Topic: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Everything relating to hacking, expanding and modifying the Joggler hardware.
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Will one of these work with a Joggler running Squeezeplay?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221286412466? ... EBIDX%3AIT
Juggler
Posts: 249
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:34 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Juggler »

I think it should, because as far as the Joggler is concerned it is a HID (?Human Interface Device?), just like a keyboard or a mouse.

What Operating System are you running Squeezeplay on ? This is where you might want to check what support is available for the device.

I think that the device just generates keystrokes, dependent upon what controls are used in your car, and some software on the Joggler will translate these into what you want, like volume up / down etc. What exactly this software is and if it would come with the device or you would need to use something else, you would need to look into.

I think it would be a good idea to check how this device would connect to the controls you have on your car and see if there would be any issues there.

To me it seems a bit expensive for what it is too. Have you tried looking at some of the big Chinese websites like aliexpress and see what prices they have.

When I think about controlling a PC remotely, I've considered hacking a wireless mouse. These have upwards of 5 switches on them, a scroll wheel and a laser movement detector. The mouse transmitter uses very little power. The dongle that plugs into a usb port is tiny. They work over ranges of 5 meters or more. You can also get combination mouse and keyboard wireless devices with a single USB dongle, which would give significantly more switches. Plus these can be bought for less than £10.
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

I'm running Squeezeplay from external storage as the only operating system if that's what you mean?

I have a VW Golf with one of their MFSWs (Multi Function Steering Wheels).They're one of then few companies who don't use resistive switching for things like this and I've converted this one to infra-red with a teachable i/r transmitter and a Flirc plugged into the Joggler,but it doesn't give me the power on/off function I need to able to put the Joggler into standby when I turn the ignition off.It'll be easy enough to convert it to resistive switching so I can use the only spare wire I've got coming out of the steering wheel and back into the car through the clockspring housing.

I actually don't think that £28 in my money is all that expensive for what it is,I have looked on Aliexpress but they all cost the about the same sort of money on there.

I need the following controls to work......

Volume up/down
Track up/down
Play/pause
Power (standby)
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Has anyone else got anything to say about this please?
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Come on guys,someone must know the answer to this please?
castalla
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 10:33 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Thanks,it might do.I didn't know that you had to press and hold the home button to put it sleep or turn the power off.
castalla
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Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

Good luck.
Juggler
Posts: 249
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:34 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Juggler »

The Joggler with the right operating system should have no problems seeing the device as a HID. The betting shop Jogglers sold a few months ago actually used an Olimex MOD-RFID125 USB dongle, which presented itself as an HID to the Joggler. I presume this was used to identify who the punter was.

However the problems I see you may have and areas for further research are :

* What software will you use of the Joggler to translate what is provided by the device to the controls you want ? The ebay ad specifically states that there is no native Linux software provided, but does state (unclearly) that using some sort of windows emulation it is possible. I presume this to be WINE. If this is so then it will be a bit of a kludge. However, there maybe some software you can use natively on Linux. You'd need to look into this.

* You state that your car controls are not resistive, but the ebay advert states that it is for use with resistive controls. I'm not sure exactly what resistive control means. But I am presuming it is some sort of variable resistor so that a voltage range can be presented to the device that provides input to the car PC. I've never seen anything like this. The last car audio device I played with had buttons that allowed a pre-set frequency to be chosen from the Medium Wave or Long Wave band, so it was quite a long time ago... From the screen shot on the ebay ad it looks like the software provided converts the voltage presented on a particular channel into whatever key stroke defined. There appears to be 6 channels on the device.

* Remotely powering on and off the Joggler is not that straight-forward, and I think you have discussed this elsewhere here. AFAIK the best you will get is to be able to shutdown the Joggler in software, but it will still be drawing current. The Joggler, without any USB devices uses between 7 and 11 Watts. So even when you have issued a shutdown, the Joggler could still be using in excess of 5 watts. I haven't tested this myself, but it is something I intend to do as I am going to look at making a small UPS for a Joggler. To power back up it will be necessary to turn off and on whatever is providing power to the Joggler. If I was going to do this I would have some device that would act as a remotely controlled switch on the Joggler's power supply. To power-up would be easy as it should be just a matter of telling the device to provide power to the Joggler. To shutdown would require the OS to shutdown properly first then the device cut power to the Joggler. If you know how long your Joggler typically takes to shutdown, you could arrange for the device to wait for a certain period well in excess of the shutdown time before power is cut. To power cycle your Joggler there would be no need for the device to cut power. To do something like thins should be possible with an arduino and maybe a relay and capacitor for smoothing. Alternatively, you could just have a manual switch and visible indicator placed somewhere convenient. This would be a lot simpler and far less problematic.

Just a few thoughts, without really doing much verification myself, but I HTH ?
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Most of your questions can be answered by reading the thread below......

http://www.jogglerwiki.com/forum/viewto ... f=2&t=2110

I'm using a Flirc as a keyboard emulator which is 100% plug-and-play in Linux,with the exception of putting the device into standby which I still can't get to work.So it it doesn't need any extra software as far as I'm aware.

Most car makers use resistive sensing/switching because it only needs one wire and the electronics to decode this are cheap as chips.VW and other VAG cars even back to the first mark 4 Golfs (1998) used a data controlled system that is considerably more expensive to make.All they do is present a different resistance to ground when ever a particular button is pressed.

Again as I've said before,I manually shut the device down when the car gets put in the garage at the end of the day,what I'm trying to do here is purely a short term standby for when I leave the car for short periods.I'm fully aware of how much power these devices draw and I'm also fully aware of how long I can leave it in standby and still be able to start my car afterwards.
castalla
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Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

Flirc doesn't need any other software/drivers.

However, I've never really understood whether you can actually 'standby' the Squeezeplay.

What happens if you touch the off icon on screen?
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

castalla wrote: What happens if you touch the off icon on screen?
It only puts it into standby,i.e. it switches the screen off and pauses playback which is exactly what I want to be able to do remotely.
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
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Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Oh and since I followed the recommendation of the guy who makes the Flirc and upgraded to the latest firmware,I now can't put it into pause remotely,but I can still make it play remotely.
castalla
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 10:33 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

There must be a keyboard equivalent for this .... plug in a keyboard. Try Q

Downgrade the firmware?
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Keyboard and capital Q does switch it off and then it still wakes up from the remote.

There doesn't seem to be abywhere on the Flirc website to revert to previous versions of the software.
castalla
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 10:33 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

I think you need to ask at Flirc!

If Q works then you will have to reprogram the flirc using the keyboard mappings - or maybe you can add Q to the existing flric config file. It should be possible - load the config file - assign Q to the power button.
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

I can't find how to edit the Flirc config file and from what I can see,I can only add things to the Flirc with an infra red transmitter.
castalla
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 10:33 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

Yes - you load the fcfg file - then switch to the keyboard profile. Use the keyboard profile to add Q. But yes you need the original IR control to program. I thought you originally used the Touch remote.
Imagewerx
Posts: 168
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by Imagewerx »

Yes I did use the Touch remote and am still using it now.

But I don't understand how this will work.As I understand it the GUI will only accept an infra red signal,so I'll only be assigning commands it doesn't recognise? Even when I click on upper case Q,I still need to an i/r pulse to to send the data to the Flirc.It's getting the right data for the shutdown command from the remote,because when I'm programming it my PC goes to sleep.

Edit.....surely the only way to do this will be to transmit an upper case Q from an infra red keyboard to teach the Flirc?

Edit 2.......Got it at last!!!!!! But it resets to the beginning of the track,what's the keyboard shortcut for pause?

Edit 3.......If I use the power button to resume play and not the play button,it picks up where it left off. :mrgreen:
Last edited by Imagewerx on Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
castalla
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 10:33 am

Re: CarPC JoyCon Exr with Joggler

Post by castalla »

Now you're asking ..... no idea!

Is pause not listed in the squeezeplay keyboard shortcuts link I posted previously? Could it be spacebar?

Let me check .... give me a mo
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