Jake, please keep us posted as to your progress with the
BMW Kit, as I would certainly be interested in doing that
as well.
As you know, BMW tells you that it can't be done, but
it sure would be nice.
Hehe. I might just have to go buy a cable myself, yes. but I can hope that somone has 'em cheap.
As for the Bimmer project... its coming along, waiting for some parts to arrive. I believe that its very possible.
The steering wheel buttons send events to the car's i-bus. I've got plans for an i-bus to serial converter. Basically, the i300 will just watch packets on the i-bus fly by. When it sees a steering wheel event, then it can go to town.
I can't claim credit for the i-bus/serial interface. A guy name Tom has built a CD-changer emulator for the BMW. Basically, it uses the i-bus to fool the car's head unit into thinking its a CD changer, but its an MP3 player. It can respond to commands from the head unit.
My version of the interface was much simpler, however, not as good as Tom's. I'm going to use Tom's GPL'd interface schematic, and write my own software for the i300 to interface to the Bimmer.
I'd like to get a cheap (or at least reasonably priced) data cable also. It doesn't make much sense to me that there is only $10 difference between the cable and the full desktop charger/sync cradle combo. I've been syncing with my laptop via IR, which requires me to remove it from my docking station and it's a PITA. Anybody find a source for one less than $40?
I never said it was cheap. But the 75 bucks was better than buying a new laptop for 2000 that had an IR port. Cheap is always relative. (and some relatives are always cheap. )
i have a compaq armada 4210T and its the newest laptop i have owned! i like it and it does what i need to do.. it even runs win 2k pro like a.. well.. 'pro'... :p
Marc:
Since I live and die on the road, I have not owned a desktop computer since about 1994.... only laptops for me, and I turn them over about every 18 months. I have sworn by Winbooks (have had about 7-8 of them). I have noticed though it is harder to find laptops with IR ports. The latest Winbook line excluded them on most models... a few years ago, almost every model had one.... go figure. I never sync with the cradle, always IR. The newest Winbook has a P4 2.5 gHz processor and is as fast and feature packed as almost ANY desktop on the market these days. If you use a laptop, checkout www.winbook.com. I don't work for them or anything like that, I have just been a happy customer. Every laptop in our company is a Winbook.
Re: Cheap Data Cable?
Are We THAT Predictable?
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