yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] dcandal7:
I think I've just made it work!

Devices:

- Infotainment: VW Golf 7.5 (facelift) Composition Media.

- Slave: Samsung Galaxy s7 edge, 8.0 (G935FXXS4ESC1), non rooted.

- Master: Samsung Galaxy s10, 9.0 (G973FXXU2ASF3), non rooted.

Setup:

- Master providing conectivity through Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz). Hotspot always turned on before opening the car.

- No option checked in the slave app screen.

- Automate runing in slave phone, forcing phone to connect to master Wi-Fi in a loop when receiving power from the USB port.

- 250 dpi (1080p)

It works very flawless! I was using it since the last week, testing Spotify, GMaps, etc... Occasionally I found very very brief cuts in audio from time to time. This problem could be solved by using a Wi-Fi channel in the 5 GHz band, but my master phone does not allow me to change the default channel for hotspot and the default one is not supported by the slave phones. Moreover, my master phone is not able to get connectivity to Internet when connected to the slave hotspot if slave is not connected to a cellular network (despite I enabled all possible options for ussing both interfaces at a time, seems that s10 only uses both interfaces when Wi-Fi coverage is low, elseways there is only a default route through the Wi-Fi interface).

Some (very minor) problems I found these days:

- Sometimes, AAGateway slave phone fails at start and I need to select to start Android Auto in the infotainment.

- Sometimes, AAGateway master app does not start automatically when I get inside the car (sometimes I see a strange message on the master phone, for allowing my car's bluetooth device to get access to my phone things, but I think that app works even in that situation).

- Occasionally, AA headunit server crashes (especially, when I make brief stops turning off the car).

- AAGateway master app crashes when master phone losses cellular conectivity, and then master and slave can't work until I turn off the car (I can't understand why, as it works flawless without cellular connectivity when I start the car).

It seems that is essential to provide a good Wi-Fi conectivity. I couldn't make it work when using a Sony Xperia Z2 as slave. Looking at the Wi-Fi settings, turning up my master phone hotspot, I realized that Galaxy S7 reported up to 150 Mbps link capacity, whereas Xperia Z2 reported a bit more than 50 Mbps.

Thank you very much, [MENTION=842765]Emil Borconi[/MENTION] !
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] MarineroSV:
192.168.43.121
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] epsonix:
DPI scalling stopped working

Hi Emil,

I had all working well enough over last half year, but around month ago, my slave phone got system update - it is still Android 8 but probably got some tweaks (I didn't pay attention what exactly, treated it as nothing unusual). the problem is that since then I lost my DPI scaling. Previously, when I set any scaling different than default, all scaled to smaller text and icons, which was grand for me, as more things managed to fit on the display (Especially handy for google maps where a lot of map is covered by stuff like directions and other info ). Since update DPI change makes no effect. I even cleared cache our of master&slave AAGateway and Android auto, setup all from scratch as I did many times in past, but still the same. ANy clue if there is some way to get back DPI scaling?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] m.zeyad:
Hi
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sullivan.evan@gmail.com:
Hello! This is exactly what I have been looking for! Does anyone have tips on a super cheap Android stick for this? I saw a couple but they only have HDMI, that wouldn't work?

The sticks in the first post are not available it seems like much anymore.

Will a firestick work? They have a microUSB to USB that's normally for power but will that work?

I was looking at this: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/blu-gr...-phone-unlocked-black/6178624.p?skuId=6178624

$60 phone anyone with knowledge see an issue with it?

Thanks!
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] mrmrmrmr:
for this purpose I'd ordered a X96S TV stick. It seems like a pretty fast one.

But on my car it could not start up. It goes to the first splash screen, then restarts. Never loads android.

When I use it at home with a USB power adapter, it starts well.

SO I assume, the car USB power is not enough to start it. I am not sure but it seems to be the only good explanation. How can I make it work ?

Should I power it externally and then connect through other USB port for data connection to Car ?

edit:

I just measured the current used from USB at home. It is 0.3A at max. I guess that should be below what the car USB outlet supplies (although I've not measured it yet)

So, the reason of restart loop should not be power current supplied.

Another idea; the device is not recognized by car head unit at startup, so it disconnects the power causing a loop.

Is that possible ?

what can I try ?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sullivan.evan@gmail.com:
Does the slave need to run Android Auto or just aagateway?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] rpgreentree:
Just aagateway. Best not to have aa installed on the slave.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sullivan.evan@gmail.com:
Cool thanks
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] mrmrmrmr:
I've tried changing the power source, but that did not help. What else may be the problem ?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] Istarth:
Same here !! connection problems every time almost impossible to make it work with Beta..... but perfect with alpha !! and with the new AA IU !!

Slave:

- Alpha app

- Connected to hotspot of master

Master:

- Unit server of AA

- Hotspot

Nothing else all working perfect !

The only thing I would like to fix is the damm data access popup !!! How the hell can we accept always !!!!

Really nice work !!!
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
I apologize for asking these questions. I have a few:

1). With a TV stick connected to one's head unit via USB connection and running aagateway which is sideloaded, and the person running Android Auto on their phone, can someone tell me what is considered the "server" and what is the "master" in this configuration?

2). Does the person create a WiFi hotspot on the phone and the stick connects to it, or is the WiFi hotspot on the stick, and the phone connects to that?

3). What sort of Android TV "Stick" or "Box" has been found to boot relatively quickly running aagateway?

4). Has there been a "stick" or "box" that has proven to provide a very reliable link?

5). How does one go about putting aagateway onto this stick or box?

6). Is it possible to improve the boot-up of the "stick" or "box" by removing other elements that came with the device that will not be used?

I realize these are several questions, but I do not get a sense of what people have found to work the best, nor what is the proper hardware to acquire, nor how to get it configured and possibly optimized.

I'm not really interested in using another phone for this purpose.

There are practical concerns, and one of them might be, does the device support 5GHz? Is there a large difference in responsiveness or connection reliability using 5GHz vs. 2.4GHz?

Thank you so much for someone that can fill in some of the blanks for me as I get started.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] djy:
I was looking at the same thing. I prefer a reliable slave that doesn't have a lithium battery and can be flashed with lineage if such a thing exists. Previously I had a dedicated AA and mirrorlink phone in the car but the battery eventually inflated and pushed the screen out. Don't want to burn my car down so the android TV stick seems like a good option. Not sure if it can be flashed with a custom rom but the X96S supports 5 ghz and has more ram than most. What car do you have? I aim to get wireless AA in a 2017 Mk7 Golf R.

Edit: I see two people with VW MIB2 said it only works when slave is connected to hotspot before getting in car, and all boxes in gateway are unchecked. I've been testing tonight with AAGateway Beta, rooted Pixel 3 XL (stock rom) master, and rooted Nexus 7 (Lineage OS) slave. Got it to work a few times but definitely not reliable yet. Will try Alpha tomorrow.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] TheBlitzS:
I followed the steps in OP. I use a rooted Note 3 running AOKP as slave. As master device I use a Mi Mix 3, which is not rooted.

When I connect the phone to the car, there is a notification which states that the connection is estabilished but on my head unit it says I need to agree to terms and conditions in the Android Auto app on the phone itself.

However, I don't get any notification to agree with the terms and conditions. Under App Permissions I gave all the permissions to Android Auto.

Does anyone know how to fix this?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] SLAB_8002:
1) The TV stick, or whichever device is physically connected to your USB port, is the "slave" device. This is the device that should only have AA Gateway running. The "master" is the device that is actually running Android Auto.

2) The most common configuration is to have the master running the hotspot, and the slave will connect to the hotspot. It is, however, possible to switch this and run the hotspot on the slave device. The catch is that whichever device is running the hotspot is the one that provides your data connection. So, most TV sticks can run a hotspot but will not have a data connection, meaning you are limited to playing music that is stored on your device or using offline maps. If you have a vehicle with a WiFi hotspot, you can also have both the master and slave connect to that hotspot and use its data connection. My Chevy truck has that option through OnStar, and I have successfully used it to run AA Gateway.

3 & 4) I know the MK809V works, and takes about 30-60 seconds to boot up. I don't know if anyone has successfully used a different TV stick. The MK809V is somewhat unreliable and inconsistent - I've found it works about 50-75% of the time - and it also only supports 2.4ghz WiFi.

5) I connected it to my home WiFi and a computer monitor with HDMI. I also used a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. I downloaded XDA Labs to the stick, and then used that to install the beta version of AA Gateway. After that you'll need to connect it to your phone's hotspot so that it saves the SSID and password. I suppose you could just use your hotspot to download XDA Labs and AA Gateway, which would save you the extra step of connecting to it later.

6) Yes, you can speed the boot process by removing other applications and editing your build.prop file using a root editor. My MK809V came rooted out of the box, so this was relatively easy using the Root Essentials app. I believe Emil has done some of this for you with the beta release, because it seems to boot relatively fast compared to before.

I suspect you will get better performance with a device that supports 5ghz connections, but I don't know if anyone has found a device that works yet. I was looking at one a while back, but Emil tested it and found out that it's USB port did not support data, which made it completely useless for our purposes.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
First I wish to say, thank you so much. That was the most comprehensive response to so many questions and had to take a lot of effort. And you did it from your phone! Wow.

I followed your explanation and understand that with a stick, a critical issue is going to be if the USB port supports data. This would explain why my googling hasn't turned up a listing of sticks known to work well with AAGATEWAY.

I was thinking of going with a device that is a bit more that a "stick", but rather a small Android TV box as a server. I was thinking perhaps something with a faster processor, more RAM plus the 5GHz.

But no one has been trying or recording success with other sticks. Hmmm.

You indicate the MK809V works, but only about 75% of the time. Is the problem the initial connection, and then after that it is reliable, or does it drop it's connection to the master, or the root cause is unknown?

I thought initially I had no spare phone to throw at the problem, but I believe I have located an LG G2. My son may have a G4 he needs to return to me as well. Do you think I should forego the stick or box, and hope to the spare phone server solution?

Thank you for the on-ramp effort.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] rpgreentree:
I recommend , if you have access to one, using an old android mobile but in saying this, there is still no Guarantee that it is going to work. I have used at least 6 slaves with varying degrees of success.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
Ok, sounds like the smart way to proceed. I will try using the G2 (should have plenty of horsepower) and dip into the experience, before attempting to get a much less familiar HW/SW combo working well.

Thank you for your recommendation.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
When I attempt to download AAGATEWAY via XDALabs, onto an LG G2 (VS980) running Android 5.0.2, both alpha and beta versions fail to download. Some unexpected download problem occurs each time I try.

Is the download .APK corrupted? Is there something else one needs to consider?

Thanks for any help.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] mrmrmrmr:
I have a Jeep Compass 2018 and unfortunately after I tried X96S on the USB port, this port became unusable. (no electric on the port)

Then after a few days it returned to normal. I don't know what caused this but I am worried to try again. In my case, X96S did not boot at all. It was in a 3 second boot loop.

Any ideas ?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] smoki3:
Since Android Q there is no native android auto app on the phone. So we can't get into the developer option.

Any solution for this?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] KrisPerry:
Can this be used to bypass the Video In Motion restrictions imposed by Audi?
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] xsatquest:
The author of this, should test different "android sticks", find one that works best, adapt the android on the stick to do minimal workload other than essential functions for the AA Gateway program, do fastest bootup and sell these sticks preloaded with the program already as set up as possible.

Would make a bit of money.

But, maybe the project is dead, it seems that no new version has been released since December 2018 ?

I would certainly buy such a preloaded stick instead of having to buy one myself and do all sorts of setting up.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] bggold:
I think that is his plan come spring. He is busy getting ready to move.

The project is not dead just on hold.

Good things to come.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] xsatquest:
Spring. ?

In a moment summer will be over, then Autumn, winter, and then March 2020, spring will come.

That is a hell of a long time to wait for something this good :)
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
Wish I could download it successfully to try it.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] bggold:
Sorry fall.

---------- Post added at 09:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 PM ----------

Send an email to Emil and he will get you hooked up.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] djy:
The Mk7 VW Golf kills power to the usb after 20 seconds or so when the car is turned off. Maybe that has something to do with your issue? With the Nexus 7 2013, I couldn't consistently get AA gateway to connect but I will keep searching for an android stick that works.

I did get CarStream (adds youtube to android auto) and AAMirror working today over a wired connection but it requires root and AA Phenotype Patcher.

https://github.com/Eselter/AA-Phenotype-Patcher

https://github.com/slashmax/AAMirror

https://github.com/thekirankumar/carstream-android-auto/releases/tag/untagged-7666cf8b031e67be69d2

---------- Post added at 09:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

VCDS or OBDEleven might work with your car. If you use OBDEleven, I recommend staying away from the canned apps and do the adaptation changes or long coding yourself. Good luck.

https://obdeleven.com/en/

https://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/?

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:24 PM ----------

We should create a spreadsheet of android sticks that work or don't work. I would like to get a reliable wireless connection using a slave that doesn't have a lithium battery.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
I have and I sense he's pretty busy. I'm jumping through some hoops trying to determine why I can't get it to download. Frustrating.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] xsatquest:
Oh bugger, it seems that i need som payment account to buy this.

Would have been nice to be able to have some days to test it out before purchase, especially since it seems that it is really hit and miss if it will work on my specific configuration of master and slave phone.

What a shame.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
I think the cost is of no real consequence, and we all need to do what we can to support a developer that had something that will potentially help all. I've paid and still have not been able to download it. Just set up a payment method.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] xsatquest:
Its definitely not the price that bothers me, it's more the fact that i have set up a new form of payment on this site, specifically to pay a minute amount of money for a project that might never work, and also, despite some assurance, still looks like it is dead, with the last program update more than 6 months back.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] bggold:
Once again it is not dead. He has been busy with his personal life. Don't forget devs have them too.

He mentioned that he will start back up this fall.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] xsatquest:
Not a problem, i will check in later to see if he resurfaced and if i see "movement" i will go through the hoops to set up payment and whatnot.

Would have been easier to use one of the existing payment methods and just send him the money via paypal or similar though.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sibesaver:
I hope the "good things to come" includes some other connection methodology than wifi hotspot. US carriers severely restrict (data cap) or totally block hotspot use unless you pay an outrageous monthly fee. WIFI direct or using AA's built-in wireless projection (for Pixel devices) would be nice. I rooted and stripped down an old LG G3 as a slave and try to use the reverse tethering with my Pixel 2 XL but no luck. Can't root the Pixel as it breaks banking apps and other apps needing security checks.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
I spent a good amount of effort just getting the AAGateway app via XDA Labs. Even though the slave could see the WiFi HotSpot of the Master and connect to it, with the Head Server Running on the Master (I'm not a fan of the terminology being used), The Master would always be waiting for the Slave to Connect.

My Head Unit seemed to be responding to the phone being used as a slave with USB connection, but the Slave and Master were just not willing to do the tango.

Not sure I understand the prior poster's point about data and HotSpots. The Master is creating a WiFi access point for the Slave (which is connected to the Head Unit via USB cable) to connect to. I don't see extra cellular network bits involved. Maybe I'm looking at that wrong.

I need to put this on hold - I think there's lots of potential upside here for people who's Head Units do not natively support Wireless AA. So far, just a bit too much effort is involved.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sibesaver:
Not sure what carrier you have but Verizon blocks hotspot use unless you pay for it, even when you pay they cap it at absurdly low monthly data limits like 5 or 10GB. That's not adequate for navigation, streaming etc...

With reverse tethering the slave without a data connection can host the hotspot avoiding carrier restrictions.

Not sure how to explain it clearer.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
Ok, you're saying the bits going between two phones in the car via WiFi are counted by VZW, even though they don't hit the corporate cell tower network????
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sibesaver:
The bits that get navigation, streaming and other notification data user the Masters cell tower. It has to get the info via some sort of internet connection.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
Right, just like it did when the phone is connected direct to the head unit.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sibesaver:
But the fees and data caps are different when using hotspot.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
OK here's what I'm not following. If I create a hotspot on my phone you are saying these bits that are going between the two phones count against me, or that the ones acquired by the master used for GoogleMaps will be counted differently because I'm in the process of then serving them up to another device, and VZW knows it?

I'm on VZW BTW.

I thought the difference here, is that there is a VZW hotspot application, and there is "hotspot" capability being used by AAGateway and the bits that come down and go back from/to the cell tower aren't treated the same. If that is not true, then yeah, that's not a very good solution for the Gateway.

There needs to be some kind of WiFi "direct" communication, like there is when say, you use Roku, and your phone (with the Roku remote app) and it provides you a means of listening to the audio privately, or otherwise, you are viewing a show on your phone, and you use Android's ability to "cast it" to a Roku Stick or Roku Ultra.. Or we need a way to reverse the process and have the slave present some discoverable access point.

Yeah, I would gladly donate more to Emil to have him work on making this all more plug and play.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sibesaver:
You nailed it. Because you can use the Verizon hotspot application to connect multiple devices they charge and eventually cap you for the privilege.

I to would pay more for a stable plug and play solution that avoided hotspot data caps as I have alone almost unlimited data otherwise.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] NYZack:
I don't think you're right here. It may be true that you have to pay extra for hotspot functionality, but I don't think that any of the data between the slave and the master gets counted as hotspot data, since it all stays within the LAN generated by the hotspot. I set up the hotspot on the slave to use this app, and the slave has no internet access at all (doesn't have a SIM).
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sfortin:
[MENTION=3770040]NYZack[/MENTION]. Exactly. Thank you for your post. That was my thinking, and my config as well (no sim card in the slave, but I might put one in just so the slave doesn't boot and complain).

BTW - if it is true that the bits are counted, two things (a) I thought the government told VZW they could not do this on "Limited Plans", and also, (b) isn't there a utility out there PDNet+ that is supposed to avoid this sort of thing?

Can you please explain your setup to me that you have working? Do I need to run AAGateway on the Master and the Slave phones? I'm thinking no. Does the Master have to both expose both a hotspot and run a head unit server from the development menu of AA? I'm thinking yes. What is the order of startup here, and can the stuff on the Master be automated? Are you running the Alpha or Beta versions? Thank you for any help.
[Paid Software Announcement and Discussion] sibesaver:
Since I can't explain it in words here's a capture of the Verizon plan. You can see the data caps. Also if you don't have unlimited you pay to add hotspot to your plan.