naviathan Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 That was the point of my idea of running the car trough the laptop directly, you turn off the car and leave with the ECU, this way, they can try to bypass whatever they want, it just won't start. I was also planning on a MOBILUS system wich is a GPS tracking device, they're going to call you if the car moves and the keys are'nt in it + you get the benefit of being able to go to there web site and see where your car acctualy is. That is pretty sweet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linluv84 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Not to say that it would be impossible to use a laptop as the brains of an efi setup, but all the work it would take makes it very impractical. The reason some cheap 16Mhz processor can do it better than say an 800mhz laptop is that there is absolutely no overhead or gimmicks on the side. The megasquirts cpu can count on every cycle to its specific purpose. In a laptop (or desktop etc), every piece of hardware and software is taking dibs on processor cycles. This would make it very difficult to maintain the timing precision required for fuel injection. Also imagine if youre primary means of transportation were only as reliable as Winblows XP. If you want a keyfob type disabler, you could embed a critical component of the megasquirt, such as the 5v voltage regulator, into a keyfob and mount a plugin for it somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I'd rather put the xbox or ps2 in my car than a laptop for one simple reason. I can't play any of the games i have for those systems on my laptop in the car. Yeah it would be cool to have the laptop in your car but other than GPS satellite hook up and tunning Megasquirt what would be the benefit? Maybe i'm not seeing the broader picture here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeamNissan Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I'd rather put the xbox or ps2 in my car than a laptop for one simple reason. I can't play any of the games i have for those systems on my laptop in the car. Yeah it would be cool to have the laptop in your car but other than GPS satellite hook up and tunning Megasquirt what would be the benefit? Maybe i'm not seeing the broader picture here. Thats kind of a silly question, security, monitoring, movies, sound system. Could go on and on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 ...security, monitoring, movies, sound system. Could go on and on. Exactly! ...Maybe i'm not seeing the broader picture here. I just want to build something special and different to make a statement, I wish my car to be like a portfolio of what me and my friends's combined talents and resources can do as we are trying to setup a little side buisness. And I want to have something to offer for every taste. Be it gadgets or Hi perf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Not to say that it would be impossible to use a laptop as the brains of an efi setup, but all the work it would take makes it very impractical. The reason some cheap 16Mhz processor can do it better than say an 800mhz laptop is that there is absolutely no overhead or gimmicks on the side. The megasquirts cpu can count on every cycle to its specific purpose. In a laptop (or desktop etc), every piece of hardware and software is taking dibs on processor cycles. This would make it very difficult to maintain the timing precision required for fuel injection. Also imagine if youre primary means of transportation were only as reliable as Winblows XP. If you want a keyfob type disabler, you could embed a critical component of the megasquirt, such as the 5v voltage regulator, into a keyfob and mount a plugin for it somewhere... That's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, clear and precise, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Ok I guess i'm out of the loop... my radio provides my sound system, my car alarm provides my security. Having the laptop in my car would be an extremely high theft item in my opinion. I can understand wanting to use PS to tune megasquirt... sounds like a great idea. They are redily available and fairly cheap as opposed to a laptop. A cheap laptop is just that cheap, busted worn out. If somebody breaks in and steals it your out like 100 bucks or a little more. Plus you can play two player or more games in your car. I'm just really not seeing the practicality of a laptop stationed in your car. The whole point of the laptop is mobility to take it where you go. Now... a micro atx computer in the car might be a better way to go if you want to incorporate all your "hi-tech" options that you rattled off. Every time you get in your car your gonna ahave to put it somewhere. Don't know about you but with a passenger there isn't a whole lot of spare room for a laptop to be floating around up there. It just doesn't make sense to me. (shakes his head in confusion) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeamNissan Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Thats why he wasnt to use a lap top man lol, to take it with him lol Ok I guess i'm out of the loop... my radio provides my sound system, my car alarm provides my security. Having the laptop in my car would be an extremely high theft item in my opinion. I can understand wanting to use PS to tune megasquirt... sounds like a great idea. They are redily available and fairly cheap as opposed to a laptop. A cheap laptop is just that cheap, busted worn out. If somebody breaks in and steals it your out like 100 bucks or a little more. Plus you can play two player or more games in your car. I'm just really not seeing the practicality of a laptop stationed in your car. The whole point of the laptop is mobility to take it where you go. Now... a micro atx computer in the car might be a better way to go if you want to incorporate all your "hi-tech" options that you rattled off. Every time you get in your car your gonna ahave to put it somewhere. Don't know about you but with a passenger there isn't a whole lot of spare room for a laptop to be floating around up there. It just doesn't make sense to me. (shakes his head in confusion) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHtokyo Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 THe PS2 or XBOX is an awesome Idea in my opinion. Get Codewarrior, a C++ compiler for the PS2, and start by rewriting Megasquirt in C. (Unless that is already done?) I think it would give you about the same reliability as a Linux PC. Your number of analog I/O channels would be an important consideration when designing a system. Does anyone know if there is Megasquirt source code in C already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Thats why he wasnt to use a lap top man lol, to take it with him lol Then whats the problem? Anybody on here can use a laptop to plug into the MS and tune... did I miss something? This thread was refering to mounting a PS2/Xbox in the car and tuning MS on it. Then a laptop was brought up... so one would assume you would mount the laptop in the car which makes absolutely no sense to me. If you want to use a laptop feel free, but I don't understand your posting in this thread then. BTW.... I've taken C++ and the code for megasquirt is all open source I believe it is compatible. I've looked at it through my compiler but I can't say if it's C or C++ I'd have to check again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Then whats the problem? Anybody on here can use a laptop to plug into the MS and tune... did I miss something? This thread was refering to mounting a PS2/Xbox in the car and tuning MS on it. Then a laptop was brought up... so one would assume you would mount the laptop in the car which makes absolutely no sense to me. If you want to use a laptop feel free, but I don't understand your posting in this thread then. Easy bro, The thing started as an PS2/Xbox tread and since there was a bunch of people in the know around here I just asked if it would be possible, since they stated that it would be with said Xbox/PS2, to compile all of my car's electronic functions (Brain, Tuning interface, Entertainement, ScanTool/Diagnostics, Data aquisition...) into a single electronic device (the laptop) that I could take with me once I shut the ignition. I can wire a USB or Paralel port cable int the wiring harness and unplug it once I'm done, it does'nt NEED to be FIRMLY mounted to the car. This way it's like: a detachable face radio, detachable ECU... Was just a question for discution. I did'nt meant to stray from the tread. In short, the question should have been, can I use the laptop directly as my MS processor so to have only one module for control and interface? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datman Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 A cheap way to fit a tracker to your car is to hook up an old cell phone to a permant live in your car using an old car chager. Set the cell to auto answer and silent ring tone. Register the cell on one of those phone tracking companies...costs around $60 a year to register, well it is here in the UK. You can then go online and see the exact location of your car anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Do you need to pay a montly fee for a phone line with this little trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake culp Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 a quick google search and i found this, its basically a cell phone you buy just for tracking your car or other people. 100$ for the phone, 6$ per month, seems there is no annual fee like the service datman is talking about. here is the link http://mologogo.com/site/phonesales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datman Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 No fee on the phone just get a pay as you go phone and leave it with some credit on, make sure the service provider doesn't have some minimum time limit on the use of the credit though. Over here some providers kill your credit if you don't use it within a certain time. Also If you car is stolen you could always call the phone if its set to silent and listen in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Easy bro, The thing started as an PS2/Xbox tread and since there was a bunch of people in the know around here I just asked if it would be possible, since they stated that it would be with said Xbox/PS2, to compile all of my car's electronic functions (Brain, Tuning interface, Entertainement, ScanTool/Diagnostics, Data aquisition...) into a single electronic device (the laptop) that I could take with me once I shut the ignition. I can wire a USB or Paralel port cable int the wiring harness and unplug it once I'm done, it does'nt NEED to be FIRMLY mounted to the car. This way it's like: a detachable face radio, detachable ECU... Was just a question for discution. I did'nt meant to stray from the tread. In short, the question should have been, can I use the laptop directly as my MS processor so to have only one module for control and interface? It's cool i just guess it's not my cup of tea. I don't understand why you would want to do that... go over a big bump or something or slam on the brakes and laptop go boom and so does the ecu...just what i imagine happening if not firmly mounted. But to each is thier own I guess.... carry on lol. I would defn like to see megasquirt on PS or Xbox though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cramer Posted January 19, 2007 Share Posted January 19, 2007 In short, the question should have been, can I use the laptop directly as my MS processor so to have only one module for control and interface? I wouldn't recommend trying to build an ECU that works like that. Most PC operating systems are not designed to run devices that need real-time control - Windows certainly isn't. The trouble with running a laptop based ECU is making sure your operating system won't try to distribute processing time in a way that might, for example, cause your ignition pulses to be delayed by a couple hundred miliseconds since it absolutely HAS to get your copy of Winamp open quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 I'd rather use the Unix software on the iPhone (or the next gen iPod, same thing). That would be about as easy and more portable/practical/versatile. Also, the Mac Mini is nearly the exact size as a standard stereo head unit, and that has bean done numerous times. Plus that runs Windows natively so you could use MegaTune. Plus both of those will work consistantly (not a big PC fan). Edit- Now that I think about it, the iPhone idea wouldnt be so easy. You could use a larger display with it, since it has RCA out, but the lack of USB would be a problem (for starters). I had confused it a bit with the specs of future interfaces which will be more functional. I say someone should write some Newton Message Pad software. That would be awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK-Z Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Nuff said http://www.oqo.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Nice...Never seen that before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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