PDA Freescan v0.0000001

[jollyroger]

Ok gentlemen, here is a first prototype of PDA Freescan.

The current version is pre-pre-pre-release, and it includes:

- Setup screen to select the COM port to be used and the communication delay.

- Buttons to use Miles/Km. Fahrenheit/Centigrade

- Engine Data view with really bad GUI, it includes pretty much all the original data view instruments, but they are really squashed together to fit on the low-res screen.

- The only supported protocol is the Esprit 4cyl for now

The executable works only on ARM4 based PDAs running PocketPC 2003 or newer OS.

To use, copy the executable in a folder in the PDA using your PC, then run it on the PDA.

DISCLAIMER: at the moment I don't have any means to test it, so I can make no guarantee it actually works, I cannot even make any guarantee it will not fry your ECU, so use it at your own risk.

I am sorry for being so drastic, but I am doing this project as a tribute to the Lotus Esprit community in my spare time, and I don't have much spare time...

If anybody is brave enough to start testing it for me and tell me if it does something, I will then fix it, continue porting the features, and maybe add some features over the standard Freescan to better suit the PDA.

For any other info, PM me, reply to this post or make a new post...

Cheers,

Jollyroger

FreescanPDA.zip

[Jonathan]

Well Done, I knew someone could do this !!!

However, I have downloaded it onto the PDA I have here, when I start the application I get the following error :

------------------------------------

Application Error

WARNIG:

SetCommState() Failed

with the following error:

The parameter is inccorect.

Port: 1

-----------------------------------

I can still get into the program.

I see the main screen with the start/stop and the com port select.

The radio buttons for the imperial/metric options and the drop down select.

The bottom has 2 tabs (this current one) and the Engine Data display screen, seems absolutly fine to me !

Only prob I have atm is I cannt test it much past this due to the fact I cannot start the coms link. Selecting a different com port will not always throw up the above error depending on what port (com 9 seems to be OK) but I cannot get any communication between the car and the PDA.

No smoke coming from the car so the ECU looks ok to me

Great stuff so far !

[jollyroger]

Hello Jonathan, thank you for being the guinea pig

I am glad the GUI shows up, at least the program starts correctly.

The serial communication will be the toughest problem to solve, if I had a PDA here it would probably take 10 minutes, but you have to be patient and help me out...

I have a few questions to ask you:

- Can you please tell me the exact model of your PDA?

- Can you please tell me what serial ports are selectable in the COM port drop-down list? I would like to know which ports get detected on your PDA.

- What are you using to connect your PDA to the ALDL cable? Is it a built-in serial port? Is it a CF serial adapter? Is it something else?

Thanks,

JR

[Techspy]

Thanks for putting your time in this project. I am not at home so I won't be able to test for a few more months. I have 2 Windows Mobile 5 smart phones that I want to try this on. They do not come with a serial connection however so I will be trying a bluetooth/serial adapter like listed here

http://www.socketcom.com/product/CS0400-479.asp?View=Specs

This way I can leave the adapter connected to the aldl plug under the dash and never have to physically connect a cable....just connect via bluetooth when needed. Cool indeed!

[jollyroger]

Hello TechSpy,

I am planning to release 2 separate versions of Freescan PDA, one for PDA and one for SmartPhones.

The one specific for SmartPhones will have a reworked GUI to fit onto the smaller SmartPhones screens.

Eventually I will need to test that version too, so keep in touch!

Cheers,

JR

[russellbosier]

Hi,

If you want some help/advice on the comms problem send me the relevant code and I may be able to help.

Russell.

[jollyroger]

Hello Russell,

I will try to find what the problem is, if I get stuck I will surely send stuff your way, thanks!

Researching around I just found that sometimes the PocketPC 2003 OS SetCommState routine fails with error 87 if I try to set "strange" baud rates, but then if I get the state with GetCommState, the baud rate is set properly...

I looked around for this problem and apparently it is not uncommon, do you know anything about this?

Cheers,

JR

[SteveSmith]

Hi

I've downloaded and run the exe on my PDA and got the same error as Jon but I too can see the program fine. I haven't actually hooked it up to the ALDL cable yet due to a lack of appropriate cable

For info, I've got a Dell Axim X30 624mhz processor running PocketPC 2003 SE.

Jono - fancy meeting up at some point soon to try to get this working ??

JollyRoger - thanks for the work so far. Its looking fantastic

[jollyroger]

Hello SteveSmith,

thanks for the moral support, I really appreciate it!

I already found some bugs and I have sent to Jonathan a new version of the program.

I believe there might be the need for a NULL-modem cable between the PDA serial cable and the ALDL cable, we'll see about this soon I guess.

I am sending him stuff to try first, as he has the full setup connected to his Esprit, so he can give me an idea of how it's going...

Cheers,

Jollyroger

[Techspy]

Well, I just downloaded and installed and I didnt get any errors until I hit start. I am sure that was because I dont have it connected to the car. FYI, the particular smartphones I have are not the Windows Mobile 5 smartphone edition. These have the full blown (approx 2"x3"), touch screen interface. So, I may not be a great candidate to help you with the smartphone edition, but I will do what I can, especially as the bluetooth/serial interface goes.

[jollyroger]

Hello Techspy, I doubt the version you have will work correctly, as I found a problem in the code after I posted the zip file.

You said the program didn't report any errors until you hit the start button, what error did it report when you hit start?

BTW to use the bluetooth interface please use COM7, but maybe you know this already...

I am very interested to know if we can make the bluetooth interface work, as it would be very useful!

Please let me know...

Cheers,

JR

[M Blur]

I'm amazed at the progress so far and surprised Dermot hadn't posted sth on this as this is basically a development of Andy's baby that he's put a lot into bringing forward and supporting.

Do you think we'll have a working version this summer - I can then use a pda instead of a laptop for my track testing. If we can the find a way to overlay that interface with camcorder dv footage then we'd be doing really well..

I'll start checking out the deals on pdas and run a few by you guys to check for suitability. I can then start helping to test.

what is the consensus best connection to hook into the aldl cable.?

Great work JR et all.

Jon

[Jonathan]

- Can you please tell me the exact model of your PDA?

- Can you please tell me what serial ports are selectable in the COM port drop-down list? I would like to know which ports get detected on your PDA.

- What are you using to connect your PDA to the ALDL cable? Is it a built-in serial port? Is it a CF serial adapter? Is it something else?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

- PDA = IPAQ 2210

- Com ports = 1-3-4-6-9

I believe bluetooth is using 5 & 8 as com inbound / outbound.

- Using HP's own serial sync cable, plug directly into the PDA and then splits into female USB and Serial port connectors.

I think you're right in that it needs a null modem made up, mines the wrong gender so i'll have yo make another one tomorrow.

btw the new file you pm'd me throws the same error up

[russellbosier]

Hi JR,

Just looked through my PDA comms code here and I do nothing special for a PDA compared to a normal PC as far as SetCommSeate is concerned. I have not encountered error 87 but I do tend to use standard baud rates - i.e. 9600 19200 etc. One thing though, if you change the baud rate on an already open port, write at least 1 character before changeing the baud or it will not change.

When opening a port, the port name on PDA's should be 'COM1:' for com 1, not 'COM1' or '\\.\COM1' as on a PC.

Also, for Bluetooth, SETIR should be used when useing Bluetooth or IR comms, e.g. 'EscapeCommFunction( deviceid, SETIR)' - a selection for Bluetooth or RS232 should be made in the software to decide if to send this command.

Jonathan, on the HP2210, Com8 should be selected for Bluetooth.

Russell.

[jollyroger]

Hey Russell,

thanks for the tips.

I am not doing anything special either, but reading around I found that some PDAs do not tolerate well non-standard baud rates.

Russell, do you have MSN?

I wouldn't mind chatting with you on this topic...

Cheers,

JR

[russellbosier]

Hi JR

Unfortunately things like MSN and web email etc are blocked here. Feel free to email me on [email protected].

By the way, what baud rate does Freescan use? I should be able to find time at lunch to play around with some working PDA comms code to change it to that baud rate and see what happens.

Russell.

[Dermot]

Russell,

The ALDL inferface is by-directional, half duplex, 8193 bps.

I have a palm m515, with serial cable and null modem adaptor for testing. Do you know what chipset the Palm's run ?

Dermot

[Jonathan]

Made some more test leads up today so I can test whats going on, the electronics side of things is fine for me it's the ones and twos (or 0's & 1's that goes millllles over my head).

Coms were the thing I expected to be the real hard work, took me ages to sort the lotop, which I have a slight clue about, out net alone the PDA !

[M Blur]

Hooking my laptop was no problem - it picked up com port 5 on my lap top instantly once aldl converter driver was loaded on.

Should a pda be able to pick up as well.? Can we load the same driver to the pda or is USB cable through the aldl converter a no-go..?

[Bibs]

I can test this on an IPAQ 5450 if you like

* 400MHz PXA250 XScale Processor

* Pocket PC 2003

* 64MB RAM / 48MB ROM

* Onboard Bluetooth & 802.11b Wi-Fi

* Long Range IRDA Port

* Secure Digital Slot w/ SDIO Support

* Biometric Fingerprint Scanner

[russellbosier]

Hi Dermot

Palm's are a bit different and I dont know much about them to be honest. Being rivals to Microsoft they will have completely different development kits. As most PC software is written using Microsoft tools, the easiest way to write easily maintainable code for portable devices these days is to go the Pocket PC route as these use similar Microsoft development tools, hence not too dificult to create Pocket PC versions of existing PC applictaions (they can share a lot of common code).

Russell.

[Jonathan]

* Biometric Fingerprint Scanner

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The biometric finger, we can rebuild it to be faster, stronger more reliable.

LOL - does it go "na-na-na-na-na" as you run your finger over it ?

[Bibs]

It does, nice

[jollyroger]

I am starting to think this problem might be related to the standard serial port capabilities of some PDAs.

The data transmission rate is not "standard" and maybe some hardware just doesn't support it.

I checked the PXA250 hardware/software developer manual, and it has an internal oscillator with a programmable divider, which means that in theory it should support any strange data speed, but maybe it's the driver.

Dermot: as Russell says, the palm uses a completely different hardware and OS, so it will be much more difficult to port the program onto them.

Jonathan: just as a matter of curiosity, after the program generates the serial error, the program should continue, can you then press "start"?

Does anything happen?

Ah, and I believe it was "ta-ta-ta-ta-ta"

[jollyroger]

Ah by the way here is the latest build if anyone else wants to try it.

I guess it will take a CF based proper RS232 port to make this thing work, but then again, maybe not...

JR

FreescanPDA_0_0_1.zip