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I am 3 weeks out on devoting a ton of time on my own similar project. It will be neat, but will not hold a candle to what you are accomplishing. Keep the updates rolling, they are inspirational!
Very nice. Don’t forget to document and take pics. Everybody loves a good project.
If you're enjoying the updates, leave a comment or I might get lonely
Next Update
1. Implemented submenus.
- pressing left/right on the d-pad displays the left/right buttons with animations. They normally stay hidden to declutter the interface.
- buttons auto hide after a few seconds
- holding left/right enlarges the icon of the button and then after roughly 1.5 seconds performs the action
- options are different based on the menu you're in
2. Implemented Map Search menu. Here you can literally search for anything. If a route is active, it searches along the route. Otherwise, within a certain distance.
- Icons are available for the type of POI that's selected
- Distance to selected POI is automatically calculated (translates to metric, if the cluster is set to metric)
- "No Results" is displayed if the search returns nothing
- Right sub button adds the selected POI to favorites
- Left sub button clears the list and shows the keyboard so you can start over
- Replaced some navigation SDK icons with custom made ones, as they were broken. Software decides on the fly what to replace, based on the state of the image.
3. Implemented Favorites menu. - New items are added to the top of the list.
- Max 6 favorites are stored
- Attempting to add an existing favorite to the list will not double entries
- Added messaging if list is empty
- Left sub button deletes the selected favorite
- Right sub button deletes all favorites.
- Delete all notification prompt added. Auto hides after 5 seconds if nothing is pressed.
4 Implemented Route History menu. - As new routes are selected, they're automatically added to the top of the history list
- If an item is already on the list, it will not be added again
- Same logic as the rest of the menus
- Left sub button clears the history
- Clear history notification prompt added. Auto hides after 5 seconds if nothing is pressed.
- Right sub button adds the selected destination to favorites
5 Logic Changes. - Canceling a route before it's started (from route select screen), brings up the previous menu. So if you were in "Search" it will bring back the "Search" menu in its previous state. Same applies for Address Search, History and Favorites.
- Smart selection of the longest stretch of a route (to display on route details), to avoid dozens of "follow the road" instructions. So, it will now display the actual road name instead of "the road" in some instances.
- If keyboard is being displayed, and you hold up on the dpad, it will automatically close the keyboard and go to the search list (no need to press enter)
- Pressing back or OK while a notification is active will hide the notification
6 Graphical Changes. - Created various icons for menus
- Style changes for the nav menus to differentiate the notifications from the menu lists.
- Search Results/Favorites/History items have a max length, elided right.
- Animation for "Searching", "Calculating" and other items that require some sort of spinner animation.
Remaining Items for Navigation:
- View angle bug - SDK developer
- Current street name bug - SDK developer
- Position marker replacement bug - SDK developer
- Implementing navigation settings (probably not many)
- Testing
Up Next
- Audio Menu
Search menu with animated "Searching" POI type display icon and calculated distance Left sub button Both sub buttons visible (they autohide) Added to favorites notification (slides in from bottom) Clear favorites prompt Animated "calculating route" Route selection with fixed "longest stretch" road.
Finally got around to making a video about the atomizer/air balance/perfume diffuser thing that I ripped out of a w222 and installed in my w216. I love it. If there’s interest we can discuss about making a self contained version that’s cheap.
Lots of new updates on the cluster project. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.
- revamped graphics again
- variety of performance meters added
- audio menu implemented
- amg menu implemented
- ability to download maps for offline use and manage them
- full navigation customization options
- dynamic turn arrows with visual distance indicators
- map satellite view
- map POI customization
etc etc.
Hop you guys didn't think I have up on this project . Work continues. It has somewhat exploded in features like a network manager, database manager and a variety of other things that I decided to implement on the back end. Graphically things have evolved as well, as some of the aspects of the previous design didn't work that well on the actual cluster so things were changed. Some components are coming close to being final, so effects are being added, etc. Overall, the only 2 features remaining to be implemented are the media player (which I decided to make fully featured) and the main system/car settings. A lot of testing and debugging is going on in parallel along with map design tuning.
Hardware wise - I have sourced several top-of-the-line options...hopefully they'll offer adequate performance. I'm about 90% sure things will be Linux based, so that will take some time to implement. Night view assist and the OEM cluster display view will also be ported over.
Anyway enjoy the pics.
Let's start with the new look...along with our favorite error message and catastrophic beep.
Cruise control set, speed limit warning.
Setting cruise control
Address search was scrapped and replaced by full search (you can simply search for anything), along with a vicinity POI search feature.
Blanking along with button/menu titles were added to make things easier to see. Keeping in line with the hexagonal theme.
Myriad of route options were added. Full control over nav arrows and when they come up.
Full map control, from building display to font scale etc.
Reworked sub interface buttons. They slide in from the sides if you press left/right. Holding left/right will execute the function.
Height control with animated raising/lowering arrows and status.
Tire pressure display with reference values so you know where you stand (red bad yo).
Distronic distance display with target vehicle info, warnings etc.
3D elements were added (thanks OpenGL). This one below is a nav arrow that always points in the direction of your destination. 3D real time. New notification windows were added. The one below is one of 3 different types.
Some quick settings change immediately. Making changes to system settings will have you hit apply first.
Active route info.
The "track" options are still there.
Holding left/right will allow you to change the upper menus on the fly. So you can have your fav combination of things running like trip info, music etc. Some menus will be interactive like music. Hold left/right, selection jumps to menu, then hit left/right to change songs...for example.
So development on this is going swimmingly. Overall a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to make sure everything is working as quickly and smoothly as possible without having an overly complicated user interface. The interface might look the same from post to post but a lot is added behind the scenes. Maybe it's time to switch to video updates if I have the time.
Most of the menus are complete and in the debug phase. The only one still under development is the media menu, which is basically a fully fledged music player app. Graphics were improved with additional shaders and several other components. A lot of work was also put into exposing as many settings as possible and making the software as flexible as possible. Settings are there for pretty much anything imaginable, from changing gauge top speed/red line to speeding warnings to having the interface clean up a little by having sub-menus (called infomenus in settings) hide at specific intervals.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
Media player. Will be able to play music from external media or help control whatever's playing on Comand. Choice of non-distracting visualizers that move slowly based on the music that's playing.
Volume control is achieved by holding the up/down keys and is smooth.
The main views are currently playing/main page, track list and artist list. The idea is to easily be able to scroll through music.
Main system settings
Automatic album art will be integrated. Choice of visualizers...or no visualizers if you like a clean look.
Submenus/info menus can be hidden or constantly on. You can specify what the autohide period is. The left and right menus will be accessible via dedicated keys.Pressing the keys will show the menus. Holding the key will enter the specific menu and allow you to make changes to it (like change songs etc.) so you don't have to exit the main menu you're in.
Choice of dynamic/static/no backgrounds. The dynamic background moves based on car speed.
Sub menu settings
Gauge settings can be changed on the fly. The digital piece remains funcional during the change.
Full interface on. Shader changes on the gauges.
Last but not least, gauges can be swapped between metric/imperial on the fly, separately from the rest of the interface, which also offers metric/imperial options.
Last edited by megacrazy; Apr 21, 2023 at 01:16 PM.
Quick update on this, seeing how it's been a while. Updates are moving here from now on: https://absolutecarmods.com/?p=7026. Easier to write longer post insert images etc.
As far as the state of the project, since last updated:
- Added tag lib functionality to extract album art from media files, where available
- Threaded certain parts of the application to ensure smooth operation
- Overall cleanup and optimization
- Scarped plans to incorporate GraceNote or other online album media services. Too expensive for what it is.
- Added service interface. You can now set individual reminders for oil, diff oil, coolant, brakes etc, in time and distance intervals. They will trigger faults when they expire.
- Added wifi connectivity suite. You can scan/save networks etc. Extensive settings for wifi behavior (auto start, auto connect, etc.)
- In progress: adding Bluetooth phone functionality: stream music, control phone calls, grab contacts etc.
- Next up: adding functionality for other ACM devices like ambient illumination, etc.
Lots of fixes going on, stability improvements and features being refined. The phone menu is generating some problems, hardware related.
Another exciting piece that's taking shape is extracting video from the OEM cluster and night vision camera and having it display in combination with the rest of the cluster interface.
This forum is still quiet. So here's a sneak peek at the hardware that will be running the whole thing. This is the brain of the operation, with custom 3D printed cooling solution, and mounting bracket, connectors, copper heat sink, etc.. This will bolt straight to the instrument cluster board and sit sandwiched between the OEM cluster board and the screen.
Took a look at the W215 cluster situation as well and space....while down to 1mm, should allow for a similar solution.
Will post more pics of the rest of the hardware soon (FPGA, display controller, etc.).
Wow this is absolutely crazy, how did I never stumble onto this before. No idea why it's so quiet!
I've been holding on setting up my own digital cluster, I have a 12.7 inch screen 120 Hz screen. Initial thoughts were using a raspberry Pi 4. I have been looking at UI options for it and wasn't sure what could run it at high frames. What hardware are you using, and what's the performance?
Wow this is absolutely crazy, how did I never stumble onto this before. No idea why it's so quiet!
I've been holding on setting up my own digital cluster, I have a 12.7 inch screen 120 Hz screen. Initial thoughts were using a raspberry Pi 4. I have been looking at UI options for it and wasn't sure what could run it at high frames. What hardware are you using, and what's the performance?
If you are looking at creating something basic, then the Pi 4/5 might work. However, you have to keep in mind you need to run things that are rated for car environments, especially temp wise. Otherwise I would look at iMX based boards. I am running an iMX8QM, which can easily handle anything you can throw at it.
2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore and 2024 Jaguar F-PACE SVR
If you don't want to deal with toolchains and cross-compiling Odroid makes an Intel-based SBC, the H3+. just getting hardware accelerated graphics was a real pain for me on ARM but maybe it's gotten better with Wayland. Too much effort for too little reward... but I'm impressed FWIW!
If you don't want to deal with toolchains and cross-compiling Odroid makes an Intel-based SBC, the H3+. just getting hardware accelerated graphics was a real pain for me on ARM but maybe it's gotten better with Wayland. Too much effort for too little reward... but I'm impressed FWIW!
I love toolchains and usually it’s only like a quick 3 week setup and figuring things out.
Jokes aside, I would never consider windows for this. You need access to absolutely everything to make something like this properly and windows doesn’t provide that…well.
Hardware acceleration is not an issue on my end. Was one of the first things I tested. Maybe things have progressed since you tried it? What were you building?
So on to the next item on the list. Bluetooth connections and phone call/message handling...and all associated stuff. Lots more details here: ACM Instrument Cluster V0.95 – Absolute Car Mods. Playing music over Bluetooth is next, which is the last feature I will be adding for the foreseeable future. After that my focus will shift to hardware. Lots of other work going on with the firmware and getting the auxiliary displays to function correctly, transfer data etc.
Almost and dare I say even better in some aspects hehehe. I figure that seeing how it's going to be going in a lot of my cars...might as well make something worth while. Plus Android headunits seem to be chagning on a monthly basis with the same crappy software so that's no help.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
. Pics on site are darker than actual for some reason. 
