New Project. Raspberry Pi Stereo

[HankScorpio]

After shopping around for a decent car stereo, I've bitten the bullet and decided to build one with a raspberry pi and the official 7 inch touchscreen. Going to use Openauto which is essentially an android auto emulator.

Mechanical engineer by trade and fuggin hate anything computery, so could be a steep learning curve. The plan is to get it working on the desk and then stick it in the Death Star. Will be stereo to begin with and then I'll be looking to make it 5.1 surround.

Hope to bring the whole lot in for around £200 - £250. Spent the last few evenings researching it and it looks possible. Glad I work with a load of computer, electronic and manufacturing engineers as I think I might be keeping them busy.

Anyone else given this a go?

[ThomasG]

Maybe not exactly giving it a go, but definitely giving it some thought.

Frankly, not something I was to properly look into until winter at least, and initially I was thinking about employing Linux - I can't find any half decent app for android, paid or not.

I'll keep an eye on your thread.

[ThomasG]

Got few minutes, so few things that make me think about it the way i do.
I hope you`ll find some of it useful. Or someone looking for such information.

Android:
By now, the best App i`ve found would be Agama car launcher..
That is to say- best, but nowhere near sufficient.
Why:

Its an app that is capable of launching other apps. It has very little of ability to interact with launched apps, though.
What it means in practice, is that one can use it to launch, for example, internet radio streaming app, OR music playback (SD card with mp3 for example)
But only to launch it.
to start playback, one needs to choose playlist or stream or even a mp3 file separately, from within the given app (lets say music player) that has its own graphic interface, not necesarily car-friendly.
so instead of loking at the road- one fiddles with whats on screen.

then there wil be time when one wants to change, for example, from mp3 playback to internet radio stream.
on "old" car stereos, of any make, when one wants to change from for example CD to RADIO, it is a matter of pressing ONE button.
Not so in Android.

One needs to stop playback on first app, then switch to "home screen"(agama for example), then start another app, and then tell it what to play.
otherwise one will end up with 2 apps playing at once.
have you ever heard 2 songs played at once from one set of speakers?
here`s your chance.

so again- instead of keeping eyes on the road, one fiddles with touchscreen..


in the meantime.....

linux..

there is lots and lots of audio and even audio/video multifunctional apps.
that is- ONE app that can do it all.
for example an app called QMMP.
would you remember something called "WinAmp">

QMMP looks and acts pretty much the same.

one can create playists with esy access, for example.
one can make first playlist with few radio stations
second playlist with.. lets say R.E.M. album sitting on SD card
third playlist with Chopin album on SD card
fourth playlist with few kids movies on SD card (longer journeys)

and so on and such like.

and with each change between "source", that is - playlist: playback of previous one will stop automatically.
as close to "one button" as possible.

then there is the look of it.
in its original state, QMMP isn`t too much of a "car friendly thing"

but then- it supports SKINS

so one can change the looks of it by downloading skins from internet, and if there is nothing that suits- creating a skin will be hell lot easier than creating a full android APP that would dot the same job.

and thats how far i got by now with regards to audio section.

other benefits:

Linux by itself supports several desktops, that can be displayed on one screen.
kind of like it is on a smartphone.

so one can set, for example, first screen with audio control (that QMMP or any other, its a big big world of apps available), second screen with for example Linux version of Torque app (and OBD ELM reader connected by USB), third screen with satnav and so on and such like...

and there`s no reason why linux cant be run on raspberry.
as it happens- the very android is based (quite literally) on linux.
to avoid, or maybe create, some confusion- android IS NOT linux. it only sits "on top of it", whilst linux underneath does all the job for it.

but thats a completely different story, for different post.

[ThomasG]

Oh, one more thought:

with Android, be rady to spend some time IN the car, every now and then, setting it up.
Literally sitting in passenger or driver seat, whilst parked, and tapping the screen to set this or that.

with linux you can do that too, and you have option of connecting a keyboard and a mouse..
but even better- you can park your car close to home, get it to connect to your WiFi, and go home.
do it all from your laptop/desktop, via remote login, sitting by your desk.

[Max HEADVROOM]

deffo following this.. i hope your going to include gps?

[JoeNinety]

Have you seen Crankshaft OS ?
https://getcrankshaft.com/

[revaido]

I ran a Pi in my XC90 with Kodi plugged into the rear screens so I could load it up with entertainment (films and music) for the kids.

It may sound counter productive but I had to step back to using an older Pi 2 for reliability - the 3 and 3B I had both rebooted occasionally I'm assuming due to power fluctuation issues.

I was playing with a 4 2GB yesterday and the heat these new ones produce at idle is bonkers but it's certainly fast. I tried using it for some SDR duty but the 4 needs time to fix some driver issues as some USB devices aren't playing well with the VIA USB chipset they're using now.

If you do get random issues try and make sure it's got the cleanest power possible.

[HankScorpio]

Thanks for all the responses guys, very useful to know (and equally useful to know who to ask questions to).

This just arrived. Waiting for screen..... And wondering where all my SD cards have gone.

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by HankScorpio

Mechanical engineer by trade and fuggin hate anything computery, so could be a steep learning curve. The plan is to get it working on the desk and then stick it in the Death Star. Will be stereo to begin with and then I'll be looking to make it 5.1 surround.

The lions share of this project lies in the area you confess yo knowing nothing about. It’s not trivial.
Not at all.
You may be biting off more than you can chew.

[ThomasG]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

It’s not trivial.
Not at all.
You may be biting off more than you can chew.

+1 that.

I know that i sound stuck on linux, but it is precisely because of software shortcomings and inability to overcome these

in linux one can run android apps AND tailor the software

it may need actually CREATING a driver for a device, unfortunately.

or a GUI..

And its not a small task, even though it will be a lot easier than in andro..

still- easy (but with limits) way out is to use Android..

have a lookie here:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=289226

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIQPVxMbSJU


and here he`s got a phone on his dasboard
idea is nice, but i want control over it without stopping the car, even without diverting my eyes from the road!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSjwd637mog