Win CE based alternative? BT Audio via dongle?

[nfrank89]

Hey everyone! i've been lurking in these forums and on google for the last week trying to see what the possibilities are for this unit and im not really finding the answers to many of the questions i've been wondering. so here they are, hopefully some of you have answers!

 

This is a windows CE based system. how come there hasn't been more exploration into running a 3rd party windows CE based user interface that replaces or modifies the pioneer software? maybe even patches in software from the top end unit? i'd mainly be interested in this to improve the digital sound processing options because i feel the sound quality i get out of this unit is very disappointing.

 

One of the features i wish i had the most is bluetooth audio streaming!!! is there any way to plug in a usb bluetooth dongle that already has windows ce drivers and some 3rd party ce based software to process the audio and commands? perhaps patch in newer pioneer software that already utilizes bt audio and a bit of software that will make it work with the aftermarket dongle?

 

these are my questions for now. hopefully they spark some interesting conversation and interest in development for this platform!

[pionara]

Hi nfrank89. Not sure which avic you have, but several are out there with very different hw platforms.

I would encourage you to get a copy of the service manual for your model and review it, especially paying attention to the block diagrams and schematics.

 

Here are some of my observations based upon limited interaction with a few pioneer avic models (f700/900bt and u310bt):

 

A few problems with running a completely separate "alternative" dashboard, different bluetooth/dongle:

1. many of the functions of the hardware (radio tuning, volume control, input switching, led controls, cd/dvd deck, even ipod control, etc) are controlled by a special purpose hardware chip (ucom) which the "dashboard" stock pioneer software interacts with directly in order to make this stuff happen. Perhaps if it was controlled by separate software apps this might be easier. Right now the only alternative to maintain the control over these systems is by either disassembling and reverse engineering the pioneer libraries used for this, and wrapping your custom sw around this, or disassembling and reverse engineering the actual control protocols and commands that are sent to the ucom chip, and implementing your own libraries and sw to do this.

 

2. the problem with bluetooth and usb in general is that, at least on many models, the usb is not a regular usb port that interfaces with the OS, but has been abstracted away as a special purpose usb port that either attaches to a special purpose chip or to ucom, and only works for certain fucntions like ipod control/playback, mass storage audio playback. The OS does not have direct low level access to use these ports as mass storage or other device, like bluetooth dongle, wifi adapter, etc.

 

3. the bluetooth chipset used in many of these pioneers has some special libraries, and is used only in a certain way. Again, perhaps you could write your own app around these libraries and replace the way that pioneer sw is currently using them.

 

All of the above obsticles are definately can be overcome, but it seems that it would take quite some time and effort to accomplish.