Autosport Labs

We have a couple of android tablets to do development on- we're placing a big emphasis on this technology. For the IPhone- if they enable the Serial Port profile for apps (a big deal if they do) then that would help things a lot. Wifi is the other option. But we're focusing on Bluetooth right now.

Cool !

I just got a Samsung Galaxy S running Android ! (been waiting ages for an Australian Carrier to finally start carrying an Android 2.x device with nice specs)

I Look forward to being able tinker/tune the Megajolt on it.. or at least monitor the gauges, custom user defined skins for the gauges maybe ?

The Galaxy S has an *Awesome* Screen ! The Super-AMOLED display kicks ass all over everything else (yes, even the Iphone4) in sunlight, making it great for use in the car.

I'm presently having some fun tinkering in Python under the ASE - Android Scripting Environment, so nice to have a device you can fiddle with instead of being locked out of your own computer.. unfortunately, there dont currently seem to be any Graphics library bindings for the "Scripting Environment" yet, except for the basic "display check list, display spinner, bargraph, input box" etc functions, so no custom graphic displays yet.

Looks like I'll have to learn Java next (sigh, another language flavour variant) if I want to do any fancy gfx. One of the things on the "to-tinker-with" soon list is to get a bluetooth-serial module and see if I can talk to an Arduino's serial port wirelessly through the bluetooth on the Android device, so glad to hear you're heading in that direction with the 'jolt too..

You might finally be free of the "My Brand Z USB-Serial adapter doesnt work !" threads.
Although for many people getting Bluetooth devices to Bind and talk doesnt seem to be much easier

I dont suppose you're planning on sharing/open-sourcing the basic Bluetooth-Megajolt I/O routine Android code ?
Or are you planning on making it a paid-for app ?

If you did share the I/O library's, then other techie programming capable users could write their own custom apps or user interfaces on top of the core I/O functions.. it might promote a whole swag of interesting apps for the jolt..

Regardless, good to hear of another developer opting for the Freedom of the open Android, instead of the Prison/Cult of the Jobs-Phone.

Thanks! Yes, we will be sharing much more in the future. We are getting much more organized around that mindset. More later...

I've not looked at MJ up until I was recently asked the question on the MS-Extra forums and was directed to this thread.

I'm in the last stages of releasing an iPhone app for MS and will look at adding MJ support if it is practical. I know I already have one possible tester for MJ.

Can someone point me at the documentation for the serial protocol that MJ uses ?
Is MJ like MS in that every software version uses a different serial output and if so is there some documentation showing the differences between versions ?

http://mobisquirt.org/ has a video of the app in operation. Beta test versions will be going out to testers around mid December.

You will not require a jailbroken iPhone, the final app will be a free download from the app store.

Hi Dave,

Great to hear of this work! It just might prompt me to get an iPod touch just to try it out How are you doing the serial connectivity without jail-breaking the phone? Seems like the standard approach in the iPhone world is to have a serial->wifi adapter on the device being controlled.


Here's the API for the V4 controller:
http://www.autosportlabs.net/asl_dist/m ... n_v4.x.pdf

And the V3/V2 controller (running latest 3.3 or 2.7 firmware)
http://www.autosportlabs.net/asl_dist/m ... cation.pdf

Thank you again, and keep us posted on your progress

Thanks for that Brent, that looks like everything I need and I don't see any problems with supporting it having had a brief skim through it.

I'm using the RN-134 WiFi module as it's cheap (by WiFi standards) and it seems pretty bomb proof. As you say, it's really the only feasible way of connecting without jailbreaking the phone.

There is a serial cable available now for both iPhone and iPod Touch, however, it seems it has to be paired with the application, is limited to 57600 baud (a problem for MS2 users) and the cost of the cable comes in above the WiFi solution.

There's more information regarding this on the app website that I've started to put together to collect all the information into one place:
http://mobisquirt.org/?page_id=28

For the MJ I assume you'll have to use a battery to power it though as there doesn't seem to be a +5v supply on the serial connector. The RN-134K is the same as the RN-134 but comes with a battery connector cable and a serial cable that you may well be able to use.

davew wrote:For the MJ I assume you'll have to use a battery to power it though as there doesn't seem to be a +5v supply on the serial connector. The RN-134K is the same as the RN-134 but comes with a battery connector cable and a serial cable that you may well be able to use.

Can't say for the V4, but I seem to recall that on my V3 there are a couple of spare pins on the serial connector so getting a 5v supply shouldn't be a problem? But then maybe I am being too simplistic - maybe other serial devices wouldn't like volts on certain pins?
Roger

It's been a while !

The app is now at a point where the release version supports the major versions of MegaSquirt and MegaJolt support is next on the agenda.

I've been lent an old MegaJolt Lite Jr that I'll do the bulk of my testing and development against that is running firmware version 2.8.0 Obviously things have moved on since that version was current but without access to a newer unit I'll have to develop the support for newer (and older) versions "blind" using just the manuals available.

From the manuals it would appear there are essentially 3 protocols in use and if someone could confirm the major/minor versions I am using to switch against are correct that would be a great help...

Version 2.5 and 3.0 and earlier use the basic 'S' command to get the state.
Versions 2.6 and 3.1 and later use the extended '$' command to get the state.
Versions 3.2 and 4.0 and later use the 'S' command with an extended 9 byte response.

I've got the basic comms and configuration side already up and running so I anticipate having a test version of the app with MJ support available in the next week or so.

For the old style MJLJ I'm using, providing 5v to the WiFi unit was simple enough as pin 1 on the DB-9 connector isn't connected to anything so I jumpered it to the +5v supply as per MegaSquirt.

More information about the app and how to register as a tester available here...
http://mobisquirt.org/about/

For the MegaJolt rollout I'll be relying heavily on testers to find any problems as I only have access to a single version of MegaJolt to test against myself so once testing is underway any feedback, even if it's just "it works on x version" would be useful.

Awesome, thanks for the update! Your screen shots look great, too!

The first MegaJolt compatible test version is available now. It displays and logs all the parameters and should work with all versions of MJLJ firmware.

Currently MJ log files are only available to view/transfer via iTunes, the next test version will have logging playback and email.

Thanks Dave!

Looking to see some feedback

this is said without any expertise, but....

*i believe that jailbreaking the iphone has negative implications for updating the OS. ie possibly preventing it? just something to investigate if relevant

*surely an app distributed through the itunes store would mean an iphone would not need to be jailbroken?

Just goes to show how good this MJ stuff is..... It's been ages since I've been here on the forum.... And obviously I have missed much of this conversation.... The idea of using my iPhone to log my MJLJ is appealing.... Any news to report on the development?.... I'd totally be interesting getting a beta version running on one of my cars if it helps at all.