# [EVDL] Another possible computer dashboard - Kindle



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

> Add a USB interface to your PakTrakr and Zilla and Bob's your uncle. 
> Well, after some programming 

I'm beginning to realize that with the Dolphin serial interface, two 
PakTrakrs, a Link-10, and the Magnecharger I really need a "house" computer.

So I'm starting a project on this. First off is getting a computer: I 
have a nice little Wyse S90 here that can handle USB, has 512mb of flash 
and can easily take a 4gb USB drive+ And it runs XP, so I can pretty 
much do anything with it.

The only question is the display in the car. Keyboard's easy, I could 
put a bluetooth-USB adapter on for that. I could run it head-less with 
VNC to a laptop, but that's not optimal.

The software could be simple: I'd be happy with a green screen when all 
is well, a yellow meaning "slow down" and a red meaning "you're killing 
the batteries". But what about a nice little display that could do 
800*600 (enough to display something interesting)

Anyone else put in a house computer yet instead of running around with 
laptops?

Chris

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Hello Chris,

If you are using a XP, would not the Hyper Terminal program that is under 
Accessories - Communications - Hyper Terminal - which allows you to send 
data from one computer to another.

In house you can send data wireless to a wireless modem to your computer. 
My neighbor across the street can send data to his house computer from his 
laptop from several miles away using a antenna which is call a Long Range 
Multi-Client Bridge.

Roland


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Zach" <[email protected]>
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 3:34 PM
Subject: Re: [EVDL] Another possible computer dashboard - Kindle


> > Add a USB interface to your PakTrakr and Zilla and Bob's your uncle.
> > Well, after some programming 
>
> I'm beginning to realize that with the Dolphin serial interface, two
> PakTrakrs, a Link-10, and the Magnecharger I really need a "house" 
> computer.
>
> So I'm starting a project on this. First off is getting a computer: I
> have a nice little Wyse S90 here that can handle USB, has 512mb of flash
> and can easily take a 4gb USB drive+ And it runs XP, so I can pretty
> much do anything with it.
>
> The only question is the display in the car. Keyboard's easy, I could
> put a bluetooth-USB adapter on for that. I could run it head-less with
> VNC to a laptop, but that's not optimal.
>
> The software could be simple: I'd be happy with a green screen when all
> is well, a yellow meaning "slow down" and a red meaning "you're killing
> the batteries". But what about a nice little display that could do
> 800*600 (enough to display something interesting)
>
> Anyone else put in a house computer yet instead of running around with
> laptops?
>
> Chris
>
> _______________________________________________
> General EVDL support: http://evdl.org/help/
> Usage guidelines: http://evdl.org/help/index.html#conv
> Archives: http://evdl.org/archive/
> Subscription options: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
>
> 

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

> Roland Wiench wrote:
> > Hello Chris,
> >
> > If you are using a XP, would not the Hyper Terminal program that is under
> ...


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

If you plan on going linux, I found something that may be of use,
especially for quick and dirty apps. it is called zenity and it allows
you to draw dialogs, forms , and other widgets from bash, the native
scripting in linux. Some of these widgets respond to text that would
normally stream to the console.

http://library.gnome.org/users/zenity/stable/
http://linux.byexamples.com/archives/259/a-complete-zenity-dialog-examples-1/

Although it talks about GTK (Gnome Tool Kit) I ran it on fluxbox the
other day with only 2.5MB of install



example:
I use this to display ink cartridge levels from the "start" menu in a
gui popup

#!/bin/bash
EPSON=""

function GetLevels {
EPSON=`escputil -r /dev/usb/lp0 -i`
}

GetLevels
zenity --info --text="$EPSON"








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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

I've been eyeing the ASUS EEE PC 901. It's $275 from Amazon (free 
shipping), costs *less* than a 1st gen Kindle, has an 8.9" _color_ LCD, 
wifi, bluetooth, USB, and 20GB solid state (no HD damage from high Gs) 
storage. It runs a "simplified" version of Debian, but you can easily 
install Ubuntu on it with an external USB CDROM drive. Plus, it weighs 
2 pounds, and will probably fit in the glove box. There are kits for 
adding touch screen.

I'm thinking it'd be a good choice for a "car pc".

I doubt if the screen is sunlight readable, though



> Doug Weathers wrote:
> > I discovered today that the Kindle and Kindle 2 are running Linux and
> > are fairly easy to get root access to.
> >
> ...


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

I just hacked an HP Mini into my dashboard in the Pinto to run the Zilla 
View dash board from Claudio. It looks good, but I need to run shielded 
cables because the comm link is getting interference and dropping the 
terminal session to the Zilla as soon as I push the accelerator.




> Eric Poulsen wrote:
> 
> > I've been eyeing the ASUS EEE PC 901. It's $275 from Amazon (free
> > shipping), costs *less* than a 1st gen Kindle, has an 8.9" _color_
> ...


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Wow good timing. As of yesterday morning I have two monitors running on a fanless single board computer running WinXP powered by a 12v computer DC-DC. HD is an industrial 2.5" 250G. Both monitors are vehicle monitors, one is a Liliput 7" touchscreen and the other is a 10.2" headrest display. The touchscreen is the primary so I can shut windows down with my finger. Zillaview looks nice on the 10". I just have to figure out a way to get it to come up in nosetup mode on the secondary monitor.

I've been thinking of making a custom dashboard. Maybe I can put a keyboard in the glove compartment door.

Oh yeah and the sound output can go to an external speaker so I can use my choice of .wav files as a horn to warn the seeing impaired.

Best Regards,

- Gene


I've been eyeing the ASUS EEE PC 901. It's $275 from Amazon (free 
shipping), costs *less* than a 1st gen Kindle, has an 8.9" _color_ LCD, 
wifi, bluetooth, USB, and 20GB solid state (no HD damage from high Gs) 
storage. It runs a "simplified" version of Debian, but you can easily 
install Ubuntu on it with an external USB CDROM drive. Plus, it weighs 
2 pounds, and will probably fit in the glove box. There are kits for 
adding touch screen.

I'm thinking it'd be a good choice for a "car pc".

I doubt if the screen is sunlight readable, though



> Doug Weathers wrote:
> > I discovered today that the Kindle and Kindle 2 are running Linux and
> > are fairly easy to get root access to.
> >
> ...


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Are you running the ZillaView package. How do you get it to run nosetup 
even on the single monitor? Claudio mentioned building a shortcut that 
had a "nosetup" call. But pretty much programming impaired ;-)

Mike




> Gene Stopp wrote:
> 
> > Wow good timing. As of yesterday morning I have two monitors running
> > on a fanless single board computer running WinXP powered by a 12v
> ...


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

I use a command line batch file that uses the command "zillaview nosetup" (if I remember correctly) and I have a shortcut to the batch file in the startup folder.

This is all on the bench at the moment, the car is off getting painted. The mini-ITX MB I'm using has four serial ports, so I can have the Paktrakr and the Zilla covered. I'm thinking of throwing the Paktrakr data up on the 7" as bar graphs or something. My Link10 doesn't seem to be spitting anything out the serial port. I had to add the Dsub-9, perhaps it's not enabled. Anybody who knows any tricks here feel free to chime in.

Best Regards,

- Gene


Are you running the ZillaView package. How do you get it to run nosetup 
even on the single monitor? Claudio mentioned building a shortcut that 
had a "nosetup" call. But pretty much programming impaired ;-)

Mike




> Gene Stopp wrote:
> 
> > Wow good timing. As of yesterday morning I have two monitors running
> > on a fanless single board computer running WinXP powered by a 12v
> ...


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