08-21-2021, 07:47 PM
Hi all. Firstly, I'm new here. I found OAP a little while ago, but had no reason to get involved. I've now managed to get my hands on an extra stereo for my car to mess around with for an install.
The car I have is an Alfa Romeo Giulietta that came with the sat nav, which means it has a nice pop up screen. I really like the pop up element to the screen, meaning it can be easily closed and not a distraction when not required. The problem with the in-built system is it is pretty bad overall, and now it has stopped accepting any audio inputs at all, be it a USB stick, CD, or a phone connected via USB. It will take calls over BT (but wont stay connected) but can't play audio over BT. However, as you can see here:
https://www.forum.alfaholicy.org/mito_gi...anguage=en
the stereo is not a standard shape.
My question is, I am better off with Plan A, or Plan B:
A. Replace the inner parts of the stereo with a RPi and all other bits to create a system that outputs to the pop up screen, but find a way to connect the front plate to the RPi to use normal buttons. I've started taking it apart - the standard PCB/s in the pront panel all appear to come away and so I'd need to create a new, custom board to allow button presses (I hope this makes sense?). If I did this, I'd want all keys to work, and some would need to launch or switch to specific apps.
B. Install the RPi in the glove box (there is a space up the back I could fix it into), connect to the pop up display (which would likely be replaced for a touch screen display of the same size), unplug the steering wheel controls from the OEM HU and program them to work, probably using an arduino? The sound would then be routed (via an external sound card) to the current OEM HU. The problem will be I'd have no display for the HU to adjust settings etc. unless I could find a way to split the inputs to the pop up display (the current display is of course proprietary, and I'd want something with an HDMI input just to make it a lot easier to be honest!
My preference is A, but I think it will be somewhat harder to do, and the downside is if I need to replace anything, it'll be a lot more involved to get to everything. One of my priorities with this build is to keep the OEM look, although I do like the look of the gesture support, so I might try and find somewhere discrete to add that later on.
Any thoughts welcome, and thanks in advance.
The car I have is an Alfa Romeo Giulietta that came with the sat nav, which means it has a nice pop up screen. I really like the pop up element to the screen, meaning it can be easily closed and not a distraction when not required. The problem with the in-built system is it is pretty bad overall, and now it has stopped accepting any audio inputs at all, be it a USB stick, CD, or a phone connected via USB. It will take calls over BT (but wont stay connected) but can't play audio over BT. However, as you can see here:
https://www.forum.alfaholicy.org/mito_gi...anguage=en
the stereo is not a standard shape.
My question is, I am better off with Plan A, or Plan B:
A. Replace the inner parts of the stereo with a RPi and all other bits to create a system that outputs to the pop up screen, but find a way to connect the front plate to the RPi to use normal buttons. I've started taking it apart - the standard PCB/s in the pront panel all appear to come away and so I'd need to create a new, custom board to allow button presses (I hope this makes sense?). If I did this, I'd want all keys to work, and some would need to launch or switch to specific apps.
B. Install the RPi in the glove box (there is a space up the back I could fix it into), connect to the pop up display (which would likely be replaced for a touch screen display of the same size), unplug the steering wheel controls from the OEM HU and program them to work, probably using an arduino? The sound would then be routed (via an external sound card) to the current OEM HU. The problem will be I'd have no display for the HU to adjust settings etc. unless I could find a way to split the inputs to the pop up display (the current display is of course proprietary, and I'd want something with an HDMI input just to make it a lot easier to be honest!
My preference is A, but I think it will be somewhat harder to do, and the downside is if I need to replace anything, it'll be a lot more involved to get to everything. One of my priorities with this build is to keep the OEM look, although I do like the look of the gesture support, so I might try and find somewhere discrete to add that later on.
Any thoughts welcome, and thanks in advance.