MSDROID runs on Android car Stereo?

[Trev16v]

If you see the beta test thread in this MSDroid section, you can also sign up to test our beta builds. This would let you see if it allows you to install 1.0b1 for instance.

I'm still particularly interested in whether you can manually install other APKs and it's also interesting to know about the permissions.

[arran]

If I install Solid Explorer and check the properties of the APK it says Jellybean 4.2
The stereo has 4.0.4.

I tried to copy the APK to the system folder but received permission denied.
Using sold explorer and ES file explorer the permissions on the APK say Readable: yes, Writable: yes, Hidden: No

I'll sign up for test builds now, and track down another APK and test

Arran

[arran]

Making some progress!
I signed up to the Beta group no probs, inside the beta MSDroid it now says the app is compatible with all my devices. The stereo calls itself "Mid" so it is now compatible with Unknown Mid and Telstra Galaxy S3 ....

I pushed the app to the Stereo, then powered on the stereo and the app installed itself! But....right now it has hung on:
"Fresh installation loading demo definition"

I restarted the stereo, started MSDroid again, I get the splash screen for a couple of secs then it just goes to a black screen, I try tapping the screen and get a message:
"MSDroid is not responding, Would you like to close it?"

Arran

[93white3400z]

Cool!

So, is it just staying there forever ? How long did you wait ? It should parse the ini at that point... should take about 10secs maybe more if the IO of that device is really slow for some reason.

[arran]

Hold everything it seems to be working!!

After I killed it don't ask me why, but when I restarted the app it just worked.

I just rebooted the stereo and it worked again no probs!!

So.... now I need to connect it to the ECU. Standby.

[93white3400z]

YAY! So, is it connecting to the ECU ?

[arran]

Sigh, no it can't connect. It seems that the Bluetooth adapter is not visible to the Android OS. When you go into settings the Wireless setup is visible but underneath that on my phone is bluetooth but it's not there on the stereo. The stereo looks to have a base WinCE OS which runs the radio, DVD, TV, reverse camera and bluetooth phone connection. You then launch Android from in there, so my guess is that the BT adapter is in use by WinCE.

Investigating

[Trev16v]

Ah, crap. Could it be the same case for USB?

Perhaps the only way around would be to have support for a WiFi TCP/IP -> serial bridge of some kind, but we've never had the need to support anything like that.

[arran]

It comes with a usb dongle to give it WIFI capability, having a quick look on ebay i can buy a combined wifi and bluetooth dongle for $10:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-Bluetoot ... ca3&_uhb=1

So the idea would be that the WinCE part has Bluetooth, and android would have it's own Bluetooth. How to make it actually work is anyone's guess

Arran

[piledriver]

plug in a usb<>serial adapter and see if it just works.

Android4 should at least support usb2go adapters

[arran]

Still no go unfortunately.

I tried unplugging the USB wireless adapter and plugging in a USB-serial adapter, and connecting the serial adapter to the ECU. Rebooted android just in case, when i start MSDroid and "Connect to ECU" nothing happens

I tried plugging in the Bluetooth adapter into the same plug, rebooted, in MSDroid select "Connect to ECU", nothing happens

I tried plugging in the Megasquirt USB cable into the same plug, rebooted, MSDroid still unresponsive to my request to connect.

It must just be a case of the OS not having the drivers, so MSDroid has nothing to connect with.

The Android part of the Stereo has the one USB socket that the WiFi plugs into, as well as a Micro SD card slot for data storage like music and vids. If I knew more about how Android works under the bonnet I am sure that this is doable! I just need to install the Android drivers for the right Bluetooth dongle so the OS recognises it.

[93white3400z]

Maybe try to take MSDroid out of the equation as a first step and see if you actually see the Bluetooth device in the Android settings. Otherwise tap Scan devices

[arran]

There is no bluetooth visible inside settings, on my phone bluetooth is just underneath wireless, on the stereo it's absent (so can't scan for any devices). Googling around there seem to be two options for running android on wince, bluestack and windowsandroid. Investigating.

[mrpham]

Can you find out with CPU it uses?

I finally got an email back from the seller and they said that it does not support USB OTG. But it does have USB Wifi/GPS dongles, so it makes me think that it does have USB OTG/Host but they only installed the required drivers to make them work. If you can gain root access, maybe it's just a matter of installing the usbserial.ko drivers.

[slow_hemi6]

Two other models, T8305A and T8200A both claim USB 2.0 OTG/Host in their specs.

[piledriver]

Why on earth do they need WinCE as well???
I thought that was long dead and buried...

The BT stack must support btserial to be usable, it is not required for certification, look at an iphone....

[arran]

The actual device I purchased is a "Road Veles" from Chinavasion:
http://www.chinavasion.com/2yno/

I don't think USB OTG is relevant, I just want it to run like a normal usb host for a bluetooth dongle.

The processor is a A10 dual core 1GHz. The devices mentioned by slow_hemi6, the T8305A looks exactly like the Veles but has an A8 processor and an analogue TV tuner. By the looks of the images of the software interface it is identical to the Veles.
The T8200A is the same as t8305a but without the removable face plate, A8 processor.

I bought the Veles because it had the faster processor and had a built in digital tv (which realistically i'm not going to use but it is cool ). It was only released April this year. And testing it out on the work bench it is good. The Bluetooth handsfree paired to the phone works nicely, the audio quality is great and the pairing process works. You put a DVD in it and it plays DVDs. The digital TV works, although signal strength variation is obviously going to cause problems. I've got it tuning into about a dozen channels fine, as long as I face SSW and stand on one leg and poke my tongue out... The radio works, AM, FM, no probs. You can listen to the radio and dvd music with the screen retracted just like a normal stereo.

mrphram, about what device did you send a message? The Veles also supports WiFi and 3g dongles, though i didn't buy the 3g dongle. I can't see why it will not support a bluetooth dongle given the correct driver. The combined WiFi/Bluetooth dongle I linked to ebay earlier would be perfect for my needs IF IT WORKED!!

I have pushed a couple of diagnostic type apps to the stereo via the play store, I'm going to go and see what I can see

[scudderfish]

What does MSDroid say about USB on the Status page?

[arran]

Little more encouraging information:

If I run "USB Device Info" app from the playstore i see about 6 usb devices, 2 x usb 2.0 and 4 x usb 1.1. Only one has a device connected. The WiFi adapter supplied with the stereo shows up as:

Device Info
Device Path: /sys/bus/usb/devices/4-1/
Device Class: Use class information in the Interface Descriptors (0x0)
Vendor ID: 0bda
Vendor Name (reported): Realtek
Vendor Name (from DB): Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Product ID: 8176
Product Name (reported): 802.11n WLAN Adapter
Product Name (from DB): RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter

Additional Info
USB Version: 2.00
Speed: 480
Protocol: 00
Maximum Power: 500mA
Serial Number: 00e04c000001

The unused usb 2.0 looks like:

Device Info
Device Path: /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb2/
Device Class: USB Hub (0x9)
Vendor ID: 1d6b
Vendor Name (reported): Linux 3.0.8+ ehci_hcd
Vendor Name (from DB): Linux Foundation
Product ID: 0002
Product Name (reported): SW USB2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
Product Name (from DB): 2.0 root hub

Additional Info
USB Version: 2.00
Speed: 480
Protocol: 00
Maximum Power: 0mA
Serial Number: sw-ehci

The usb 1.1 ports show up as:

Device Info
Device Path: /sys/bus/usb/devices/usb5/
Device Class: USB Hub (0x9)
Vendor ID: 1d6b
Vendor Name (reported): Linux 3.0.8+ ohci_hcd
Vendor Name (from DB): Linux Foundation
Product ID: 0001
Product Name (reported): SW USB2.0 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
Product Name (from DB): 1.1 root hub

Additional Info
USB Version: 1.10
Speed: 12
Protocol: 00
Maximum Power: 0mA
Serial Number: sw-ohci

If I unplug the WiFi dongle and plug in a wireless adapter i have as part of a Microsoft wireless mouse:
Device Info
Device Path: /sys/bus/usb/devices/5-1/
Device Class: Use class information in the Interface Descriptors (0x0)
Vendor ID: 045e
Vendor Name (reported): Microsoft
Vendor Name (from DB): Microsoft Corp.
Product ID: 074f
Product Name (reported): Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v5.0
Product Name (from DB): not in db

Additional Info
USB Version: 2.00
Speed: 12
Protocol: 00
Maximum Power: 100mA
Serial Number:


I ran "CPU / RAM / DEVICE Identifier" app and the below displayed.

CPU type:
AllWinner A10 1.008 GHz
Phone/Tablet type
mid (allwinner)
Software Crane EVB mid
More info
tablet mid
supported frequency states:14
NEON Capable (fast video playback)
RAM memory module: 1Gb (usable : 814Mb)
GPU type:
Mali-400MP (single core GPU)

20130715_203623 (Small).jpg

[scudderfish]

That looks like the info reported by Linux, not Android. It is possible for the Linux underpinnings to support USB, but Android not (as is the case with my Nexus 4 phone). What does the 'Status page' of MSDroid say under the heading 'USB Status' ?

Regards,
Dave