PC -> MAX232 -> IC) circuit all setup. Its pretty damn cool to see it working and without much of a learning curve either. Well, a background in the C programming language doesn’t hurt.

I will continue working on the circuit tomorrow, actually putting it in the car to start building the (Acura specific) IEBus message table (I hope I make it that far tomorrow). I will have to run and grab a PCI video card in order to get a video out port to go into dom’s unit, or else I wont be able to see anything!

Wish me luck!

Here is a shot of the board as it is now (I reorganized it, and took some stuff out for now):

Posted by angrycamel at August 5th, 2007

I have added a new page in the HowTo’s section. It will walk you through all of the steps necessary to wire power from the battery to the trunk of your car for use with a carpc, amp or whatever else may need 12v DC.

You can check it out by clicking on the HowTo link in the menu above or by following this link: running-power-from-your-car-battery-to-your-trunk/

Posted by angrycamel at June 8th, 2007

Click here to see the details or…

If you already know your interested in buying a harness for the TVandNav2Go Video Nav Converter then send me an email at robbienewton@gmail.com

I am always getting into off the wall projects. Check my projects page to see what kind of stuff I have gotten into lately.

Posted by angrycamel at October 7th, 2006

I have been taking bits of time here and there to update the projects section on the site since I have neglected doing so for so long now. My most recent writeup was about the Mimesis project which I started about 2 years ago. Read the whole story in the projects section under Mimesis.

After lots of late nights and countless hours put into programming version 3, Ramzi and I were able to release it on July 3rd, for the holiday. It was our greatest release yet, with tons and tons of people flocking to the site to see the news and grab the latest content. The stats for Mimesis usage shot through the roof while we saw 5.5 Million hits on the site that month. Mimesis had been launched 140 thousand times by over 20 thousand unique users. It was a successful release to say the least. With over 100 content packages available for download and growing, Mimesis is used daily by gamers out there who want to get the latest and greatest in modded content with the easiest install process, allowing for a non modded Xbox to play content with a modded Xbox. The idea is a reality now and I am pretty proud of how it turned out.

Posted by angrycamel at September 20th, 2006

It has been fun and a great learning experience taking this domain through all of its iterations over the years, however today marks a new day in anrgycamel.com’s constantly changing interface.

After many years of rolling my own website, coded in PHP I have finally decided that its time to get out of that habit and use an existing package such as WordPress blogging software. The main reason being that I was finding myself with less time to develop the content of the site due to the constant work which was being done to either fix things that have gone wrong or improvements. I wont be hassling with the in’s and out’s of the PHP anymore and will instead have more time to get all of the content up that I have planned on for so long.

I am looking forward to consistency, ease of use, longevity, and easy backups from WordPress. I will most likely start to mess with adding plugins but first I am going to get a project category up to date. So many projects have come and gone without even a word about them on my own website; like Mimesis for instance.