Interesting price gap between the two. One wholesale and one retail?
Why not just purchase one of these? Just curious

 

Questionable Chinese quality, support, new product, no history, etc, etc.

 

Interesting product, I have seen very similar for my other halfs freelander 2 (lr2 to the american guys) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...130222aa4306-5

The whole product looks very questionable to me, and the lack of anyone online actually having experience of them kind of puts me off. Even if it did work as advertised, then being chinese, I would absoloutely amazed if they were willing to give info over to an open source project.

on another note, I have preliminary tested a can proxy on the bench made from an ESP32, this should also handle all power management via can (turning on off etc) but most importantly its the missing piece to allow OEM screen replacement....keep posted!

 

I thought the same as you and DGL. I reached out to Canavie and asked:
Hello, please confirm that this unit replaces all on screen as well as button/ knob controlled functions of the OEM units that it's replacing including but not limited to Heat, Air Conditioning, Temp controls, Seat heaters, Steering wheel heaters, system strings such as clock, valet, alarms as the OEM unit uses HS and MS Canbus as well as fiber optics to integrate with the OEM functionality. Also the fascia included?

This was their reply:
Dear Sean:

Thanks for your inquiry.

Yes all the functions will be supported
And it supports the fiber optics.

In order to avoid mistake,
Could you send a photo of your car's console?
And which year it was made in?
then I can check if this model fits your car well.

Look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.

Best Regards

Andy

No answer on the fascia. So I think I will ask him to put a video demonstration online. This is interesting stuff and I "might" be interested in some version of it. Would rather buy a version from you Rhys.

 

Would definitely be good to see a video of it.

Mine will always be free, just the hardware costs which you can source locally. It will be super easy to install the software, and if I can figure out the plugs that jaguar use, it should be straight forward to physically install too, only issue at the moment is time....

 

I have the Canavie unit in my XJ. It's blazing fast as it runs Android 9.0 and has 4GB/64GB memory installed. Yes the factory screen becomes just another button. Hit that and your back in the stock system and ALL factory functions are available and work exactly the same as without the Android screen.
This was critical for me. Yes the fascia is included. It's truly plug and play.

You might look on the F-Type and the XJ forums for more info. I have had mine for quite a while with zero problems.
What the big issue is there is zero support or instructions. So the forum threads contain the most detailed and accurate install and operating instructions.

Note we are still trying to work out some details as some kind of fast boot so it's up and running faster. Also some more screen settings to help with reading it in sunlight. The latest thing is a matte protector surface to help reduce the finger prints showing on the screen. One thing to note is the backup camera and the factory radio start working immediately.
So by the time I start the car and back out out of the garage the Android unit is fully booted and ready to go.
.
.
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Thanks Clubairth 1. Was that really the price they charged or were you able to get a lower price? I'm curious because the other sellers of this product (who still have yet to respond to my email) are priced at half the Canavie. Can you post a couple links to the relevant threads?

All, here is the video they sent me. It didn't show all functions such as more in the weeds vehicle functions like clock setting, valet etc but Clubairth 1 has already verified.

 

And I found the other threads, so disregard. Thx

 

Yes the price does vary a bit, I paid around $980 for it.
Here is where I purchased it but as you know it's all the same unit so it's confusing why all the different brands and pricing too?
Since I use my phone for most stuff I did NOT install a SIM card in the Android unit. But you get a dongle for CarPlay and Android Auto.
Android Head Unit

I had to laugh at the one and only review because Andy does respond to E-Mails but there just is no support unless you get a bad unit. Zero help with the software.

One example? We could not get music to play thru the stock system using the USB port on the Android. Finally somebody figured out that on the stock home screen you must choose AUX for the input so the Android signal can be played on the stock stereo.
Overall I am happy with it and really the only drawback is my lack of knowledge about the Android operating system. They installed a custom overlay which either removed or hide a lot of the normal Android system settings.
So it's not a stock Android unit.

Consider adding a car launcher app too. Here is my very long thread if it will be any help?
Android Install
.
.
.

 

Rhys first and foremost i commend your work as no company wants to spend time on JLR. they think there isnt enough people out there that want to upgrade. Excuse my ignorance if I'm completely off base because I do not know what I'm talking about. that being said I have a few questions.
My current goal is to replace the current head unit with new hardware but i want all functionality of stock. in a perfect world i would have a Maestro rr2 and a Pioneer DMH-W4660NEX

If im understanding correctly you are building your own custom version of a maestro rr?

The way this works is basically you are trying to translate the code from the system onto a new better ui operating system?

Cambo talks about MOST and that it can not be translated to CAN. What is needed to get this onto a new system? is there such thing as a MOST emulator. I know MOST can be run on linux does that help?

Will it be eventually possible to retrofit a new screen with new ui and new functionality?

 

I've also been looking at this over the summer, but not actually had any real time to play around with it yet.

Getting it to drive the MOST should be possible. I've been discussing this with the Automotive Grade Linux people (https://www.automotivelinux.org/ - AGL) as this supports MOST out of the box. MOST drivers were part of later mainline 4.x kernels. Its just been put into 5.8 kernel, however default pi install is 5.4 so no MOST support. I've just started playing with compiling newer kernels for the pi to see if I can get it working.

By far the biggest issue is getting the hardware interface to the MOST network. They are like hens teeth. Someone from AGL gave me a contact at Microchip (who seem to make 90% of the markets MOST interfaces) as apparently they now do a USB to MOST interface that works with Linux.

 

you cant connect a pickit with a MOST microchip to connect?

 

I've not really looked at it tbh. Do you mean driving the MOST chip and POF interface that's in the screen unit or building a new board with one on?

I've found places to get the MOST chip, but struggling to find somewhere to get the POF transceiver, which is where I got pointed to the Microchip people as apparently they have an eval board that does this, but I've not had that confirmed yet.

 

why cant you put the microchip on a pickit3? they are $12 on ebay. separately I emailed microchip to see what their thoughts are.

in 2016 they had some hardware that all connected to a Pi see the link below. i think this hardware is likely outdated with the new boards and possibly pickit. im not an engineer or a coder but just off my research this is what i understand
https://www.k2l.de/wp-content/upload..._60001406B.pdf

 

I've not used a pickit but they seem to be more about programming and debugging MC hardware rather than being able use it as an interface to actually drive it in an operational context.

Physically connecting to the chip is one thing, actually being able to drive it from the Pi and it talk to the car is another. It will need the POF transceiver to connect to the optical network in the car which I've not managed to source yet. They are development boards from Microchip you can buy for this, but they are not cheap, they're mostly made for automotive manufactures for development of their equipment, not DIY's playing with their head unit but I've been told there is a simple USB eval board that might work.

I'd be interested to know what you find out from Microchip so when I have some more time I can look into it.

 

https://www.simplemedianetworks.com/...ical-interface

would that be close enough to what your referring to?

 

That's the kind of thing. You might be able to drive that from a Pi via the I2C, but would need to look into in it in more detail.

I think there might be an even smaller/cheaper interface, someone from the AGL group hinted that Microchip gave them one that connected via USB so it didn't need to mess around with the I2C bus at all.

 

not sure if this will do it but for $12 its worth a shot USB FOP Transceiver

https://www.ebay.com/i/163700327443?chn=ps

 

MOST uses a different connector housing like this: TYCO 1-1394640-1 for POF MOST

 

got off the phone with microchip they basically told me no dont move forward with the project and we wont provide you with anything. also mentioned AGL does not have drivers for MOST25. as for hardware this looks like your best bet https://www.simplemedianetworks.com/...ical-interface you will need to look into i2c and i2s. possibly here https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/late...g-clients.html. and or here http://most4linux.sourceforge.net/ for implementation

or even
https://www.simplemedianetworks.com/...ical-interface

Ive reached out to the owner of simple media networks just to get some information if he has any, you may want to reach out to the developers at most4linux