04-11-2024, 02:15 AM
I've been tinkering with OpenAuto Pro now for a week or so and I think it's time to start sharing my progress and challenges.
I have see a lot of posts by AudioMutt (https://bluewavestudio.io/community/thread-988.html) on his progress on various Mini sites and it led me to this point. However that's where things diverge. I'm hoping to replace or supplement the single DIN factory stereo with a OPenAuto based system and retain the factory "Sport Chrono" gauges in the central stack. Immediately this meant moving to a less supported screen setup.
My approach has been iterative.
Step 1: Grab a unused Raspberry Pi 3B and a screen that's vaguely the right size and vaguely supported.
- Waveshare 7.9" HDMI 1280x400 display with USB Touchscreen interface. Like a few others on the Forum so I knew it could work.
Technically the screen is larger than I want, but I am assuming finding and setting up a 6.8" widescreen that requires a separate driver board etc will be a bit more difficult
Step 2: Buy OAP and install
This then led to the rabbit hole of screen rotation and calculating the DPI (170) of the display to get the user interface displaying mostly correctly.
Step 3: Adding the Minimum Hardware
USB Bluetooth and Audio adapters were sourced. I tried to buy the same specified devices, but as it turned out the very cheap Bluetooth adapter just didn't work. Switched to the cheapest TP-Link adpater from a local store (UB4A is the model number) plugged it in and realised I'd wasted an afternoon. Hot tip: If a piece of basic hardware doesn't just work it's unlikely it will ever work. The uGreen USB Audio adapter worked flawlessly.
Step 4: Nailing down the useability and features
This is where I'm up to now. Just waiting for my Autobox Add-on software/code to be delivered.
I still need to source a USB hub and a few more bits and pieces then I guess it's test, test and more testing while also trying to design some kind of housing and the power management circuits etc.
I have see a lot of posts by AudioMutt (https://bluewavestudio.io/community/thread-988.html) on his progress on various Mini sites and it led me to this point. However that's where things diverge. I'm hoping to replace or supplement the single DIN factory stereo with a OPenAuto based system and retain the factory "Sport Chrono" gauges in the central stack. Immediately this meant moving to a less supported screen setup.
My approach has been iterative.
Step 1: Grab a unused Raspberry Pi 3B and a screen that's vaguely the right size and vaguely supported.
- Waveshare 7.9" HDMI 1280x400 display with USB Touchscreen interface. Like a few others on the Forum so I knew it could work.
Technically the screen is larger than I want, but I am assuming finding and setting up a 6.8" widescreen that requires a separate driver board etc will be a bit more difficult
Step 2: Buy OAP and install
This then led to the rabbit hole of screen rotation and calculating the DPI (170) of the display to get the user interface displaying mostly correctly.
Step 3: Adding the Minimum Hardware
USB Bluetooth and Audio adapters were sourced. I tried to buy the same specified devices, but as it turned out the very cheap Bluetooth adapter just didn't work. Switched to the cheapest TP-Link adpater from a local store (UB4A is the model number) plugged it in and realised I'd wasted an afternoon. Hot tip: If a piece of basic hardware doesn't just work it's unlikely it will ever work. The uGreen USB Audio adapter worked flawlessly.
Step 4: Nailing down the useability and features
This is where I'm up to now. Just waiting for my Autobox Add-on software/code to be delivered.
I still need to source a USB hub and a few more bits and pieces then I guess it's test, test and more testing while also trying to design some kind of housing and the power management circuits etc.