OS2 World.Com Forum

Subject  :  Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  BigWarpGuy
Date  :  16 Oct, 2005 on 18:23
I know eCS will work on a computer that one can install into a car. Will eCS work with a touchscreen monitor? Is there software that one can use with the car pc that make it worth installing eCS onto the car pc?

I have Car PC Hacks. I will be reading it thoroughly.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/carpchks/ (site of book).


BigWarpGuy
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Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  warpcafe warpcafe@yahoo.de
Date  :  17 Oct, 2005 on 12:09
Hi,

AFAIK, warp4 already had touchscreen support. I remember that in the graphical part of install, it created (amongst others) a "touchscreen" object.
Thus, eCS should have it too (basically). I think the touchscreen driver will have to be installed like a "pointing device" but I can't tell if the touchscreen drivers are "up to date" with current technical evolution...

Greetings
Thomas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  Grimus andi710@web.de
Date  :  18 Oct, 2005 on 11:12

BigWarpGuy (16 Oct, 2005 18:23):
I know eCS will work on a computer that one can install into a car. Will eCS work with a touchscreen monitor? Is there software that one can use with the car pc that make it worth installing eCS onto the car pc?

I have Car PC Hacks. I will be reading it thoroughly.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/carpchks/ (site of book).


OS/2 was used for such a long time in cash dispensers that it should basically work fine with touch screens. I have no clue about the drivers needed for a touchscreen, but I can imagine it's just another pointing device with a standard interface (just like any other mouse that you can use in its basic functionality - you just need special drivers if you want to use all the new fancy buttons...)

cheers
Andreas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  BigWarpGuy
Date  :  18 Oct, 2005 on 14:26
I was wondering if there were any eCS-OS/2 programs that one would want to use on a pc that one has installed in a car?

---
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Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  warpcafe warpcafe@yahoo.de
Date  :  18 Oct, 2005 on 15:36
Hi,


BigWarpGuy (18 Oct, 2005 14:26):
I was wondering if there were any eCS-OS/2 programs that one would want to use on a pc that one has installed in a car?

...screensaver?

Well, hmm... it depends:
The first application that comes to mind in a car of course is a navigator software - but: is there any navigator software and/or GPS "mouse" that is known to work in Warp/eCS?

Besides... if there's internet connection: e-mail... or a internet-based navigation stuff a la "map24".
At least, some kind of mp3 player (PM123, z!, etc.) but I doubt that their visual "appearance" is so pleasing, that one would like to run it.
'Round here, you can get standard car radio/CD players with mp3 support (from SD card or even usb media) for as much as less than 100 Euro - so it's pretty useless to have a car pc "only" for MP3 playing...

But who knows: If the car pc has a touch screen and a "visually appealing" interface - why not? It's surely much more comfortable then fiddling with radio knobs while driving.

That reminds me - harhar - that if there's some kind of internet connection, one might be able to use VOIP phone with pc-based headsets instead of messing around with a handsfree cell phone.

At least - while not driving - you might want to watch TV or some DVDs?

Greetings
Thomas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  warpcafe warpcafe@yahoo.de
Date  :  18 Oct, 2005 on 16:10
Hello again,

hmmm. This is interesting. Being curious, I google'd around to see if open-source software projects exist regarding GPS-based navigation. Holy moly! There are quite some of them!

For those interested, here's a good point to start:
http://www.opensourcegis.org

...and more exist, but NO PANIC, GUYS! :
AFAIK, there's no FREE FUNCTIONAL navigation software so far. Keep cool. <g>
In theory, an eCS-based navigation system should be feasible as there exist GPS devices with (for example) serial interface that can be connected to a PC (e.g. the Garmin company amongst others builds such devices).

So basically one is able to "receive" his/her current GPS-based position onto a PC running OS/2 - from a hardware point of view. I'm sure that a small app for "reading" the serial port should be possible to do by someone, I don't think it's too difficult if there's a spec sheet *somwhere* by the manufacturer...
The *real big* problem is, that you need a software that operates your MAPS. and of course: Maps. Or map files. I don't know if there exists a set of "open-source" maps, but due to the cost that is involved in collecting the information required, I can't imagine other sources than commercial companies e.g. Navtech or Mapsolut.
In theory, one should be able to use GoogleEarth's or WorldWind's high-resolution pictures to combine it with the GPS data... but, huh... phew! Volunteers, anyone?

I'm afraid that for *now* there's only one solution: Find a current navigation software (with up-to-date maps) that either works in DOS (good luck for the search!) or in ODIN.

Greetings
Thomas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  warpcafe warpcafe@yahoo.de
Date  :  19 Oct, 2005 on 09:36
Hi,

just another idea: What about operating the car pc via speech recognition? Wouldn't that be *cool* ?
Requires some macros / scripts AFAIK, but VoiceType brings along quite a lot of onboard opportunities...

Greetings
Thomas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  icebear
Date  :  19 Oct, 2005 on 12:09
Possible scenario:
Car PC and eCS's Voice System says:
Please fasten your seat belts !

A while later: One still has to fasten its seat belt ...
... the car will not start otherwise !!

Holy cow, fasten seat belt my business bag

Happy journey !


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS? .. Ramble, ramble.
Author  :  phaelonimaire
Date  :  27 Oct, 2005 on 00:50
A PC in the car provides endless opportunities. I work for a company specializing in automotive diagnostics with Warp4. ..Touchscreens. Most touchscreens sold by ELO (not the band, although I could go for some ELO in the car) have OS/2 support. The problem with most touchscreens is that the touch film causes serious glare in sunlight. (if you can read it at all) If you used one of those embedded 3.5 boards (size of a floppy drive), LVDS LCD and touchscreen, you could make a pretty nifty in-car display (Those 3.5 boards only require +5v to run the entire board). With the parallel port, you could make it so that when someone gets out of the passenger seat, it says "Please deposit 25 cents or doors will remain locked".
There are also the nifty things you can get out of your OBD-2 diagnostics port. I have (somewhere) an OS/2 port of the J2534 passthrough DLL for the Cardaq (reprogramming/data retrieval tool) that we had done but never used. Through the diag port, you an get MPH, RPM, and some other useful tidbits. With some cars you can do things like Lock your doors, Cause your windshield washers to spray, Roll down windows, Pop the trunk, blow the horn, etc. Wardriving could be amusing as well.
At one point I had even thought of using OS/2 to completely replace my ECU/PCM, but I didn't want to have to wait for OS/2 to boot to start my car. You never know when you'll have to escape a hord of zombified chimps.
I remember talking to someone when we were thinking of moving from Warp4 to eCS, and them mentioning a customer which could boot a full Warp in 4 seconds.. The fastest warp boot I've done to date I think was between 8-14 seconds, using the minimal config (no pmshell, only in1t3 disk support) ..So at that point, I moved from Warp to building my own embedded Z80 computer. Oh, and you can find those embedded PC doodads at places like www.icpamerica.com. (Company no like americans. Web site is decent, though)
LCD displays: www.earthlcd.com.
Or hell, get one of those single voltage ATX power supplies and Mini-ITX boards from www.mini-box.com They're $250 cheaper than the industrial embedded boards. I don't know how much of the hardware is OS/2-friendly, though.

Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  davidfor
Date  :  28 Oct, 2005 on 02:45

icebear (20 Oct, 2005 02:14):
Possible scenario:
Car PC and eCS's Voice System says:
Please fasten your seat belts !

A while later: One still has to fasten its seat belt ...
... the car will not start otherwise !!

Holy cow, fasten seat belt my business bag


But what if you end up with KARR instead of KITT?


And for those who have the good fortune not to know: KITT is the talking car from the 80's TV show "Knight Rider". KARR was the prototype for KITT, but was evil.

---
David


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  BigWarpGuy
Date  :  28 Oct, 2005 on 14:56
There was a sequel (IIRC) to the 'Knight Rider' show where there was a team of 'KITT' type vehicles (a pickup truck with an attitude, a vehicle that split into two motorcycles, and other vehicles [plus a huge cargo plane capaple of VTOL]).

Perhaps make ones car to have a voice recognition software and speech synthesis? (talk to ones car and have it respond?). I think that would be cool.

---
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Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  cyber manic cynic@ptt.yu
Date  :  10 May, 2006 on 14:26
[quote]warpcafe (18 Oct, 2005 16:10):
Hello again,

The *real big* problem is, that you need a software that operates your MAPS. and of course: Maps. Or map files. I don't know if there exists a set of "open-source" maps, but due to the cost that is involved in collecting the information required, I can't imagine other sources than commercial companies e.g. Navtech or Mapsolut.
In theory, one should be able to use GoogleEarth's or WorldWind's high-resolution pictures to combine it with the GPS data... but, huh... phew! Volunteers, anyone?


Me. Have expirience; I was creating map for map softvare developed for SL45i (GSM phone) both miniGPS and ordinary program that is used just for show/search by names of streets or cities.
It isn't such hard, just need lot of work.


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  warpcafe warpcafe@yahoo.de
Date  :  10 May, 2006 on 14:45

BigWarpGuy (28 Oct, 2005 14:56):Perhaps make ones car to have a voice recognition software and speech synthesis? (talk to ones car and have it respond?). I think that would be cool.

BWG,

just today I was driving to work when I heard an advertising in the radio, saying that Ford Motors (Europe) are now offering a Voice-Control AddOn for their latest models which is used to control AirCon, radio and other appliances...

Greetings (from Germany)
Thomas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  cyberspittle cyberspittle@yahoo.com
Date  :  10 May, 2006 on 19:57

warpcafe (18 Oct, 2005 15:37):
Hi,


BigWarpGuy (18 Oct, 2005 14:26):
I was wondering if there were any eCS-OS/2 programs that one would want to use on a pc that one has installed in a car?

...screensaver?

Well, hmm... it depends:
The first application that comes to mind in a car of course is a navigator software - but: is there any navigator software and/or GPS "mouse" that is known to work in Warp/eCS?

Besides... if there's internet connection: e-mail... or a internet-based navigation stuff a la "map24".
At least, some kind of mp3 player (PM123, z!, etc.) but I doubt that their visual "appearance" is so pleasing, that one would like to run it.
'Round here, you can get standard car radio/CD players with mp3 support (from SD card or even usb media) for as much as less than 100 Euro - so it's pretty useless to have a car pc "only" for MP3 playing...

But who knows: If the car pc has a touch screen and a "visually appealing" interface - why not? It's surely much more comfortable then fiddling with radio knobs while driving.

That reminds me - harhar - that if there's some kind of internet connection, one might be able to use VOIP phone with pc-based headsets instead of messing around with a handsfree cell phone.

At least - while not driving - you might want to watch TV or some DVDs?

Greetings
Thomas


I think rear seat passengers may enjoy playing Mahjongg or other card games while traveling. Imagine being the driver and the person behind you thumping your headrest constantly? LOL. Also, you would probably also consider the capability to listen to MP3s (make the screensaver sound good) and also being able to watch DVDs (or DVDs ripped to hard drive).


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS? .. Ramble, ramble.
Author  :  Blonde Guy
Date  :  22 May, 2006 on 04:45

phaelonimaire (27 Oct, 2005 00:50):

I work for a company specializing in automotive diagnostics with Warp4.

There are also the nifty things you can get out of your OBD-2 diagnostics port. I have (somewhere) an OS/2 port of the J2534 passthrough DLL for the Cardaq (reprogramming/data retrieval tool) that we had done but never used. Through the diag port, you an get MPH, RPM, and some other useful tidbits.


OK. This is cool. The ODB-2 plug is behind the ashtray of my VW Golf.

What do I need to do to get my laptop to read ODB-2 data?

---
Expert Consulting for OS/2 and eComStation


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  cyber manic cynic@ptt.yu
Date  :  11 Jun, 2006 on 16:59
About GPS map programs, this is from readme
file inside movma215.zip:


----->8------------>8------------>8-------

MOVEMAP is an OS/2 moving map program that
is still under development. Your
comments and bug reports are welcome
(stonewall@ipass.net).

As far as I know there are no other OS/2
based moving map programs. I've run
MOVEMAP on two desktop machines (70 MH
Pentium, 20MB of memory; 300 MH Pentium
II, 64MB of memory) and my two laptops
(Thinkpad 701C, 24MB of memory; Thinkpad
385XD, 266 MH PII, 32MB of memory) and it
runs very well on all of them. I
have a Garmin 45 GPS attached through COM
ports 1 and 3. A unique feature for a
noncommercial moving map program is the use
of Digital Line Graph (DLG) maps
in addition to bitmapped maps.


----->8------------>8------------>8-------

I found archive in my own archive folder, I
do not know URL from where was downloaded.
But I can send it to anyone interested.


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS? .. Ramble, ramble.
Author  :  phaelonimaire
Date  :  18 Jun, 2006 on 15:03

phaelonimaire (27 Oct, 2005 00:50):

OK. This is cool. The ODB-2 plug is behind the ashtray of my VW Golf.
What do I need to do to get my laptop to read ODB-2 data?


What year was the car made? Most foreign cars use the ISO9141 protocol. However, all manufacurers are supposed to move to CAN by 2008. Drew Tech (www.drewtech.com) handles some really handy hardware, however it is expensive. Although their software is for windows, I have a copy of the OS/2 version of the DLLs required to use the CarDaq. They may also be persuaded to let us make a port ourselves.
There are loads of other devices out there to convert the automotive protocols to serial or usb. I would suggest using the serial ones, since they are easier to implement. Talking to the car is really easy, once you have the hardware. Those RS232 - (whatever protocol) converters are cheap(er) and you can almost do the communications in ZOC. (almost)

This project uses the cardaq, and is open source. I also have an OS/2 version of this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/j1699-3/


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  legofan boenicke@gmx.de
Date  :  05 Jul, 2006 on 11:46
Hi,

just stumbled about this topic.
Concerning the GUI for a carpc it should be possible to use 'HOPPLA', which can be found on 'http://os2.zworks.de/MMPC/eng/Article.html#hoppla'. HOPPLA is a system to start and control several applications on a TV screeen which doesn't have a good resolution and stands in your living room. The system was originally designed to be controlled with a remote mouse, but should also be possible to be used by a touchscreen driver.
Controlling the system was done with a VIA mini-ITXBoard at 1GHz. Those little nifty boards work great with OS/2 / ecomstation, even the IEEE1394/firewire may work one day if the developement of the firewire driver goes on, because the used firewire chip is a VIA chip. The most of the VIA mini-ITX boards have TV-Out with PAL/NTSC that should work with OS/2. So the only problem should be to get a touchscreen that is supported.

regards
legofan


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  BigWarpGuy
Date  :  05 Jul, 2006 on 14:11
That sounds cool.

Would SNAP support a touch screen?

---
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Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  cyber manic cynic@ptt.yu
Date  :  05 Jul, 2006 on 14:19
wouldn't be great to use remote mouse in car ? How to connect this computer in car, which HD to use for boot ? Is it possible to boot from mmc/sd/whatever cards ? Or just use hdd to boot and then card for data (music, videos, maps,...) ?

Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  BigWarpGuy
Date  :  05 Jul, 2006 on 15:13
With the first post is a link to a site on the book 'CarPC Hacks' (IIRC on the name) and there is a similar project at http://www.mini-itx.com ( http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/bmwpc/ )

---
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Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  legofan boenicke@gmx.de
Date  :  10 Jul, 2006 on 16:55

cyber manic (05 Jul, 2006 14:19):
wouldn't be great to use remote mouse in car ? How to connect this computer in car, which HD to use for boot ? Is it possible to boot from mmc/sd/whatever cards ? Or just use hdd to boot and then card for data (music, videos, maps,...) ?

It is possible to boot from CompactFlash Cards. See this report:
http://www.os2world.com/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?category=33&id=1140513347

To BigwarpGuy:
SNAP is independant from a touch screen, because SNAP is just the video driver. SNAP has to support the video Adapter (for example SNAP 3.16 supports VIA mini ITX Boards with CLE266,KN400 chip). This means you can use SNAP to produce an 2D accelerated Desktop and show it on every screen that is capable to display the offered signal (CRT, TFT or Touchscreen). The important thing is the touchscreen input. You need an physical input device that gets the coordinates where you touched the screen. Then you have to translate those coordinates to the logical coordinates the system supports for a touchscreen interface.
For example there 's one at ebay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOP-QUALITY-8-TOUCH-SCREEN-VGA-port-For-PC-Laptop-GPS_W0QQitemZ160003542129QQihZ006QQcategoryZ66170QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It supports 800x600 physical input from VGA Connector and has an USB Touch-screen Interface (for giving the 'touch' feedback).
So there's the 'problem': You have to talk via USB to the touchscreen and translate it to the IBM Touchscreen API.
Communication via USB could possibly be done with the USBECD package ( http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?sh=1&button=Search&key=USBECD&stype=all&sort=type&dir=%2F )

So some things are to do, but it should be possible


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  BigWarpGuy
Date  :  11 Jul, 2006 on 03:14
Thank you for the information. It was very informative.

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Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  cyber manic cynic@ptt.yu
Date  :  11 Jul, 2006 on 13:31

legofan (10 Jul, 2006 16:55):

It is possible to boot from CompactFlash Cards. See this report:
http://www.os2world.com/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?category=33&id=1140513347


Hey, this on is really cool. I have some ideas, and some experience from similar project. What I do not know
1. does exist power supply that can supply motherboard directly from car's 12V (normal motherboard need 12V and 5V), to avoid converting to 220V and again to 12V and 5V.
2. monitor device... it would be easier to buy one but if is it possible to attach VGA monitor from malfuntioning laptop to normal graphic card, and to existing power it would cost nothing.

And best to make question in this thread:
Do anyone know any map software under OS/2 ? Cappable of searching street/cities by names ? Even if not for free.


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  warpcafe warpcafe@yahoo.de
Date  :  11 Jul, 2006 on 16:41
Hi,

Q1: I'm not much into electricity matters regarding volts, watts and amperes, but I know that there are small power supply replacements for notebooks that are adjustable to anything between 5 and 20 volts (I have bought one from eBay for charging/using my Thinkpad in the car). You would just attach it to the cigarette lighter socket as always. However, it would mean to solder an adapter in order to attach that output to the MoBo power connector. And I doubt that these power adaptors have any kind of surge protection or switching facilities, so you're likely to ruin your motherboard if anything goes wrong.
But as I said - I'n no eletrician. I know that there are ways of assembling the right parts on a board in order to get a stable, over-current protected power supply. But someone has to come up with that...
Maybe something like in the LWPS project (see picture above the "power supply" paragraph)?

Q2: I remember I saw "spare" LCDisplays on eBay that are attachable to VGA connectors. So far, I haven't disassembled a broken notebook so I can't tell what that connections looks like...

Q3: I don't know of any - sorry. But I think it's more likely to find a JAVA software than OS/2 or ported linux...

Greetings
Thomas


Subject  :  Re:Car PC and eCS?
Author  :  legofan boenicke@gmx.de
Date  :  11 Jul, 2006 on 20:18
Hi,

regarding the powersupply of a car pc i would recommend to use a special PSU for this purpose. The reason is that in your car there won't be a pure DC, but a spoiled Voltage around 13 Volts. If you start the engine the Voltage may go down to 8 Volt. If you drive at full speed the Voltage reaches around 14,5 V. There will be surges on the powerline that can destroy the car pc. Using a special car pc Power supply buffers and regulates the voltages to the desired PC Voltages (+5, +3.3, +12 ), signals the pc that the ignition is off to go into standby or powerdon the system.

Those notebook display don't have a VGA Input. It's mostly a LVDS interface, for which you get nearly no graphic card. The easiest way is to use a car DVD screen with an additional VGA Input. Those Displays are mostly capable to show 800x600.

For building a car pc one should read the pages on www.mini-itx.com and others. This gives a lot of information


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