Intro

As a follow up from a previous post on Mazda6.Net CarPC: Getting the parts I’ve managed to purchase most of the parts including the Double-Din case from www.bybyte.com in which I had to fit the screen (and in my plan the mother board and HDD as well).

The Via M10000 board fits perfectly in the double-din case with just 3cm sticking out at the back which kind of worried me but I hoped I would have enough clearance in the car for those extra 3cm.

Fitting the motherboard almost worked according to the plan except that the power plug for the Via board is to on the side of the board thus there is not enough clearance next to it to plug the M3 ATX power adapter. Thus I’ve got stuck and dropped the project for several months until I found out from one of my customers that I can buy a 20-pin ATX Extension Cable that will get me unstuck by allowing me to move the M3 ATX power anywhere I see if.

With a new $10 ATX Extension cable in my hands I’ve decided it’s the right time to re-start (or just finish) my CarPC.

Couple of night of work to put all the bits an pieces together and voiala, CarPC working on the bench running WinXP. WinXP? Gosh, I can’t run my car on WinXP, so I started to install Windows 7 on the 5 years old Via M10000 using a USB CD Drive via the slow USB 1.1 ports. Installation time: 2.6h.

Upgrade: From Via to Intel

Fallback to Plan A.2. Buy a new sleek Intel Atom Mini-ATX board: Intel D945GCLF2 Motherboard – Dual-Core Intel Atom 330(1.6GHz), 945GC, 2xDDR2-533, 1xPCI, 2xSATA-II, GigLAN, 5.1Chl, VGA/S-Video, Mini-ITX</i> @ $115.70 + 1 x Corsair 2048MB PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2 RAM – 5-5-5-15 @ $56.10 ea.

Install:

• Windows 7: Installation time: 18 minutes.
• Drivers
• Centrafuse
• BlueSoleil Bluetooth
• GPS Drivers (I can’t get the GPS working)
• Virgin Mobile 3G Drivers

Few days later my CarPC is installed and working on the test bench, time to get a booking to the Car Audio Installation Specialists.

Test bench installing Windows 7

Few more days of work to get it installed in the double-din case behind the touch screen:

View from above

The (dodgy) carton protection is for the M3 ATX power source.

View from the side

Big day comes that the system is almost all running and decide to use my last day of paternity leave to go and get the beast installed. Arranged an appointment with Druery Car Stereo to get it installed.

Last preparations

Evening before the appointment with the car stereo guys who were about to tear my car apart I did the last “in-car” tests.

The computer was powered from one cigarette lighter, the screen from another one.

Big day: Car Installation

Step 1: Tearing the car apart

This went very well but with unexpected results. The computer would not fit in the dashboard. It’s too long!

As you can see in this picture the motherboard is few centimetres longer than its case plus you have to add the length of the VGA plug and cable on top of this. That made the complete assembly about 6-8cm longer than a standard double-din, and that was just 3cm too long so the complete computer didn’t fit in the car.

I only had two options left:

1. Put the car back together as it was and go home with no CarPC
2. Install the screen and put cables so I can move the computer under the passenger seat.

Option 2 was the preferred one and we started to cut the original car wiring and get cables from behind the screen to under the passenger seat.

Step 2: Getting cables from behind the screen to under the passenger seat

Step 3: Install the screen in a custom Mazda fascia to make it look stock-standard

This also didn’t really work according to the plan as the screen was slightly smaller and the fascia was slightly bigger though they were both ‘universal standard’.

After a bit of fiddling we managed to put them together to make them look like one unit. It’s ok. It’s not perfect as there is a 3-4mm gap but it still looks good.

Day was over and had to take the car back home. Total billable time: 3.5h. Total time spent including searching documentation for cable and lunch: 6h.

We did no testing whatsoever of all the system or even if the cables are good so there was a high degree of chance of failure.

First tests

Yup. It failed. First test when I got home with a shiny screen in the car … failed. Screen was not powering on. It was completely blank which was not a good sign. Spent a good 3 nights with my head under the dashboard trying to track the power cable from the screen only to figure out that the power plug towards the car was not plugged in well. However that plug was quite deep in the middle of the dashboard, behind the panels I didn’t know/want to take out.

Here the screen is powered from an external source just to test that the screen works if it gets power.

I’ve started working to get the computer installed under the car seat and hit another set of challenges. The VGA cable from the screen is too short. It’s only sticking out about 3cm from the hole in the carpet, not enough to get it stable in the back of the PC. Now I’ll have to add a VGA extension.

More news soon.

On Monday the 6th of April Microsoft Australia organized the SDC Open Day 2009 event (SDC stands for [Microsoft] Software Development Centre, part of the Microsoft Services (Australia).

For over six years, Microsoft Australia’s Solutions Development Centre has been successfully delivering complex custom-developed applications for customers. We follow a set of processes that have enabled us to build high-performing teams delivering quality solutions. At the SDC Open Day we talked about how we have achieved this success, sharing our processes and techniques with an audience of software development professionals.

In the presentations below we provide an overview of the SDC, a day in the life for the team and details on how we approach each of the key disciplines in an SDC project team.

Together with few others like Tom Hollander, Prasadi de Silva (they are Microsoft so they don’t really count), , Bruce, Sarah from DevTest and Simon and Emma from Avanade we were invited to do talks on different aspects of the software development process in the SDC from Project Management, Development, Testing to Setup and Deployment.

The videos from the day are all published now. The fifth one in the list is my presentation however I can’t seem to be able to play it as I continuously get an error.

It’s public now that as of the 15th of May I’ve resigned from the position of Senior Consultant in Readify.

I’ve worked with some of the best minds in the industry from Darren, Mitch, PaulG and PaulS (who is still Temporarily Offline), Philip, Damian, Tatham, Francois (who’s now enjoying his trip around the world), Aymeric and lots, lots more.

I’ve worked with some great people from outside Readify like Tom Hollander, Rocky Heckman, Bruce McLeod, to mention only a few..

I think this was the best, coolest and most enjoyable job I’ve ever had, with involvement in various projects from fixing simple (sometimes crappy) VB.Net apps to technical lead of large projects, performance reviews and improvements, security reviews and guidance, threat modelling new or existing systems, architecture and design of new systems, architecture reviews, complete or partial refactoring and rewrites of applications, mentoring, guidance, training, talking, presenting or attending loads of conferences, whinging, crying (not really) and contesting or challenging technical decisions (most of the times offering alternatives), building awesome relationships with my teams and my customers (oh, well, at least that’s what I believe I did )

Even more I also received an MVP award in Development Security.

I’ve loved my position and the people I’ve been working with.

But now it’s time to move on to a new challenge and a new role. I’ve accepted a new role as a (full-time) Solutions Architect and 2IC with Class Financial Systems. More or less I’m going back into financial systems where most of my background and experience was before I’ve joined Readify.

I’ll have a great new set of challenges from leading a new team to delivering a new project from zero to hero (or great success). I kind of started to forget what it means to be part of a project form end to end. I’ll also try to use this opportunity to learn, apply, present and (cross-fingers) be approved as a Microsoft Certified Architect: Solutions.

I truly hope I’ll keep in good contact with all Readify, Microsoft, friends and partners and I hope to see most of you at user groups, TechEd, CodeCamp, MVP Summit and other conferences.

The best discount for your next exam can be obtained via Andrew Coates who has 15 vouchers for free MCP exams.

If you’ve missed his offer I then have another offer for you: 10% off your next Microsoft exam and a free re-take (if God forbidden you fail the first attempt).

To get your 10% discount head over to http://www.learnandcertify.com/, click on “Get My Exam Offer Voucher code today” and enter the MVP Certification Promotion Code: AUD68E69 to receive the voucher code for your next exam. (Offer valid for Australia only.)

Please also drop me an email once you do the exam so I can congratulate you.

(all the other Terms and Conditions and legal small print will apply)

Happy New Year everyone. I hope the Christmas & New Year break was good for you and Santa brought you loads of presents.

Santa was a bit late for me but it arrived on the 2nd of January with an MVP Award.

So I’m officially a “Developer Security MVP” (in the Developer Tools category).

My thanks go to Rob Farley from LobsterPot for nominating me, the great Readify Team for their continuous support and to Adam Cogan for challenging and inspiring me.

In the first part of this article I was taking about my new pet project: Building a CarPC.

This is the standard in-dash CD/MP3 Player (via www.netcarshow.com) that I’m trying to replace.

First thing on the list is to figure out what I need for this CarPC, where to outsource the parts and how much they cost.

Most of the installations/guides I’ve seen use a computer installed under one of the seats and run cables to the touch screen in the dash. My plan is to try to squeeze the computer inside the dashboard behind the screen to save on space and avoid running cables through the car.

So, first things first, components list:

1. Motherboard: VIA Mini-ITX M10000 (eBay for about $100). Small and powerful enough to run XP + .Net and a bunch of USB devices. Should be powerful enough to run a navigation software.
2. Power Source: M3-ATX DC-to-DC 125W Automotive (eBay for about $80USD). Small and sleek and powerful. No need for extra screws or extra cables.
3. Touch screen: Lilliput 7″ 629 LED Touchscreen (eBay for $250USD): LED screen with high contrast, small enough to fit in the dashboard.
4. Fascia: Model 1 or Model 2 (eBay for $120USD). I’ll go for Model 1 for now as I think it looks closer to the design of the car. However I won’t purchase this part until I receive the car and have another look.
5. Case: Double Din Nano-ITX Compatible Case (ByByte for $119USD). I actually wanted the Double Din Mini-ITX Case that would correctly fit my board but they don’t have in stock the model that would fit the touchscreen I want to use. Now, the problem is that this case looks smaller than my board so I’ll have to see how I can fit the board in it.
6. GPS: SiRf III GPS Receiver (eBay for $40): Well, GPS, that’s it.
7. Bluetooth dongle (eBay for some change): standard, cheap USB dongle.
8. OBD 2 CAN – OnBoard Diagnostics with CAN support (eBay for $40): Good to convert bunch of parameters reported in real time by the car to some useful data on the screen. Stuff like speed, fuel usage, oil pressure and more parameters are all reported by the car via this nice adaptor. I’m still looking for a cheap one that works with Bluetooth and has support for the extra Mazda specific codes.
9. Audio Connector: PC2-78-4 (nexia.co.uk for 20$) connect the PC to the audio system without cutting any of the car wires. There is no proof this will work with my car but seems the closest one that might work.
10. Steering Wheel controls adapter: I’ll try to use FusioBrain (FusionControlCentre for $52USD) to convert the Steering Wheel resistive commands to key presses in software.
11. Software: CentraFuse with Australian maps(FluxMedia for $250USD): Looks nice, does most of the stuff I want to have done and it’s written in .Net. Plus it has support for third-party plug-ins.

Total cost around: $1100USD + shipping cost + other smaller bits that I might need. I’m still way under the stock SatNav for $3000.

For now this should suffice the list of components. If things go well I’ll add stuff like reverse camera, WiFi, 3G and other cool gadgets.

Long time no posts. I simply didn’t find something highly exciting, unique or nice to write about. Plus I was away, holidays, time with family so I’ve neglected my own blog. I even started to get errors from WordPress at the bottom of my pages that I have no idea how to fix. (contact me if you can help me fix this error please)

However these days I just found a new exciting project to keep me busy in my non-existent free time: Build a CarPC or a Carputer.

Why a CarPC?

Simply because the old car suffered a “small dent” being hit on the side @ 60Km/h by a girl running the red light and it’s a complete write-off. Luckily we all got out of the car safely with no injuries.

So we need a new car and we’ve decided to go for the new Mazda 6 Wagon (2008 model).

[Will update the post with a photo once I get the car]

The car has a nice dashboard with pretty standard audio functionality: CD player with MP3 support, radio and few other audio controls but nothing fancy. The Luxury edition has an option for BOSE speakers and/or integrated SatNav. It’s nice to have an integrated SatNav but when you think there nothing else you can do with it it feels a bit restrictive.

The device is non-upgrade-able, costs around $3000AUD and I’m quite sure the maps will cost a fortune if you want to install an update.

So my new quest is: Can I build a a better in-dash CarPC, cheaper and with more functionality?

I know there are several sites out there that are dedicated to building CarPC but I could not find any complete step-by-step guide or even some hints that someone did this on a Mazda 6 2008 model.

My Wish List:

1. Run .Net
2. Play music (MP3s)
3. SatNav with 3D view
4. Hands-free Bluetooth
5. Reverse Parking Camera
6. OBD 2 with CAN (On Board Diagnostics) to monitor the running parameters of the car
• I’d like the car to keep its own fuel usage, km and other statistics all the time
7. WiFi
• Sync my car’s music library with the Media Center
• So I can write an tool to wake up the car (or just the CarPC) at 7AM and download from the RTA the Live Traffic Report and maybe several images from the intersections I normally go through to help me decide on the best route to work
8. 3G + Web Browser
• For Google Map/Business Search that kicks in nicely when you do a search for a business from Google Maps on your mobile
9. Skype
10. Mail/RSS reader
11. Voice Control (nice to have)
12. Be able to control the CarPC from the steering wheel
13. Make it look as it was a stock item, nicely integrated and part of the car

Well, TechEd is done (and dusted) and now I’m back to my normal life. Go to work in the morning to some customer, come back home in the evening, spend some quality time with family, browse the net a bit, code a bit, do a bit of support and maybe enjoy tv a bit. So life is pretty well defined.

However I started to realize how much my digital side life has changed lately. Not sure if it’s in better or worse but it has changed. Got a bunch of new gadgets, got a new backup plan, got a new Internet connection and just about to do some legal changes to our online shops.

So, here are some of the details:

New Gadgets

1. NAS: After having several failures with my hard-drives I’ve decided backup is a high priority so I went out and invested in a D-Link DNS 323 Network Storage Enclosure. I’ve plugged in one Samsung 750Gb HDD (I plan to plug in a second one soon) and started to get my backups running. I have to say I love the NAS enclosure. Small and very quiet. I just didn’t find yet a good software to backup all my machines. The default software that comes with this NAS is Memeo but this is really bad. My machines now simply stay trashing the HDDs all the time. I had to disable the service to be able to do anything with my machine. I’m still trying to find a good backup software. Please let me know if you can recommend one.
2. Bluetooth hands-free: At TechEd I’ve received a cute hand-free + wireless headset Jabra BT3030. I’ve connected it to my mobile and it works a treat. Superb quality, easy controls of calls and music, great battery, cute looking. My only comment is that it does not make any noise/vibration if you get a call so if you don’t hear your mobile or you don’t have the earphones plugged in you don’t know you receive a call so you miss it. If you are looking for a hands-free I highly recommend this. My only comment is that when you plug-in the default earplugs you feel like you are swimming in a fish-bowl. It’s supposed to part of the “noise-reduction”.
3. Mouse: As part of making it to the State finals of the Demos Happen Here I’ve received a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 (that’s a mouthful of name). I’ve just connected it and feel nice and smooth. The only problem is my Bluetooth drivers on the laptop are very flaky so I have a feeling this won’t work for too long.
4. Laptop Battery: I have a beautiful but power-hungry Dell M65. I used to use a 9 cell battery that (when new) was giving me a good 3.5 hours of power. Almost 18 months after it was purchased the power dropped suddenly to about 40 minutes so I knew I had to get a new one. Best place is of course eBay. Original Dell OEM part from Hong-Kong for $87AUD delivered. I feels good to be back to 3.5 hours running on battery. I can go through most of my meetings unplugged. Oh yes …

New backup plan

Well, it’s not there yet. I’ve got the NAS device, some software running on my machine backing up my projects and documents to the NAS, Live Mesh for all shared document with my partner and Mozy for almost all documents. I love Mozy. The real set-and-forget backup.

New Internet connection

I live in a “remote” area of Sydney. The next suburb is the limit between metropolitan Sydney and Regional NSW. Well, not exactly but that’s how my friends tease me. Unfortunately my good’ old ISP Internode does not provide ADSL2 in my area. So because paying $30 for a Telstra phone line and $80 for an ADSL1+ is way too much I’ve decided to switch to the only provider that offers Naked ADSL2+ in my area: IINet.

I’ve applied for the plan about 3 weeks ago online and filled in all the details. The told me I’ll be offline for 10-20 days depending on my luck, the ordering of the planets and the mood of some of the Telstra engineers. Now, you really need to prepare your wife for a big event like 10-20 days of no Internet + no phone. Seriously.

On Monday (3 weeks after the application) around 9AM the Internet and phone stopped working. Ok, so we are about to get connected. Expect 10-20 days of downtime. Around 11AM I’ve got an email telling me I’ve been disconnected and I’ll be connected in 10-20 days.

Today, Tuesday, about 24h after the disconnection I get an email that my Internet is connected. Two hours later my phone was connected.

WOW. That’s impossible. No it’s not. It’s not Tuesday evening and I’m connected via the iiNet Naked ADSL2 connection. Feels good and just ok in speed. I guess I’m far from the exchange. I’m still happy. 24h downtime only is pretty good. I’ve just started to save about $50 a month. Not bad. Well done iiNet.

Domain ownership

As you might know, part of the rules for .com.au domains is that the company that has the domain has to have a good reason to own it (same or similar name or some other explanation).

So to buy a .com.au domain all you need is a company, an ABN and about $30 for two years.

However, if you want to change the ownership of a domain (company + ABN) you need a bunch of paperwork, signatures, align the planets, get your beloved mother in law to sign her mortgage and pay an arm and a leg. Yes, to transfer the ownership of a domain you can expected to be charged anywhere from $440 to $220 depending on the register that has your domain. Well, if $220 for a domain is a rip-off then $440 is outrageous.

So for the last 4 days I’ve started a quest to find a register that will change the ownership of some of my domains for less than $220 and I found them: www.anchor.com.au. The only company in Australia that decided to charge a fair amount for a simple procedure. All they charge for an ownership transfer is a same rate as a two years renewal $69.00 (you need to renew for two years anyway when you change a .com.au). Now this is fair and cheap. I can now recommend Anchor as the best value for money for domain ownership transfers.

Well, this is my new exciting digital life. Now, back to watching Mythbusters and then doing some more coding before going to bed.

As I’m preparing for next week’s TechEd in NZ and Australia I’ve started to browse the pages they have prepared with details of the event.

One of the pages that I was most impressed by was the Earth Friendly Tech.Ed. Me trying to be a very green citizen of this planet (I run a house on green energy, offset my carbon emissions from the car and recycle every bit of recyclable material) I was very pleasantly surprised by Microsoft’s initiative.

Earlier this year Microsoft gave away some great reusable bottles to all it’s employees in Sydney in order to help reduce the number of plastic bottles used. I was lucky to work there at the time and received one of these bottles which not only it is very handy but also looks cool, attracts positive comments about it and yes, it’s green.

The initiative was very welcome.

So please go and visit the page and try to align and respect their initiatives.

Well done Microsoft.

If you are based in Sydney or Melbourne come and see my next talk brought to you by Readify RDN.

Debugging the World, starting with the CLR: A session about real-life production debugging from the trenches and how to write better code to help you with debugging.

Leave F5 to the beginners and debug anywhere, anytime: Learn how to debug systems where you can’t install a debugger, release code or third-party code and production machines running live data.  Learn how to debug offline with memory dumps, how to detect deadlocks, debug Windows Services start-up crashes, ASP .NET websites or Smart Client applications.

Sydney

• Wednesday 23 July, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
  Cliftons, Level 6 / 190 George Street,  Sydney
• Thursday 24 July, 10:30am – 12:00pm
  Microsoft, Theatre 1 / 1 Epping Road,  North Ryde

Melbourne

• Thursday 24 July, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
  Cliftons, 440 Collins Street, Melbourne
• Friday 25 July, 7:30am – 9:30pm
  Microsoft, Level 5 / 4 Freshwater Place, Southbank

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