yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Head-Units] :
Combine this HU with a car-specific front plate?

Hey guys,

my BMW E46 needs a fitting front panel to look good. Do you think its feasible to somehow merge a BMW-specific Android HU panel with this Carpad HU?

I can think of two possible technical solutlons

Option 1: front panel buttons can be routed to the Android board (maybe a custom microcontroller for that), needing the custom rom to be modified

Option 2: MCU reverse engineering and open source implementation. (any effort done in this regard?)

As the MCU controller is known, all peripherial drivers are there. The communication from android to the MCU should be easy to understand with the source code available, right?
[Android Head-Units] Zaphod-Beeblebrox:
New test build

Here's my latest test build. I'll detail some features later

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0MJcW3sI4ZPSlM4Z1BPdDRsbzA/view?usp=sharing
[Android Head-Units] toteki:
Going to try this tomorrow.. See that somebody else already tried it and didn't work, but double checking won't harm anyone..
[Android Head-Units] ElfinJNoty:
I've gotta modify a faceplate to eliminate about a 1/4 inch on either side of my unit.

Its worth it to mention that my unit also has the LCD flex cable slightly loose at the bottom(black tape on bottom bubbles down slightly... Got mine from a Chinese 3rd party). And also that it does NOT appear to be an exact double din size.... Thus the right and left gaps.

As you can see, still need to finalize the mount though.
[Android Head-Units] Tuatara:
Nice ... that does look very stylish in your car! :)

---------- Post added at 11:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 AM ----------

It is an amazing head unit - far better than a locked down Parrot, or trying to shoe-horn in a tablet. I've finished the bezel rework on mine (5002), and have it fitting in beautifully. The last thing I need to do is prime and paint it to make it perfect. Once I've done that I'll post a few photos of my setup.

I'm experiencing the exact same screen flickering myself. I find it only occurs when the unit is 'cold' (i.e. first starting up after overnight). I'm not sure if this could be related to a grounding issue (i.e. ground bounce - causing the video clock signals over firewire to be skewed or mis-clocked/triggered), or some kind of impedance issue (firewire cable quality/length/resistance), or some kind of a process variance in the Thine HMDI over Firewire communications chips and/or within the LCD display itself (i.e. the display is cold, and the clock signals aren't synchronizing properly). It's all guesswork at the moment, but I'll see if I can figure something out.

As far as the tape on the bottom protecting the LCD ribbon cable - this is primarily there for protection from damage of the ribbon cable surface. While dust can get in through there, it would be minimal due to the design of the panel. There is no fan inside the unit, so there should be no airflow sucking dust inwards. If you remove the hard tape pieces (mine had two pieces of hard plastic tape stuck together), you can easily replace this with anything else. I used some black electricians tape (much softer), and fit it cleanly over the entire cable and fascia entry cutout. It fits closely and is barely noticeable beneath the bezel. When removing the tape, just peel back slowly - no need to force it.

The flickering is a "known" issue - i.e. some others are experiencing it too. I'm going to try and figure out why this is happening ... hopefully it can be resolved with an easy fix.
[Android Head-Units] Black6spdZ:
It had a gap like that with my old standard 2-din an-21u unit.. after seeing a pic of Zaphod-Beeblebrox's install on alixpress "before I even knew it was his" I knew I wanted the 8" model in my 07 Silverado. It took a little modification to get it to sit deeper in the radio pocket but the entire LCD fills the stereo opening now.. if you didn't know any better you'd think it was factory!
[Android Head-Units] ElfinJNoty:
I'm still at work for a few hours but will look at this/flash it when I get home. Is it in a flashable zip? Or does it require using RKflashtool?
[Android Head-Units] Bokomaru:
It's an update.img, so you'll have to use RKflashtool.
[Android Head-Units] Tuatara:
Wow. You've built a true ROM from source. Awesome. Very unlike my binary-level "hack & slash".

Right! Taking time away from the work I should be doing, I've quickly done a comparison with my ROM, and I may have found a few things you can do to fix issues and/or improve the ROM. Sending you a (long/detailed) PM about my findings. I might try applying these myself and/or looking into the Github and making the mods in a fork and performing a full build - if I ever get my office set up, and my machines connected and a android build PC built - I'm still doing regular work instead of unpacking from my move. :(

Thanks Zaphod!
[Android Head-Units] zanix:
Ok, I just tried to edit /system/bin/install-once.sh once again and it does not run on startup

I added a line to echo some text to a file in /data/local/tmp/ and the file does not exist after boot.

Even the comment in this script says it only runs once on the first boot

# This code is effectively run once on first boot of the ROM
# It then performs all of the post-boot feature installation required
[Android Head-Units] Tuatara:
The script is run on every boot. The way in which the "effectively run once" is achieved is by checking the directory or file creation for the respective operations.

The current file looks like this:

#!/system/bin/sh
#
# Tuatara ROM Initialization
#
# This code is effectively run once on first boot of the ROM
# It then performs all of the post-boot feature installation required
#

# Check if Viper4Android Impulses are installed
if [ ! -d /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android ]; then
mkdir /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android
chown system.sdcard_rw /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android
chmod 775 /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android
fi

# Check if Viper4Android Impulses are installed
if [ ! -d /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel ]; then
echo "Installing Viper4Android Impulses ..."
mkdir /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
chown system.sdcard_rw /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
chmod 775 /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
busybox unzip -o -qq /system/media/install/ViPER4AndroidPresets.zip -d /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
else
echo "Viper4Android Impulses already installed"
fi

# Check if ClockworkMod Recovery has already been installed
if [ ! -f /mnt/internal_sd/.clockwork_recovery ]; then
echo "Flashing ClockworkMod to Recovery"
dd if=/system/media/install/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/emmc/by-name/recovery bs=4096
touch /mnt/internal_sd/.clockwork_recovery
else
echo "ClockworkMod already flashed to Recovery"
fi

NOTE: Each of the if blocks checks for the presence of a directory or file to determine if the actions within are to be performed.

NOTE: The echo statements in there were only for my use in debugging/testing/development and I didn't remove them since they don't affect operation.

Add the following line to the very end of the install-once.sh file (after the last "fi" statement):

touch /mnt/internal_sd/it_worked

You should then see the "it_worked" file created on the root of the internal SD card. Delete that file, reboot, and the file will be created again. Use the file/directory if detection technique to do a one-time-only operation, or any other if detection to perform a specific action. Or, just code in whatever you want and execute it on every boot.

Oh yeah ... just noticed ... /data/local/tmp is lost/wiped/cleared/created after every boot. It won't be there since it's a temporary ramdisk. Don't put files in there! :)
[Android Head-Units] zanix:
Just edited the file with the touch statement and I do not see /mnt/internal_sd/it_worked being created. :(

File looks like this

#!/system/bin/sh
#
# Tuatara ROM Initialization
#
# This code is effectively run once on first boot of the ROM
# It then performs all of the post-boot feature installation required
#

# Check if Viper4Android Impulses are installed
if [ ! -d /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android ]; then
mkdir /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android
chown system.sdcard_rw /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android
chmod 775 /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android
fi

# Check if Viper4Android Impulses are installed
if [ ! -d /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel ]; then
echo "Installing Viper4Android Impulses ..."
mkdir /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
chown system.sdcard_rw /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
chmod 775 /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
busybox unzip -o -qq /system/media/install/ViPER4AndroidPresets.zip -d /mnt/internal_sd/ViPER4Android/Kernel
else
echo "Viper4Android Impulses already installed"
fi

# Check if ClockworkMod Recovery has already been installed
if [ ! -f /mnt/internal_sd/.clockwork_recovery ]; then
echo "Flashing ClockworkMod to Recovery"
dd if=/system/media/install/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/emmc/by-name/recovery bs=4096
touch /mnt/internal_sd/.clockwork_recovery
else
echo "ClockworkMod already flashed to Recovery"
fi

touch /mnt/internal_sd/it_worked

# mount the Android directory of external_sd to internal_sd
echo "==started mount script==" > /mnt/internal_sd/mount_log.txt
if [ -d /mnt/internal_sd/Android/data ]; then
rm -rf /mnt/internal_sd/Android/data
mkdir /mnt/internal_sd/Android/data
fi
mount -o bind /mnt/external_sd/Android/data/ /mnt/internal_sd/Android/data 2>&1 >> /mnt/internal_sd/mount_log.txt
echo "==done mount script==" >> /mnt/internal_sd/mount_log.txt

I can run the mount command from adb shell after /mnt/internal_sd and /mnt/external_sd are mounted (by looking at df while its booting) and it works.
[Android Head-Units] Tuatara:
I'll look into this ... I was sure that the file is run each time on boot ... I'll get back to you - hopefully I'll have some time tonight, otherwise tomorrow. :(
[Android Head-Units] zanix:
I'm on my way to bed, so tomorrow is ok. Thanks for looking into it.
[Android Head-Units] toteki:
"Good" to see that I am not the only one with both these problems.. I will try to remove the tape and also use electricians tape to cover it again..

Yesterday the flickering was pretty 'heavy' happened around 4 times in just 30 seconds (I posted the video a couple of comments ago) and today nothing at all.. Really no idea why it happens..

Let me know if you find out some thing :)
[Android Head-Units] leonkernan:
I'm loving it so far, the nav bar will be a huge improvement for quickly switching between apps on the road when you can't spend time swiping between screens and hunting down icons.

Once (really minor) request, could we possibly have an option to remove the clock and just have the dots for the menu?

It might be a little OCD, but the out of alignment clock looks out of place to me. I've already got enough clocks in my car :)

Another thing: Phone goes straight to the dialer pad, any chance a long press could go to the contacts app as well?
[Android Head-Units] Zaphod-Beeblebrox:
We'll play with some Navbar options in time. I'm thinking of allowing all of the Extensible buttons to be able to be turned on/off, etc.

As for dialer, I've only briefly played around with it. Do you have any 3rd party apps installed? Something Exdialer, or other contacts apps should map to that intent as well.
[Android Head-Units] leonkernan:
I never thought of replacing the dialer... (My iPhone background showing through :D )

Yep, just installed the trial of Exdialer and that problem is solved.
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
I posted a long and detailed explanation of what's causing it in my car along with solutions less than two days ago.
[Android Head-Units] bockywocky:
I was tired sitting in the car every night, so I order an extra set wiring cables and GPS antenna to connect the unit on my working bench.

Maybe there are some others Dutch guys interested to save shipping costs to the Netherlands. If so... let me know.
[Android Head-Units] [Bob]:
Finally finished :)

The car is a Suzuki Swift 2012.
[Android Head-Units] Zaphod-Beeblebrox:
Looks nice!
[Android Head-Units] toteki:
Thanks for your reply, guess I missed your post !

However, I do not think that this causes my problem, off course I am not sure but for example, this morning I drove around with no problem at all.

But in the afternoon I drove again, and the flickering started again. Now I must say that this morning my WIFI was turned off, and in the afternoon I turned it on to download an app on the HU.

Not sure if the flickering started right at that point, but will def check it out. I'll drive home again with out WIFI and see if that helps, and later turn it on again to see if flickering starts again.

I have also just ordered a 3G dongle, hope that helps..

Thanks again for your reply!
[Android Head-Units] Alphas:
I am torn between NU3001 and joying android unit. The disadvantages are possible flickering screen after warranty, non functioning RDS and requires an external android box that means more points of failure. The plus point is faster quad core while the joying android is dual core processor.

Since I am normally using it as an offline navigation, dual core is sufficient for the unit.
[Android Head-Units] pppeterrr:
box dead

oke recieved my unit today, from spain

instalation was easy, worked as espected

after the second reboot the display went out, and the lights on the box went off.

moved the unit out of the car again and checked all fuses, no problem.....

blown android box ?
[Android Head-Units] Kevinkuensken:
Hello,

how long do you wait for the NU3001 from Spain.I have it buy there too.

thx
[Android Head-Units] pppeterrr:
it took about 3 weeks
[Android Head-Units] renedis:
Check the fuse on the back of the unit
[Android Head-Units] pppeterrr:
Thanks for your reply

The fuse is in good order
[Android Head-Units] pppeterrr:
if there is anyone Dutch in the nearby of uitgeest

noord-holland (haarlem/amsterdam/alkmaar) max Utrecht

i could test it maybe with your box
[Android Head-Units] Bokomaru:
Have you tried hooking the android box up to a PC with USB to see if that works?

Did you update the software at all? It's been reported that the latest MCU code update might have some issues.
[Android Head-Units] pppeterrr:
no its fresh out of the box, have been searching for a adaptor (nokia) to test if it would

power up the box, but i dont have one....Tell me, would a usb connection help ?

(just hooked it up with the usb connector to my laptop, nothing, no usb popup in windows, also loaded the

factory tool, but sicnce there are no drivers to install, no use)
[Android Head-Units] [Bob]:
Tasker Sound Control

Hey everyone,

So in my attempt to deal with the static noise when nothing is playing I installed Tasker and Media Utilities and I've mange to set up actions in such way that when a media app is playing, there is an Unmute action, and when a media app is not playing, there is a mute action.

There is an issue though, I can't find an action that does the same thing as Mute does when I press the mute button on my steering wheel or I long press the volume down button on the unit.

Silent mode on, media volume 0, system volume 0 or speakerphone off don't do the same thing as the Mute buttons.

Any idea how I could do this ? Maybe run a command line or something ? Or is there an action in tasker that I missed ? Thanks !

---------- Post added at 09:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 PM ----------

Solved this by plugging the dongle into the normal USB port instead of the OTG one. Now it boots up faster, connects every time and works as it should.
[Android Head-Units] Psy87:
I tried some similar action. I wanted to have a low startup volume level, but every kind of volume didn't work. There has to be a master volume controlled via mcu...
[Android Head-Units] Zaphod-Beeblebrox:
MCU/Head unit volume is handled separately from Android/System volume.

What you want is this:

Intent("android.intent.action.KEYCODE_BONOVO_SYSTEMMUTE_KEY");

I assume since you know how to use tasker, you'll know what to do with that.
[Android Head-Units] Bokomaru:
All of the commands from the android box get sent over a serial channel to the MCU. One of them is for controlling the volume on different channels as well as muting it. So it is definitely possible to have something do this, just not sure what is available right now.

Maybe there is an intent that can be sent to do it right now?
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
Look at my OP, it has dual Bluetooth. One for connecting to your phone and a second one for talking to OBD adapter.
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
Yes. I noticed it in your original post and bluetooth is also listed in the add on Aliexpress. Just makes me a little nervous that it is in parentheses along with no DVD in the product title on Aliexpress.

It's surely supported.
[Android Head-Units] easyguy:
Is the cpu/android in the headunit or is it in that android box addon? The unit looks good but the descriptions are a little vague. Hope you get yours soon so you can do an unbiased review.
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
They just confirmed it's shipping within three days so I should have it in a week or so, not including however long Spanish customs sits on it.

I'll do an unboxing as soon as it arrives.
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
From what I can tell, the 2 din chassis holds the monitor, amps and whatever circuitry is required to integrate a mini android box that sits in the glove box or where ever you want. The two are connected with what looks like a Firewire cable.

I really like the idea because it would be much more convenient to access the android portion to swap usb cables or whatever. I would also like to come up with a way to power the android box separately from the head unit (it must be possible to some extent because you can remove the android box and use it with a monitor or TV via HDMI). Maybe mount a small battery of some sort that can power the android box in sleep mode for several days (via USB) but the amps and monitor left off. Then when you start the car the main car battery could keep the android battery topped off. The android unit should come out of sleep mode and ready to go in just a couple of seconds.

Am I missing something?
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
Actually that makes a lot of sense. I've been trying to piece together the various bits of information out there from the web site, the photos and stickers on the head unit, and my conversation with Newsmy and the best I could come up with was that it was actually just a cheap tablet that was stuck to the front of a 2-DIN chassis. I figured you could pry it off somehow and connect it to your TV.

Your suggestion makes a lot more sense. She told me it has two USB ports (which aren't visible on the HU) and that wifi is integrated, so it's all clicking now. There's also a photo of what looks like a carrying case that I thought might be for the tablet but more likely that is the "Android Box" itself.

Also confirmed there is dual Bluetooth, one is hard-wired to the dialer/phone app and the other works with Torque etc.

I've asked about unlocked bootloader and rooting; were still waiting on the tech team to come back on that one. :)
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
Here's a link to a chinese tutorial on the unit. It really looks pretty nice. http://gps.zol.com.cn/472/4726460.html
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
AWESOME! Thanks for posting this.

I can hardly wait to try my Newman Nissan Universal Car Machine!

Here's a detailed walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC8_jyVUErE#t=446
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
Yep. The translation is hilarious! I think I'll order it today. I don't think I can wait for you to get yours.
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
I can't either.

The guy who posted that video is selling them here in Europe for 417€. I wish I had known that yesterday. He really should put a brand and model number on his web site. He says 7-16 days for delivery so I suspect he's just ordering from the same place and then shipping them out.
[Android Head-Units] priusfan:
another tester...

Bonjour,

I ordered today one of these units from spain.

I have already a KGL 4.2, it works really well, but I would prefer a higher resolution (1024x600 vs 800x480) and a bigger screen (7 vs 6.2).

I like the idea to bring back home the "android brain" to be able to test on my desk rather than in the car...

I just hope it is not a scam...

I would prefer tethering using BT instead of wifi but I wonder if it could be possible...
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
Well I just placed my order. The race is on to see who gets it first.
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
It will be interesting to see if the guy in Spain (who is about 30 minutes from me) actually has them in stock or not.

Here's a picture of the android box connected by cable along with the other accessories. https://www.facebook.com/1625215904...201957539056/1660201844205734/?type=1&theater
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
Cool. Thanks for the pic. Bummer that guy is so close to you and you didn't know.
[Android Head-Units] priusfan:
Bonjour,

It seems there was ONE (only) before my order....
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
I'm gonna be mad if you get yours before mine. :)

Did anyone else notice in the video that it's already rooted?
[Android Head-Units] easyguy:
Damn i just bought an android HU. this setup reminds me of the pioneer appradio setup. So the connection carries the touch and the video input? So in the future we can buy a more advanced brain and be updated and up to date lets say with android L and a much faster quad core with maybe 2gb of ram?

Once you guy received it and do a review and let me know that the cable carry both touch and data i will be selling my current HU and buying this.
[Android Head-Units] alaninsitges:
I suspect it's more complex than just "touch and video" - the GPS antenna, microphone, etc., all plug into the HU.
[Android Head-Units] bpalmer1455:
Well I just received a message from Aliexpress saying my order has been closed. I dont know why. So here we go.
[Android Head-Units] easyguy:
Im sorry bpalmer another reason why i hate buying from aliexpress. Alan good point. I hope you guys get your HU and let us know.
[Android Head-Units] red13dotnet:
According to the build config files in the source, this is the source for the 1.0.9 release
[Android Head-Units] toologic:
Great. Oohh. i download all files from pan.baidu, create gz archive and start extract sources.
[Android Head-Units] red13dotnet:
Hmmm, so this is your personal server? This is great! Please let me know when you want to setup login accounts and get the source committed into the git repo.
[Android Head-Units] renedis:
Priusfan is downloading the files from my FTP as we speak :)

I have to admit, I do not have a lot of experience with GIT. The server is installed, project folder is created and I've created a git user. Git uses port 9418, this port is set open in my router and firewall both TCP and UDP and forwarded to the GIT folder.

I going to be needed a little help to set everything up.
[Android Head-Units] red13dotnet:
I understand,

I'm not really sure what to do either... would have preferred to use github but they have a 1GB limit on repo size, lol.

I'm pretty sure it should be a public repo but with only authorized users allowed to make commits.

read that, the second half of the page about the git server package. I think you'll need to create user accounts on the synology for those of us who will need git access, then using the git package, add us as users for ssh access to the git repo only.

http://blog.osdev.org/git/2014/02/13/using-git-on-a-synology-nas.html

for simplicity sake, I'd just make the usernames our forum names. we probably need to figure out who is going to need write access.