Member Profile: HyRax

[HyRax]

I've got a heat gun already, but I'm not really prepared to pull at the strips lest it pull some paint off with it...

[Corsair]

I've got a heat gun already, but I'm not really prepared to pull at the strips lest it pull some paint off with it...

Good idea, but unless they have been on there an extremely long time it's unlikely to pull off any paint. Just wait until you have some time and work it slowly and clean up any residue with metholated spirits after.

How the new wheels riding? Feeling the road more?

[HyRax]

Progressing with my CarPC project, I now have the touchscreen for it!

This is a 7" Lilliput display with a capacitive touchscreen (like a tablet) instead of the usual resistive one (like most touch point-of-sale terminals), housed in a Bybyte double-DIN frame, sourced from Mobile Computing Solutions in the US.

The display features HDMI, VGA, DVI and two composite video inputs. You are also provided a 110v/240v to 12v PSU for testing, a 12v cigarette lighter adapter for the car, and two custom cables that combine HDMI at one end and HDMI and USB at the other along with a HDMI to DVI & USB cable that provide the PC digital video input and the USB link for the touchscreen I/O.


Click for full size image!

Using Ubuntu Linux, the touchscreen was recognised immediately. No additional drivers were required. The touch accuracy is dead perfect, but the overscan was high out of the box, so after adjustment with the NVidia display tool, I had to re-calibrate the touchscreen to suit the down-scaled picture size which was easily achieved using the generic Ubuntu-packaged X touchscreen calibration tools.

The display is detected as a 1280x720 display and is pretty bright. There are a small number of other lower resolutions detected, but the majority of them are a bit too low res or are not 16:9 in aspect.

This display has been modified so that it turns on automatically when power is applied (when you turn on the car) and has a line (the green wire) that when voltage is applied to it (in this case, from something that turns on when you engage reverse), will automatically switch to the Video 1 input to show the video signal from a reversing camera. The second composite input is intended for a device such as a game console. Like a regular PC screen, it will enter standby automatically when no video signal is received.


Click for full size image!

You get a small remote control to handle toggling between inputs manually and for adjusting things like RGB levels, brightness etc. You can also turn the screen off with it.

Even though the screen is in a double-DIN frame already, I intend to move the screen into a Bybyte double-DIN Mini-ITX case which will allow me to house the PC motherboard and screen in one box and mount it all in the dash directly.

For now I've got it hooked up to an ASRock Mini PC for development similar in spec to what I'll likely use in the final setup.

Good idea, but unless they have been on there an extremely long time it's unlikely to pull off any paint. Just wait until you have some time and work it slowly and clean up any residue with metholated spirits after.

Yeah, that's pretty much my plan going forward.

How the new wheels riding? Feeling the road more?

Wheels feel great - they're completely scrubbed in now, but corners still feel floaty (yet the grip is definitely there). Still no opportunity to test their wet performance yet, though the weather report suggests I'll get that chance this weekend. The harder compound provides me a slightly firmer ride despite the identical profile to my old tyres, but I am impressed with the overall performance - I haven't done a really hard drive along a good stretch of open road yet, but so far there's no rolling onto the shoulders at all.

[hamish_023]

Definitely keen to see this car PC project

[rooby]

Finally, a use for Unity

[HyRax]

Decided to explore how difficult it would be to upgrade my Master Brake Cylinder to an STi one over the weekend. I scored an MY06 STi MBC and Brake Booster together for $150 from eBay which is a little more expensive than other places, but they are getting snapped up way too quickly for general upgrades it seems so I got what I could.

My 2.5i's MBC bore size I'm pretty sure is 15/16 (even though the reflection in the mirror appears to say 15/18 - must be some grit there). The STi's bore size is 17/16, so there should be an improvement in pedal firmness of just under 13% if my math is correct. Just need to see if I can swap out just the MBC rather than replace both the MBC and the booster because the STi one I got has got some rainwater inside it and also some paint damage from brake fluid (was from a wrecked STi). It also looks like a real bastard to get in there and undo the booster let alone install the new one. Will have to soak the new MBC in brake fluid for awhile to clean it out too I suspect.

Also need to find where the MY06 STi normally has its check valve - it doesn't appear to have it inside the hose like other STi's have it, and I checked two other MY06 STi's that were being wrecked with the same result.

Finally, a use for Unity

Honestly I don't know why people don't like it - it's just another launcher just up the side instead of along the bottom. And the HUD in 12.04 is awesome.

[Corsair]

Are you replacing this MBC or getting a mechanic to do it?

And photos of the car PC please!

[HyRax]

Are you replacing this MBC or getting a mechanic to do it?

Having a long look at it, it doesn't look like it'd be difficult to do the MBC (other than dealing with the brake fluid going everywhere), it's the brake booster that will be a bit of PITA by the looks of it so I'm hoping that the STi and the 2.5i's boosters are more or less the same (they look about the same size).

If I have to do both, I may get my mechanic to do it for me at my next service.

And photos of the car PC please!

Woah - it's not in the car yet - I don't even have the double-DIN fascia ordered yet! Right now it's just software and interface development. Hardware-wise I still need to get the fascia, double-DIN mini-ITX case, car ATX PSU, suitable motherboard (still tossing up between an NVidia ION2 based Atom system or an Intel HD based Core i3/i5 system), bluetooth adapter, external mic, external amp, reverse camera, suitable USB GPS unit, suitable USB radio unit, ISO cable to connect to the Subaru radio connector so I don't have to butcher the car's wires, adapter for the radio antenna, etc. Long way to go yet and there are some hurdles to overcome like finding some good Linux-based Bluetooth software that can interface with a phone as easily as a regular hands-free Bluetooth device, hence it being a long-term project.

[SH30RB]

your car pc build is pretty flippin awesome, and a good read at that!

you know what would make it even cooler, if you could run an OBDII cable down and hook it up, then on the pc install an ecu scanner program to let you scan and clear codes and get other fun stuff (like the ECUdatascan)

[HyRax]

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention I'll be permanently hooking up my Tactrix OpenPort 2.0 cable to do just that. The plan is to have a workspace perpetually running ROMRaider to display common car stats at all times - flickable to view at anytime either by gesture or by tapping a workspace icon or the ROMRaider app icon.

I'm also tossing up the idea of adding a tiny USB camera hidden somewhere in the cabin (maybe the A-Pillar if it can fit) to act as a recording device in the event the car gets stolen or something. If I add a dedicated broadband USB stick with its own SIM rather than rely on attaching to my mobile phone, I could use software like the Prey Project (originally intended to track stolen PC's) to literally remotely track where my car's been and to take happy snaps of the thief via the webcam. I could also remotely SSH into the car and start logging car data such as engine revs and car speed via ROMRaider or get GPS location data which could then be used as evidence against a thief. In effect, my car would become a glorified USB device on wheels.

I could also add a webcam into the front bumper for low-down road video capture action. If I got a USB G-Sensor, I could log that too.

The options are nearly limitless - mostly by imagination only, really.

[SH30RB]

this project of yours just got a whole lot cooler

haha

[Corsair]

I'm also tossing up the idea of adding a tiny USB camera hidden somewhere in the cabin (maybe the A-Pillar if it can fit) to act as a recording device in the event the car gets stolen or something. If I add a dedicated broadband USB stick with its own SIM rather than rely on attaching to my mobile phone, I could use software like the Prey Project (originally intended to track stolen PC's) to literally remotely track where my car's been and to take happy snaps of the thief via the webcam. I could also remotely SSH into the car and start logging car data such as engine revs and car speed via ROMRaider or get GPS location data which could then be used as evidence against a thief. In effect, my car would become a glorified USB device on wheels.

That sounds very futuristic! You'd almost want it to happen just to test your hard work and shame the thief.

The options are nearly limitless - mostly by imagination only, really.

True. But if you're anything like me, you'd want to limit them in order to ensure the project gets finished!

[HyRax]

That sounds very futuristic! You'd almost want it to happen just to test your hard work and shame the thief.

It would make for a great news article, wouldn't it? For now I'd just like to complete the primary goal of having a nice touch display to play music, radio and video in better quality than the factory head unit presently does (sans video) and get a reverse camera running. Since it's a PC, I can continually add it to it as time goes on, extending the life of the project and giving me something to do on slow weekends. I'm not one to try and achieve everything at once otherwise there's no on-going challenge!

True. But if you're anything like me, you'd want to limit them in order to ensure the project gets finished!

And therein lies the problem! Too many ideas and not enough time to implement them all!

[HyRax]

Finally removed all four of those ugly bumper protection strips!

Also attained a new fuel consumption record over the Easter long weekend - 758.4 kilometres on one tank! The result of a 1,200 kilometre round-trip from Sydney to Temora in two tanks of fuel. This record tank consumed 60.5 litres, so I probably could have gone 30-50 kilometres longer but wasn't willing to surge the engine.

I also have a new record for estimated-distance-to-empty as a result - 860 kilometres after refilling!

EDIT: Part of the trip also saw me get a little dirty, but what a great view it was from up there...!


Click for full size image!


Click for full size image!


Click for full size image!

[bass_straitener]

Great result. Were you trying for an economy run?

Also any further impressions or reports on the tyres?