mini computer in my WK
So I bought myself a few Christmas presents: two of which include the Mygig Lockpick for my WK and a raspberry pi mini computer. This thing is pretty sweet, it's a tiny little computer powered over a micro USB port. I've been thinking and doing a little research and I think I've got a pretty cool idea. Some of this is probably just my ramblings, but I need to get these ideas down (bear with me here).
So I take the video composite out (RCA) and audio out (3.5mm headphone jack to RCA adapter ) and plug these into one of the Lockpicks inputs (I think the newest version has 3 inputs, each of them a video, right audio, and left audio). Now I've got the raspberry pi using my Mygig screen for video. Then I'm thinking I buy one of these. A rechargeable wireless keyboard/trackpad combo (it's even backlit!). Now I can control the raspberry pi wirelessly very easily.
Next I load up my 32gb SD card with movies and watch them with VLC media player! I can even get a 3/4G cell card for the raspberry pi and passengers can browse the web, all from inside my WK. This would enable the use of web services like Pandora and Grooveshark as well. Another possibility is to get a Wifi dongle for the raspberry pi and tether it to a cell phone's data connection.
The raspberry pi also has GPIO pins that you can control switches, servos, and relays with. I was thinking I could hook up a couple relays to it and control lights (or anything really). I'm a Software Engineer for a living, so I'm confident that I could program the board to control lights, and even do cool things like make them flash in a pattern or make them flash with the music (totally useless, but cool).
I see one little problem with this setup that I'm hoping you guys can help me out with. I'd hate to have a USB cord running from a 12V charger into the glove box where the raspberry pi would be. Does anyone know of a way that I could wire something up behind my dash (or even in the glove box) to take 12V from the cigarette lighter and convert it to micro USB (I believe that's 5V)?
I'm interested in anybodys thoughts, criticisms, or ideas!
So I take the video composite out (RCA) and audio out (3.5mm headphone jack to RCA adapter ) and plug these into one of the Lockpicks inputs (I think the newest version has 3 inputs, each of them a video, right audio, and left audio). Now I've got the raspberry pi using my Mygig screen for video. Then I'm thinking I buy one of these. A rechargeable wireless keyboard/trackpad combo (it's even backlit!). Now I can control the raspberry pi wirelessly very easily.
Next I load up my 32gb SD card with movies and watch them with VLC media player! I can even get a 3/4G cell card for the raspberry pi and passengers can browse the web, all from inside my WK. This would enable the use of web services like Pandora and Grooveshark as well. Another possibility is to get a Wifi dongle for the raspberry pi and tether it to a cell phone's data connection.
The raspberry pi also has GPIO pins that you can control switches, servos, and relays with. I was thinking I could hook up a couple relays to it and control lights (or anything really). I'm a Software Engineer for a living, so I'm confident that I could program the board to control lights, and even do cool things like make them flash in a pattern or make them flash with the music (totally useless, but cool).
I see one little problem with this setup that I'm hoping you guys can help me out with. I'd hate to have a USB cord running from a 12V charger into the glove box where the raspberry pi would be. Does anyone know of a way that I could wire something up behind my dash (or even in the glove box) to take 12V from the cigarette lighter and convert it to micro USB (I believe that's 5V)?
I'm interested in anybodys thoughts, criticisms, or ideas!
21 - 32 of 32 Posts
Wow I thought we were done with this crap. Quantam, I understand there are plenty of situations where term accuracy is important, I just don't believe this is one of those situations. I mean, cmon, we're talking about a little computer for my Jeep. I listed the components I plan on using, there is no reason to call me out on my word choice here. Congratulations, you've run Linux for the past few years, I'm very proud of you.
hm, they may be on backorder, there is a new batch being stamped out in the UK.
Ryan: if your kid is in dire straits PM me and I can probably free one up. Gotta strike while the iron is hot!
Wow I came to this thread expecting great advice about the actual point of this thread but it turned into a terminology nitpicking. This is a Jeep forum not a computer forum, everyone understood what bhawks28 was saying. It was interesting to hear the difference in the terms but this isn't really an appropriate place to attack someone for misusing a single term and then make it an issue of a person's intelligence. I've been doing Tech Support at my high school for the last couple years and no one has every made such a big deal over a simple term.
Bhawk28: I love this idea! I thought about doing this yesterday when I found out how little power it consumes. I was hoping someone would do this so I could follow their guide once my family gets a WK soon. For temporary purposes, I would go get a mini usb power cord that they sell at the mall for five bucks and use that for your power source. I missed the electricity portion of Physics because my dad was dying so I can't help too much but what I've read is the cigarette outlet puts out 12V while RPi needs 5V. I wouldn't know if that would end up frying it. Since you are a software engineer, I would think that you would know someone who is a electrical engineer or have some experience in it, so I would have them wire into one of the power outlets to keep the wires hidden and to boot up the RPi when you turn on your Jeep (since there is no power button one it, you boot it up by connecting power).
I hope you try this out and make a new thread with how it turns out!
Also I hope no one dares to insult my intelligence :fear:
Bhawk28: I love this idea! I thought about doing this yesterday when I found out how little power it consumes. I was hoping someone would do this so I could follow their guide once my family gets a WK soon. For temporary purposes, I would go get a mini usb power cord that they sell at the mall for five bucks and use that for your power source. I missed the electricity portion of Physics because my dad was dying so I can't help too much but what I've read is the cigarette outlet puts out 12V while RPi needs 5V. I wouldn't know if that would end up frying it. Since you are a software engineer, I would think that you would know someone who is a electrical engineer or have some experience in it, so I would have them wire into one of the power outlets to keep the wires hidden and to boot up the RPi when you turn on your Jeep (since there is no power button one it, you boot it up by connecting power).
I hope you try this out and make a new thread with how it turns out!
Also I hope no one dares to insult my intelligence :fear:
the trick we played in my daughter's Scion years back to power a usb thingy was:
- go to Radio Shack or wherever, and get a 'lighter' outlet on a pigtail. Maybe cut off the lighter plug of the assembly.
- wire this to the switched power outlet and tuck it up under the dash.
- get a "high-power" usb lighter thingy (Newegg.com sells these dirt cheap).
- plug that in to the pigtail lighter outlet and tuck it up under the dash.
and then plug the R.pi into that.
- go to Radio Shack or wherever, and get a 'lighter' outlet on a pigtail. Maybe cut off the lighter plug of the assembly.
- wire this to the switched power outlet and tuck it up under the dash.
- get a "high-power" usb lighter thingy (Newegg.com sells these dirt cheap).
- plug that in to the pigtail lighter outlet and tuck it up under the dash.
and then plug the R.pi into that.
Eh, my friend the Mechanical Engineer says it's easy: it's either a short or an open on the input or the outputI missed the electricity portion of Physics
Yeah, be careful, you don't want somebody to call you uneducated because you chose the wrong word in a very trivial situation. I've never had a problem with anybody on this forum until today...:thumbdown:Wow I came to this thread expecting great advice about the actual point of this thread but it turned into a terminology nitpicking. This is a Jeep forum not a computer forum, everyone understood what bhawks28 was saying. It was interesting to hear the difference in the terms but this isn't really an appropriate place to attack someone for misusing a single term and then make it an issue of a person's intelligence. I've been doing Tech Support at my high school for the last couple years and no one has every made such a big deal over a simple term.
Bhawk28: I love this idea! I thought about doing this yesterday when I found out how little power it consumes. I was hoping someone would do this so I could follow their guide once my family gets a WK soon. For temporary purposes, I would go get a mini usb power cord that they sell at the mall for five bucks and use that for your power source. I missed the electricity portion of Physics because my dad was dying so I can't help too much but what I've read is the cigarette outlet puts out 12V while RPi needs 5V. I wouldn't know if that would end up frying it. Since you are a software engineer, I would think that you would know someone who is a electrical engineer or have some experience in it, so I would have them wire into one of the power outlets to keep the wires hidden and to boot up the RPi when you turn on your Jeep (since there is no power button one it, you boot it up by connecting power).
I hope you try this out and make a new thread with how it turns out!
Also I hope no one dares to insult my intelligence :fear:
Anyways, I'm glad you're interested. Today while I was bored, I got the Rpi running in the Jeep! I hooked it up as I said but just used a USB car charger to power it up temporarily. I loaded up the Rpi with a version of XBMC (Xbox Media Center) written for the Rpi called Raspbmc and got video playing on the screen! It was pretty cool to see. For some reason the sound didn't work but I didn't spend too much time on it. I'll keep ya updated on what I do with it.
Yeah, I'm thinking that I am going to have to go with a solution similar to this. Thanks for the input.the trick we played in my daughter's Scion years back to power a usb thingy was:
- go to Radio Shack or wherever, and get a 'lighter' outlet on a pigtail. Maybe cut off the lighter plug of the assembly.
- wire this to the switched power outlet and tuck it up under the dash.
- get a "high-power" usb lighter thingy (Newegg.com sells these dirt cheap).
- plug that in to the pigtail lighter outlet and tuck it up under the dash.
and then plug the R.pi into that.
i dunno about all of this, i just got hungry reading the thread.....
Sweet thanksw1pf said:
That sounds awesome! Will the maximum amount of 32 GBs be enough for you? I think I will be putting music and movies on mine when I get it so I think I'll need an external USB hard drive plus that would make it easier for me to transfer media to (just unplug the hard drive at night and transfer the files over before putting it back).
I hope everything works out!
I hope everything works out!
So right now I have the OS installed on a 16gb SD card and I used my 32gb USB drive to test some media. I have one of the 160gb iPod classics that I keep in my WK so I don't really need space for music. Plus I don't know how much I'll actually be using this, so 32GB USB drive should be fine for me now. But I like the idea of an external hard drive being plugged into the Rpi! I plan on playing with this setup a little more this weekend.
Good to hear. BTW I saw this link posted on reddit of someone linking Siri on their iPhone to their R.Pi, not necessarily relating to your project but something cool to think about.
21 - 32 of 32 Posts
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