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DIY E46 Media Centre: MP3, videos, Digital Radio, Digital TV?

669K views 2K replies 165 participants last post by  harryberlin 
#1 · (Edited)
[PIBUS] DIY E46/E39 Media Centre: MP3, videos, Digital Radio, Digital TV?

So I bought me one of those Raspberry Pi boards for $25 (actually more like $40 in Australia after shipping/gst etc) and hooked the video-out to my car. It works :)

It won't be easy, but potentially you could do lots of things with this, without ripping out your factory equipment:
1. MP3s with album art, playing from SDCard or USB
2. Videos off USB storage
3. Digital Radio
4. Digital TV? (antenna will be a problem)

Stay tuned, an interface to the headunit buttons is the next step. Information dumped at: http://pibus.info
 

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#130 ·
Got the kit today (super fast postage!)
Did some research and got myself a promising SD card.
Started soldering (all parts are accounted for)
Just waiting for my RPi
Thanks Pete!
Model A or B? I noticed they got more expensive, must be our weak AUD$. If you ordered from Element 14 and they're in stock you'll probably get it in 24 hours, they (E14) are awesome.

Pete, was the shutdown solution implemented?
Yeah, I'm not entirely happy with the shutdown strategy but it works like this:

* The pibus software on the Pi watches the IBUS for idleness. If there's 4 minutes of no ibus messages, it runs /sbin/shutdown.
* The ATtiny firmware watches the IBUS for idleness as well. If there's 6 minutes of no ibus messages, it cuts the Pi's power supply.
 
#132 · (Edited)
First of all, brilliant work on this.

RPi is in the mail and I'm going to order the kit next week on payday :)

just need to teach myself how to solder PCB now lol. Be nice if there was an easy way to integrate nav into this somehow. My car is non nav, i know of a few Rpi GPS solutions but not via open elec. Might be something to play with
 
#140 ·
All working now. It was the pibus not executing properly.
Thanks Pete!

Definitely recommend the pibus by Pete.
Ok, what was it, +x flag or something else? It seems a few people have stumbled at the "no CDC" stage.

BTW It might need a software update for bluetooth, since I use the Phone & Speak buttons which might interfere with your call features.
 
#141 ·
Mainly I had extracted the zip package retaining the directory structure and followed the instructions for the autostart.sh
Thus pointing to the wrong place. Plus needing to set the pibus to eXec.
I'd mainly use the screen in NAV mode with music in background, I haven't tried to see if the phone button is affected outside of CDC, would be disappointing if it is... I'll report back :)


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app
 
#143 ·
Had a play and the phone button answers and dials etc but causes the headunit to "switch" screens twice.
(Though it works it's an annoyance)
There's a beta release here which should fix that for you, but I haven't tested it yet: http://pibus.info/download_beta.html

Also found the pibus is keeping the car "awake"
While the pibus itself isn't going into standby (led flash @ 1hz) it's keeping my nav unit and amp on.
Really? I just tried it with the key out, doors closed, boot open, and it all shut down (including nav) after 6 minutes. Are you testing with a door open, or SD card removed?

Email me the ibus.txt log after about 7 minutes, something must be chattering away still.
 
#145 · (Edited)
It's keeping the car awake again.

Basically it works (once) after rebooting the rpi.


  1. reboot
  2. after 4 minutes nav and rpi go into standby (car unlocked)
  3. unlocking car via remote wakes the nav and rpi
  4. BMW logo no longer displayed on screen upon door open (not really fussed)
  5. turn on ignition
  6. headunit can show CDC (xbmc)
    tried 2 options: 1- playing and stopping mp3, 2- not do anything in xbmc
  7. turn off ignition
  8. lock car
  9. wait 10 minutes
  10. nav unit and rpi still on - does not go into standyby (continues to stay awake.. forever - good thing I have a battery tender)
  11. console [reboot]: repeat from 2.
Emailing you my ibus.txt now Pete. I suspect the pibus needs to ignore the messages coming from the NAV unit, though it works properly when the rpi is rebooted. (I dunno :()

PS. the speak button does pause xbmc but also starts a call on the phone lol
 
#146 ·
Ah huh. I think I see what's happening in your log. The CDC (Pi) keeps announcing itself, but your radio never replies (mine does). Or maybe it replies only once when you 1st booted it.

Anyway, I changed the logic a bit, so try the new version on the _beta page, hopefully will fix it. It now stops the whole polling thing if there's a cdc-info request from the radio.

PS. the speak button does pause xbmc but also starts a call on the phone lol
Is that good or bad?
 
#154 ·
Hi,

In ibus.c, i've seen

#define SETTING_NO_PHONE_BUTTON 1 /* For cars with factory bluetooth */
#define SETTING_NO_CAMERA 2 /* Don't switch to camera on 'R' gear */
#define SETTING_NO_CDC 4 /* Don't switch video on CDC on/off */
#define SETTING_NO_IDLE_TIMEOUT 8 /* Don't power off PI after 6 minutes */

to deal with car's options.

Was it present in the version you shipped to me ?
 
#165 ·
Short answer: no. Long answer: Press tone, then go to the boot and unplug the 3-pin cable (the one with Pin17), then go back and adjust it.

Does it actually have different EQ settings for CDC and radio? If not, you could just adjust it from the FM/AM screens.
 
#167 · (Edited)
Hey Pete, there appear to be four resistor footprints on the board which do not appear in your schematic, and there are no other resistors in the kit.

What are these for, and do I need them?
R9,R10: Not needed. They are just an after-thought, a way for the ATtiny to talk directly to the Pi. I've never used them for anything.

R11,R12,Q5,Q6: Not needed. If you populated them with 100K and BSS-138 (not supplied), it would allow the ATtiny to transmit on the IBUS. But it never needs to transmit.

C6: Not needed. Just some spare access to the 5 volts. Or put a big-ass cap here if your Pi is rebooting when you start the engine (I doubt it ever would).
 
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